Baozilinn
This is the other half of the meal that I had at Market Hall, the food hall in Canary Wharf.
I have seen Baozilinn for many years in London but I never actually gave it a try. Probably because of my pickiness in Chinese food, I thought I knew better. As should not be surprising to me (but always comes as a shock), I was proved wrong.
Won tons. 9 wontans, silky skin with hot chili sauce. Ever time I eat wontons, I couldn’t but think of my younger disgusting days. I am older now (but some of my friends insist I am still as disgusting) so can see a more humorous side of things. You see, when I was a kid, I had a bit of a sinus issue, which meant I would be sneezing everywhere. I later found out when I moved away for university, that that was due to the pollution in Hong Kong, where I grew up, as once I moved to London, it all stopped. In any case, in my days in the Far East, when I would reach for the nearest tissue to blow my nose, I would then present my parents proudly with the finished product, which I called a wonton. These wontons were decent and go some way towards banishing such weird and terrible memories.
Signature dan dan noodles with minced pork. The noodles were decent if not as bouncy as I was used to. The pork flavourful and the pak choi rather ordinary. Could have been worse I guess but the wontons overshadowed this bowl. This dish seemed to lack flavour of anything, which would have worked if the ingredients were stand out but when they aren’t, it makes you feel as if eating this was kind of pointless.
So at the end of the meal, the food was decent but the price was kind of steep. If this was half the price, I would say it was a good deal. As it wasn’t, this is perhaps a place only to venture to if you are desperate. Then again, it was the better half of my meal at Market Place. In the culinary wasteland that is Canary Wharf, beggars can’t be choosers. Then again, I could go home and make my own wontans.
A quiet eating 7.5/10.
Dinner (2 courses) was GBP19 excluding drinks and service.
25 North Colonnade
London E14 5HD