my precious Chinese treasure

She says...

I relived restaurant #7 so recently yet June 8th, and therefore restaurant #8, is already nearly upon us!

Luckily we found the perfect place within an hour of looking.

Eight Club tempted us. A public restaurant within a private members club with two locations within the City Of London. A clean, fresh looking website (I love a bit of limey sage green as anyone who's visited chez Matt&Kat will know!) and the promise of views across London. The menu looks well balanced, a bit posh, but oh so predictable. I never thought I'd tire of seeing scallops, braised lamb shoulder or sea bass on a menu #firstworldproblems. The main ingredients are teamed with slightly less predictable accompaniments, but I think I'm just craving something other than Mediterranean/modern British cuisine.

Which clearly also rules out wankily branded Ei8ht in Liverpool. Despite the website saying everything is 'prepared to order' the menu smacks of Brakes - a pre-preparation catering service that supplies loads of pubs around the country. You've probably seen their lorries parked up in the town centre. Mind you, the Ei8ht website has chicken risotto and lamb under the fish section, so maybe we shouldn't take anything written there as trustworthy! Although, to avoid being sued, I have to say I can't find these exact dishes on the Brakes website, and they do have gammon on there, which would make my mum happy.


We also dismissed Eight Over Eight because, despite loving the idea of its pan-Asian leanings, it's a bit too close to home and I've already been there.


But then, perfection! A Chinese called 8 Treasures. It's in Ealing too - just far enough, and out of our normal orbit, to make it an entertaining journey of discovery, and there's lots of really WEIRD stuff on the menu! I sneer at your braised lamb and raise you braised pig's trotters! I smirk at your pan fried sea bass and give you tasty shredded pig's stomach! I'll swap your scallops for sizzling spicy frog legs! Which bizarrely are slipped in under the 'beef' section. YUM. Can't wait.