Peninsula Chinese Restaurant, Holiday Inn Express, Bugsby Way, SE10 0GD

Restaurants within hotels evoke a sense of wariness in me, one usually associated with leftover microwaved food and the sound of silence in the dining area. This wonderful Chinese restaurant quashes all those worries, and is definitely one of the gems in the Greenwich area.

Although it has to be said that their lunch-time dim sum is yet to impress (click here).

With our group of 4 wanting to eat lots, and fast, we decided that the best way to go would be down the hotpot route, with lots of rice.

Stir fried kailan with beef £9

This was not something on the menu, as the main choice on the menu was kailan with scallops (too much of an extravagance, really). Going down the beefy route, we thought that would be more value for money, but it turned out to be only 50p cheaper.

Braised beancurd and fillet fish hotpot £10

For those of you wondering why this dish seems to be a permanent feature on this blog, it is because this happens to be one of our favourite items, so we have made it our mission (such a tough one) to go round all the restaurants comparing how this dish fares in each restaurant. So far, this dish is best done in this restaurant.

With lots of generously sized pieces of white fish, deep-fried, and stewed with tofu and vegetables in a lovely, thick gravy, this is perhaps the best dish to have with rice. Or on its own, whatever, it is that nice.

Braised beef flank – ordinary traditional recipe with mooli £9

Wow this was one impressive dish. We’d had it once before when we ate here with a group of friends, but at the time, the meat was quite stringy and tough, so while the taste was impressive, the texture of the meat did nothing much to impress me.

This time, however, the bits of meat were perfectly cooked, each one almost melting in the mouth with such loveliness, and so much taste that it made me want to down the whole pot at once (but for the sake of social decorum, I didn’t). The gravy was slightly sweet, with bits of ginger in it giving a hint of spice, and cooked so well that the beefiness was so well immersed throughout the dish. Really, really liked it.

Would I recommend this place? Definitely so for the dinner menu.

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