Bon Apetite 4: Tea House

After standing under the scorching sun for more than 45 minutes and thereby increasing my risk of getting skin cancer (alright, I have exaggerated a bit, it was not that HOT, and I could use some Vitamin D), and to put it in a blunt way, I needed to eat. It was already past lunch hour, almost coming to tea time. I guess that was supposed to be my lunch. Hmm…the marriage between breakfast and lunch produces brunch. What about matching lunch and tea-time/ tea-break?? Would it be:

a) lunchea (pronounced as lunch-chi)? It sounded more like lán sí.. I am a Hokkien, so it’s a bad idea

b) tunch (pronounced as tan-ch)? Err.. not a good one either, should start with the word ‘lunch’.

c) lutea (pronounced as liu-tee, I invented that)? Hmm.. I can live with that. :p

While making our way to the city centre, we were trying to make up our minds where to feast. I didn’t feel like consuming fast food although at times I have a sudden intense craze for it, especially McD :) I suggested going for Chinese buffet. HYin was indecisive, whereas LJ was practically fine with anything. Half way through, I changed my mind again. :) I was indecisive. At last we settled on the Tea House (or chá zhuang in Mandarin).

Tea House is a small, simple restaurant located in Bold Street. As the name suggests, it serves Asian food.

I’ve been there once, more than half year ago I reckoned. It doesn’t have much room to cater for huge crowd and yet it has this pleasant ambience that reminds me of Little Taiwan in One Stop, Penang.

Before stepping into Tea House, I have already known what to drink. Iced yin-yeung! We decided that we each ordered a main then shared amongst ourselves. Without much difficulty, I had my eyes on Seafood in Portuguese sauce, served with rice. The couple ordered Hainan Chicken rice and char kuey teow, respectively.

So here comes my iced yin-yeung.

It was so-so, too much tea probably. So far the best iced yin yeung still goes to Kim Gary. :) Soree, Tea House, you just need to try harder next time.

Within minutes after drinks were served, our mains followed. LJ’s char kuey teow was the first to come, followed by Hainan Chicken Rice and mine was the last.

Presentation wise, my Seafood in Portuguese Sauce scored badly.

The char kuey teow was good, but of course it was not as excellent as those of Penang’s.

We are in the UK, so I shouldn’t be complaining much. Upon ordering it, we were warned by the waiter that it was a spicy dish. How considerate of him.. but uh.. we’d like our kuey teow to be spicy, the spicier the better. Taste wise, I guess they must have used ketchup for the base coz it was sweet with mild spicy.

Oh I loved the chicken rice!!

The rice was just right, not too oily and yet it gave a full flavour of typical fragrant chicken rice. The steamed chicken was alright but it was the ginger dip that won my heart over. Back home, chicken rice is served with a side of chilli, and at some point it is the chilli that determines the popularity of a chicken rice stall. However here, chicken rice is served with a side of ginger dip instead of chilli.

The ginger dip gave a tangy, salty and garlicky taste, when had it with the chicken, the combination was superb! An absolutely blend of perfection. I rated it 10/10!

The Seafood in Portuguese Sauce was a big let down. Couldn’t quite figure out what sauce that was, but what I could be sure of was it was too creamy, too much of coconut milk and very filling. Not recommended.

In a nutshell, the winner goes to….Hainan Chicken Rice!

By the way did I mention that I am half Hokkien and half Hainanese, perhaps a little bit of Cantonese? :p