Lotus Floating Chinese Restaurant - Docklands
Summary: Nice atmosphere and décor but bland food, worn furnishings and overpriced. Not recommended. Three-course a la carte meals for three people with beer cost around £80. The menu's range was wide, with enough vegetarian, seafood and meat options for everyone to find something edible.
Contact Details:
http://www.lotusfloating.co.uk/
Tel: 020 7515 6445
The Lotus Chinese Floating Restaurant
38 Limeharbour,
Inner Millwall Dock,
London E14 9RH
Full review:
Starters tasted acceptable - chicken and beef satay with a bowl of peanut sauce and bon bon chicken which was described as sliced chicken with peanut sauce (cold dish). This turned out to be slices of chicken with hot peanut sauce poured over them and hence, was actually steaming when it arrived. Not quite as described but tasted fine.
The main courses were reasonable and thoroughly cooked but I can't say they were good. They all just tasted a little bland and the beef in my beef with black bean sauce felt like it had been boiled to death. The sauce itself was liberally sprinkled with chili slices yet somehow managed to be completely devoid of spicy goodness. I wouldn't mind if it was sweet, or salty or something but it was just kinda... sliced beef boiled in stock with soy sauce added for colour. Very dull. The lamb was similar, and while the duck didn't feel boiled, it wasn't anything remarkable either.
Finally, there was a piece of unidentified meat lying on the floor next to our table for a good 10-15 minutes (not dropped by us) . Ick!
Tagged: london | restaurants | chinese | food
Contact Details:
http://www.lotusfloating.co.uk/
Tel: 020 7515 6445
The Lotus Chinese Floating Restaurant
38 Limeharbour,
Inner Millwall Dock,
London E14 9RH
Full review:
Starters tasted acceptable - chicken and beef satay with a bowl of peanut sauce and bon bon chicken which was described as sliced chicken with peanut sauce (cold dish). This turned out to be slices of chicken with hot peanut sauce poured over them and hence, was actually steaming when it arrived. Not quite as described but tasted fine.
The main courses were reasonable and thoroughly cooked but I can't say they were good. They all just tasted a little bland and the beef in my beef with black bean sauce felt like it had been boiled to death. The sauce itself was liberally sprinkled with chili slices yet somehow managed to be completely devoid of spicy goodness. I wouldn't mind if it was sweet, or salty or something but it was just kinda... sliced beef boiled in stock with soy sauce added for colour. Very dull. The lamb was similar, and while the duck didn't feel boiled, it wasn't anything remarkable either.
Finally, there was a piece of unidentified meat lying on the floor next to our table for a good 10-15 minutes (not dropped by us) . Ick!
Tagged: london | restaurants | chinese | food
posted by Weefz at 3:35 pm
visitors
2 Comments:
I am always a little disturbed to see a review like this one.
You walk into a Chinese restaurant (Cantonese) and order all the westernised Chinese dishes and expect to receive an exciting meal.
The english take every cuisine and make it as bland as possible, take the butter chicken on Brick Lane for example, what a horrible dish but people love it, cause its not spice and tastes like nothing, just how the english like it. Tell me where to find this in India just like you wouldnt find a restaurant in China serving Beef with Black Bean Sauce.
I believe the Lotus to be one of the best if not the best Chinese restaurant outside of Hong Kong/Southern China, you only have to ask the hundreds of local Chinese people on a Sunday for Dim Sum.
Next time you visit take a little more time to browse the menu, just past the Beef with Black Bean Sauce and Sweet and Sour combination you might find something a little more exciting and if your attention span doesnt go that far ask the staff, let them know what you like and make sure they know you want to be a little more adventurous and let them suggest what the locals eat.
Okay, firstly I'm not even slightly English. My mother is Malaysian and I spent 15 years in Singapore eating Chinese food. Secondly, the restaurant is not English and not run by English people so I don't know why you're complaining about English people making food bland. That was the whole point of my review - the food was bland and it is bad. They can serve beef in black bean sauce in Singapore and Mile End without making it bland. Why can't they do it in the Lotus?
Maybe they do the best Dim Sum in the world but you're missing the point that if they put something on the menu, they should do it well. It sounds like you're saying its my fault I got a poor meal coz I didn't order the right things. Don't be so narrow-minded and elitist. I didn't ask them to cook a westernised dish especially for me - it's there for everyone and they should hold it to the same high standards as their Dim Sum (if it's as good as you say) if they want everyone to like their restaurant.
If they don't want to cook it, they don't have to put it on the menu. I have eaten a large range of Chinese food including very good Dim Sum and none of these dishes were in any way memorable.
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