Late last year, the focus of Ba Shan, a small eats restaurant in Soho, switched to Hunan cuisine, as announced here on Fuchsia Dunlop’s blog. I hadn’t tried it in its previous incarnation but when I suddenly read blog posts on the change and how it was certainly for the better, I arranged to catch up with a friend there a couple weeks ago. I made a booking and was told that we’d only have 1.5 hours to eat; gosh, a little pushy but they did get us in and out in exactly that amount of time.
While I’m not the most familiar with the cuisine of this region of China, I did recognise that red braised pork is one of the most well known Hunan dishes and we ordered it with fried tofu puffs. What arrived was a highly flavourful and lip-tingling dish of pork belly cubes with the tofu puffs also braised in the same “red” liquid. The tofu puffs were gorgeous, having soaked up the spicy sauce but the pork could have had more cooking time though to make them more tender. Still, it was awfully good on rice.
I’d heard about the catfish fillets with salted red chillies from Lizzie’s post and what sealed the deal, so to speak, was seeing it on a neighbouring table (it comes in a massive platter). Our waiter said that we absolutely must have the noodles alongside (an extra £2.50) and we were so glad we did. The slippery noodles were slurped up with the delicious broth and despite the alarming redness of the salted chillies, they were quite mild and were very moreish with the fish. Another version is also available with pickled green chillies instead of the salted red ones.
Feeling a need for a vegetable, we ordered the silk gourd with century egg, which came in a thick stock. I hadn’t had a silk gourd in a while and it was lovely to eat this juicy vegetable in this soothing, chilli-free preparation.
With one order of rice and only tap water to drink, the bill, with service, came to £37. Yes, a little more expensive than your usual Chinese restaurant here in London but everything was very good. What I didn’t like about the bill was that it wasn’t itemised, just a grand total on the top sheet, with a few prices for the dishes scattered about on the order sheets stapled underneath; it took a bit of faffing with our mobiles to calculate that service was already included. Not cool and I’m glad we figured that out. Bookings are essential, even for a weekday, unless you like to wait for up to an hour.
Ba Shan
24 Romilly Street
London W1D 5AH
Sun, 12 Jun, 2011 at 20:28
I love Ba Shan, I had the catfish with noodles too, delicious! I agree that the non-itemizing the bill should not happen, they also do this at Bar Shu. I can’t help feeling ripped off when I can’t control what is on the bill.
Sun, 12 Jun, 2011 at 21:18
I second Ute’s comments on the catfish with noodles. Next time you go, you must try the mashed aubergine – it’s like a Chinese Baba Ganoush!
Sun, 12 Jun, 2011 at 23:22
Also if you return you have ot try the duck tongues. Heaven, damn heaven.
The billing system is really not good, I guess it is a way for the waiters to get some extra tips. Not good.
Mon, 13 Jun, 2011 at 06:57
A nice review but the lack of an itemised bill and 90 min table slot would spoil the experience for me. It does seem a shame considering the food looked good.
Mon, 13 Jun, 2011 at 14:49
I’d love to try more Hunan food. We have a lot of other types of Chinese cuisine but not a lot of hunan!
Mon, 13 Jun, 2011 at 20:57
Ute: Totally agree with you there – all bills should be itemised and should clearly state whether service is included!
Mr Noodles: Ooooh, that does sound good! Thanks!
Mzungu: I hate it when places do that… Once, at another restaurant, we had no change on us and so waited for our change from a number of bills we left. Nothing was forthcoming. We asked about our change and then got scolded that the amount we left was apparently indicative of a tip left and so they just took it upon themselves to keep it! This was probably the worst experience I ever had in a Chinese restaurant!
Robert: The 90 min slot certainly put me off at first and I almost considered cancelling but I’m glad I persevered. Next time, I’ll be naughty and ask the waiter/waitress if service is included and see what they say…
Lorraine: I agree! And Xinjiang food too!
Tue, 14 Jun, 2011 at 11:39
Would love to know more about Hunan cuisine. You hardly get any in India except something called ‘Hunan chicken’ at restaurants at Mumbai. The pictures you have put up reminds me of some of the dishes that I have seen at Chinatown at Singapore & KL
Tue, 14 Jun, 2011 at 11:39
Ooh the food looks great. I agree with you about the non itemised bill – such a pain and something for some reason Chinese restaurants in particular seem to think they can get away with.
Tue, 14 Jun, 2011 at 12:36
I am a big fan of the new Ba Shan – the pressed beancurd with celery and the brisket with smoked bamboo shoots are both breat. As well as the catfish!
Shame about the 90 minute slot and the bill. I hadn’t noticed the bill thing before, but I’ve had very enthusiastic service in the past, where they’ve taken the time to talk to us about the cuisine. But then maybe they are getting busier now and a bit more harrying, which is frustrating.
Tue, 14 Jun, 2011 at 19:02
Heard about the catfish. Now that it’s approved by you, I’m definitely going to try it!
Truffle
Wed, 15 Jun, 2011 at 16:50
cool.. there’s a great Hunan restaurant called 1010 Hunan Pop in Taipei that has some amazing food that I’m writing up soon… lip-tingling is right!
Thu, 16 Jun, 2011 at 12:41
Looks great – catfish sounds like a must try!
Thu, 16 Jun, 2011 at 13:45
I wonder what would happen if you just asked for it to me itemised?
Thanks for the link back! I really loved that catfish dish. Must go back.
Fri, 17 Jun, 2011 at 19:27
Great piece. Superb photography.
Sun, 19 Jun, 2011 at 16:55
The food looks a lot better than the average Chinese restaurant in London, so I guess it is forgiveable. I’m inclined to distrust non-itemised bills – I recently ate at 4 Seasons in Bayswater and was shocked by the bill (which wasn’t itemised, and wasn’t in English) and when I queried it was immediately handed an itemised bill for considerably less. Left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Wed, 22 Jun, 2011 at 23:22
Kalyan: 🙂 I’ve just discovered Indian-Chinese food which is also pretty fantastic!
Gourmet Chick: Not cool at all. You should read Foodycat’s account of her bill at Four Seasons above!
Sharmila: They were generally quite friendly but the guy at the front was quite brusque. It’s definitely a very busy restaurant now but I do want to return so thank you too for your recommendations!
Truffle: So good. So so good.
joan: Looking forward to your post!
Hanna: So delicious – I’ve gotta try the pickled green chili version too.
Lizzie: Not sure… but I ought to try that next time!
Aaron: Thank you so much!
Alicia: Wow – that’s not cool at all. So sorry you experienced that – I’ll be sure to ask for my bill to be itemised if I ever feel in doubt.
Fri, 28 Sep, 2012 at 20:20
[…] already tried Ba Shan across the street, Rachel and I wanted to try the Sichuan Bar Shu the last time we met up for […]