鑫锴 Xin Kai Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Food: most important things first. We ordered map tofu with minced pork, fried chicken with Sichuan chili and fried spring rolls.

I’ve had many dishes of mapo tofu throughout London and far beyond, but this was definitely one of the very best I’ve had – certainly the best in the UK. The tofu had a pleasing firmness to it and wasn’t overly oily. You can choose which meat it comes with, which is a very nice touch. The spice level was good without being too much and I didn't suffer too much tongue numbness at the end of the meal.

The chicken was excellent and more ‘chickenful’ than similar versions I’ve had elsewhere – you're getting more chicken and less batter. The chicken had a good texture and wasn’t overcooked, which can be a risk with these sorts of dishes.

Spring rolls are not really my thing, but my dining partner enjoyed them a lot!

Drinks: we stuck to the beer – they have Tsing Tao, Tiger and Budweiser – which were all as cold as you would hope for. For a Chinese restaurant they had a quite extensive wine selection, but I will hold my thoughts until I visit again! Soft drinks were available.

Service: This isn’t your Chinatown ‘slap and dash’ place. Staff were polite, friendly and attentive without being over-bearing. Food was served smoothly and drinks offered in a timely way. Staff and manager very happy to talk and discuss the food and local food scene.

Vibe: Think more neighbourhood restaurant than big city dining. There were a few other diners in when we visited – a mix of Chinese and ‘locals’ - although I’m only going by languages spoken! Music was pleasant but definitely took a backseat to the gentle clatter and chit chat you would expect in such a place.

Value: We paid under £50 for two, including service charge. This included three dishes and beer. Not going to get better value than that in Central London for this quality of cooking.

Location: right nearby to Kings Cross station so perfect for pre/post rail journey. Lots of other places nearby for drinks before or after your meal, although I thoroughly recommend the King Charles I pub less than 30 seconds walk around the corner. Easy to get to by tube/bus.

Overall: a new favourite spot – authentic, casual, friendly. I’m not often in the Kings Cross area but I reckon this place is worth the trip here alone! If you’re in the area anyway it’s...

Just outstanding - this is one of our favourite restaurants in London, and we chose to come here yesterday for a special occasion. We’ve lived in China, so know our way around the menu, but there are some really well done versions of Cantonese Chinese staples that might appeal more to less adventurous eaters. For our party of 6, we chose pork and cabbage dumplings, the sautéed diced chicken with chilli and Sichuan pepper (my partner’s favourite, and a must-try if you love ma la numbing spice!), braised belly pork, mapo tofu, gong bao chicken, three heavenly freshness aubergine, potato and pepper, dry fried green beans with pork, and sweet and sour chicken. We also had steamed rice and a few cold Tsingtao - perfect!

The service was excellent throughout our meal; every time we’ve been here, we’ve been made to feel so welcome and this time was no exception. The chef cooked my partner some special noodles as it was his birthday, and we were able to bring a cake in (without a cover charge!). Nothing was too much to ask for - I love numbing spice so asked for the mapo tofu to be made really spicy, but two members of our party prefer less hot food so we also asked for the gong bao chicken to be made less spicy. This is admittedly a strange request but the staff were able to accommodate us, allowing everyone to enjoy their meal. The whole bill came to £188, including a service charge, which we thought was very reasonable for the quality of food on offer.

We’ll 100% be coming back, hopefully sooner rather than later. My other favourite dishes on the menu are the shredded pork in sweet soy bean sauce, which comes with tofu skins to make little wraps, and the Old Beijing Noodles (which are served cold, with a delicious fermented sauce and lots of crunchy vegetables). Xin Kai is absolutely delicious and I couldn’t...

AVOID!!!!

Myself and partner walked in and were able to get a table. We were initially seated by the door as we were told all tables near rear of restaurant were booked. The comings and goings of delivery drivers opening and closing the door wasn’t ideal, but miraculously a table became available to the rear of the restaurant.

We ordered a number of dishes

Vegetarian spring rolls Wasabi King Prawn balls A Prawn dish Chicken in black bean sauce Egg fried rice Crab & sweetcorn Soup

Green Tea Jasmine Tea Bottle of still water

Our water came out and shortly followed by the first load of food. We had to remind about our teas as they had been forgotten.

The prawn dish was FULL of chunks of onion, peanuts and chilli leaves. The wasabi prawn balls were soggy from the coating of sauce on the batter which made the texture hard to endure.

The other food was good, but nothing to rave about.

The real issue was the soup. Out of everything I think we enjoyed the flavours of the soup the most and was happy with it until…. My partner took a spoonful of soup, out of his mouth came a sharp piece of broken plastic (as pictured).

We called the server over straight away, and he swiftly took the soup away telling us he would not charge for it. Well that’s the meal ruined. Who knows what else we might have run into.

We finished up our teas and got the bill. Soup and rice had been removed from the bill, and he told us he had added a 10% discount. Meanwhile explaining the plastic was from one of the containers they use in the kitchen. Shocking!!

We paid the bill, and then I noticed the £7+ service charge which we were not told about.

At that point we’d had enough and just left.

Completely unsatisfactory service and food.

Should have read the previous...