Tag: Taiwanese food

Good Friend 好朋友 – London China Town

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Do you remember Bigbe Chicken? Well that’s been closed down, but what was once a Chinese bakery has now become the second generation of Taiwanese fried chicken in the same Street.
High rents in London Central is becoming all too common now for a China Town that was once dominated by Cantonese cuisines and Hong Kong bakeries. 😑 So sad to see all these great little shops and restaurants go so quickly. 
Trying out Good Friend 好朋友 (Canto: hou pun you; Mando: hau peng you). I think it’s the same owner as Bigbe Chicken, but not really sure and not sure why they would have changed the name if it was the same peeps. Strange.

In Bigbe Chicken, they were selling giant fried squid for a very short while and that I didn’t even get to try out. So sad. 😥 This time I really wanted to try some fried squid… 
This little bundle of fried squid cost me £6. That’s really expensive! But it tasted really good! Got the squid taste there. Got some fried batter on it. Chilli powder on top as well… 🤣

Well, all a bit too expensive for me. Food is becoming so costly. 
Must have the fried chicken next time though. 
My geeky rating: 4/5 (for the squid)
No point pointing out the good and bad points. 😅 Good food but expensive for the small amount. 
Address: 14 Little Newport St, London WC2H 7JJ


Bigbe Chicken 喜噠噠 (Now called Good Friend 好朋友) – London China Town

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Note: The shop has now moved to where Sun Leun Bakery used to be on Lisle Street (no more bakery!!! 😦 So sad). It’s now called Good Friend 好朋友 – and it looks like they’re selling more items…).

The hike with Miss Money consisted of talking politics, travelling and food!

Because she works around the China Town area she and colleagues like to explore the area they know when there’s a new restaurant opening or where there are lunch deals. ^_^ LOL!! 
Miss Money had told me about this place called Bigbe Chicken 喜噠噠 (Mando: xi dada, meaning “like dada”) which opened towards the last week of April. The English meaning is weird, and I don’t know why they called themselves Bigbe Chicken… basically no meaning. She told me not to blog about this place because it will just become too busy during her lunch hours!! Hahahahah. Tough luck. 
MummyGeek and I went to China Town one weekend and we had some really disappointing dim sum at New World Restaurant…

So there are basically 5 items on the menu (not including the drinks):
1. BBC’s Superstar – Deep Fried Squid (which was not ready when I went) – £6.50
2. Deep Fried Chicken Breast – £5.50
3. Deep Fried Drumstick – £3.99
4. Popcorn Chicken – £2.99
5. Fried Sweet Potato – £2.99
The owners are from Taiwan, so they speak Mandarin and English… I tried to speak in Mandarin but then converted to English… ¬_¬”” Still need to work on the Mandarin folks.

I wanted to order the squid, but there was none ready. 😦 Maybe next time when I go to China Town… 
So instead, I started off with the popcorn chicken with the Special Powder sprinkled on top. There are various spices you can add to the chicken.

The sweet potato was sprinkled with the plum powder… wooow… it tasted plummy and the potatoes were fried really well. ^_^

The one thing that Miss Money told me to try out was the chicken breast. It’s massive! The way it’s rolled out to make it 10 cm is amazing! Added the Thai spice on this one and I wanted to eat this on the bus. 😀 

Miss Money said to eat them as soon as you get it because it’s still fresh and crunchy. By the time you get home it becomes all soggy… 😦 
Cost came to £11.48. Well worth a try! I just can’t wait to try out the squid!!!! Unfortunately they aren’t selling squid anymore… so sad!
My geeky rating: 5/5
Good points:
– Cooked on the spot
– Good prices
– Good service
– Get to choose your own spices to add to your chicken, squid or fries
Bad points:
– Slippery floor, just be careful

Address: 10 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 7JJ

This is the new location… it’s a few doors down from the original shop.

Leong’s Legends Continues… 梁山好汉 – London China Town

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Next stop from St James’s Park was China Town!
I have been passing Leong’s Legends Continues… forever, and MummyGeek says I have been saying forver that I need to go to this place to try it out. And alas, I have finally made it! 🙂
Leong’s Legends Continues… 梁山好汉 (Trad. 梁山好漢; Canto: Leung Saan Hou Hon; Mando: Liangshan haohan) seems to be a popular restaurant in London but is it good for my taste buds? This restaurant is Taiwanese. The restaurant name literally means Leong’s heroes. Something like that.
Leong’s Legend Continues…
MummyGeek went to the loo at this point so I took a picture of the seat. XD
Wooden table setting
The menu comes in a book form with pictures, and all you have to do is select the dishes you want (which is in Chinese)….
I think people know I’m addicted to bubble tea and since this restaurant is Taiwanese, so why not!
Bubble Tea
I ordered bits and pieces of dim sum. MummyGeek said not to order things we regularly eat, so here it goes.

This is the pork belly bun. I thought there would be more than one, but this is how it came. There was a mixture of ingredients of pork and pickled vegetables. It looks very much like the one I had at Shoryu right? Well these buns originated in Taiwan. It would probably be nice if the bun was a bit sweet…
pork belly bun… only one given plus it’s expensive
Next came the famous Shanghai xiaolong bao Dumplings (Taiwanese style). These are very nicely presented, and very different to the normal dumplings you get in other Chinese restaurants.  They are very juicy inside, so when you bite make sure you have your head bowed towards the plate in case it squirts everywhere. The dumplings are ok, they aren’t fantastic but edible.
Xiaolong bao

Next came the custard buns. These were ok, and there was nothing special about them.
Custard buns
Inside a custard bun
The mini glutinous rice came out next… These were quite boring for me. Quite bland in taste, not the ones I’m used to. I didn’t really enjoy this very much.
Mini glutinous rice

Quite bland
The final dim sum that came out were the meat buns. These were not too bad. Very different to the ordinary char siu bao.
Meat buns

These were ok
Total cost came to £26.20… Expensive! It was confusing when they added a second total and then crossed it out. Wasn’t sure which price was the right one!

My geeky rating: 3.5/5

Good points:
– The only thing I liked was the bubble tea… and the xiaolong bao
– Service is fair

Bad points:
– Expensive for dim sum
– Quite scary going up and down the narrow staircases

Address: 26-27 Lisle St, London WC2H 7BA
Telephone: 020 7734 3380