12 Gerrard St
Chinatown
London
There are so many choices for a good Chinese meal in central London, particularly around Chinatown. We really wanted some good duck so we decided to wander around a bit looking at menu's and at hanging window displays. Once we saw Four Seasons we realised we were in a duck place!
They were hanging in the window and looked so tasty we just had to go in. It's a very small place with most of the seating (perhaps all of it) upstairs. We were quickly seated, orders taken and the food started arriving shortly afterwards.
We started with a traditional favourite of ours - salt, pepper, chilli and garlic soft shell crab. We've had this dish all over the place and this version was extremely good.
The flavours combined perfectly and the quantity of crab was great. We had miles of it - it was a huge serving.
The coating was crisp and nicely cooked whilst the crab was juicy and tender inside. They did a great job on this dish!
A quarter serve of duck surprisingly resulted in eight pancakes to fill with a decent pile of juicy duck meat that was deftly removed from the bones at our table.
The steamed pancakes were nice and soft - and stayed that way in their steamer until used. The duck skin was deliciously crisp and the meat was juicy and tender - just as it should be on well prepared duck!
It was good value too and we loved it!
The crispy prawn wontons were very nice. So crisp 9surprise surprise) but so nice. The crunch combined with the sweet prawn meat so well.
Frankly we could have eaten two servings of this dish, but it made a great change from the other meals we had on our order.
Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant is a busy place. Obviously its well regarded because there was a queue there when it opened and an even longer one when we were leaving. The food is great and its good value as well. Portion sizes are good, service quick and decor is unimpressive - but its not an important factor. We had a great meal here and would gladly go back again.
