5 /5 Alice Gee: Great food. Good value. The Haggerston branch is BYO with an off licence across the street that stocks Georgian wine. There is a corkage charge of £5 per bottle. Quiet, civilised atmosphere for a BYO on our visit. Pretty panelled room results in good acoustics. Upstairs is a small room, with tables close together enough to follow neighbouring conversations. Booking by telephone recommended because it is very popular.
We started with the rich open cheese boat bread. Until we watched the slavic speakers at the next table we didn’t realize you are meant to stir the runny egg and melted cheese together before tearing apart the flakey loaf. The roast aubergine salad with walnuts and pomegranate seeds as well as the chopped mushroom and onion starters were both terrific accompaniments.
We shared one main of the pork and beef dumplings. Large and and somwhat doughy due to their size. Tasty, and containing a little broth inside along with the meat but I think I prefer daintier Chinese shiao long bao. We didn’t finish the dumplings and it was no problem getting a takeaway box as well as instructions for best warming up the leftovers.
We definitely plan to return to try more of the menu. A light dinner for two was £70.