london: chinese laundry, islington.

never expected to want to eat chinese food while in london, but upon hearing J's enthusiastic recommendation of the place, i decided that C and i had to make a trip there, even though it was quite out of the way. i'm a sucker for chinese fusion, so it was right up my alley.



went for breakfast, because their breakfast/lunch menu was different from dinner. there were so many things i wanted from the menu that it was hard to choose- the only limit was how much our stomachs could fit, really.





service was quick. the first item to arrive was the rice & peanut milk (£2.70), followed by the egg bing (£5.50), which was basically a chinese scallion pancake with a glorious sunny side up sandwiched in between.



the pancake was crispy and yet not greasy- i could almost pretend that it hadn't been pan-fried in oil.



the laundry full (£10.50) arrived next. it was a great way of trying what the restaurant had to offer, since it had a bit of all their morning plates- braised beef, peanuts, tea egg, king oyster mushrooms, julienned potato, bacon and what they called milky little buns (basically fried mantous with a drizzle of condensed milk). i loved the milky little buns, especially paired with the other items. the sheer variety made it a fun eat- kind of like a chinese fusion version of a big breakfast, really.



the shrimp cake benedicte (£12.50) was the item i was eyeing all along, and was adamant about ordering it. theoretically speaking, it should've been great, but it wasn't- let down, perhaps, by the shrimp cake. i was imagining something plump and juicy, but it was overly crisp and to me, it barely qualified as shrimp cake. would've liked more of the peanut brittle, too- i could hardly find it, and it was one of the components that had excited me about the dish. probably should've ordered something else- the savoury tofu did call out to me.

C was really full after the meal, but i felt it was just nice. i did like the food in general- just not the shrimp cake benedicte. i would probably go back again to try their other items. i'm sad that i don't have more stomach space, really.

chinese laundry
107 upper street
N1 1QN
http://chineselaundryroom.co.uk