The Far East

soho and the post office tower

May 25th, 2011

After a few bottles of rosé in the French House we decided to go and have supper at Café España on Old Compton Street. To our surprise it was closed! We drank some coffee at Bar Italia in Frith Street and as we were about to give up on food, Hilary called again and we were off to the upstairs bar in the St. John Hotel.

the far east

A few more bottles of rosé later and we were on the streets of China Town at two thirty am – starving.

seaweed

We went to The Far East, which does a reasonably good menu for £12. The starter consisted of seaweed with a bowl chicken and sweetcorn soup.

chicken and sweetcorn soup

A very good crispy aromatic duck followed. I could have eaten about 3 ducks by this point in the evening, but we were given a reasonable amount. I’m quite partial to duck generally and love the whole thing of rolling the shredded meat up into a little pancake with cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce.

crispy aromatic duck

The final courses came together – sweet and sour pork, beef with black bean sauce and egg fried rice.

crispy duck pancake

There were no surprises here – it’s probably not the best Chinese in the world, but after 5 bottles of rosé (and no, we didn’t drink the whole lot between two people), the Far East definitely saved us from severe hangovers. When we left there was no sign that it was ready to close, so it’s a very useful, reasonably priced and tasty, late night restaurant. Apparently it’s been going for 50 years!

sweet and sour pork with beef in black bean sauce

The Far East is at 13 Gerrard Street, W1D 5PS Google Map