why do people hate wong-kei

rockypoppy2

rockypoppy2

wtf?
if you're from london then you should know about this place.

its the upstairs-downstairs chinese restaurant that spans about 6 floors just off leicester square.

i dont profess to knowing much about chinese food, but i do know that i love wong-kei's king prawn fried noodle (on crispy noodle!) and i go back regularly for it. its so cheap, for a fiver you get a heap of a plate, and free jasmine tea to boot (refillable, for ever theoretically, although the most i have ever got out of them is 7 pots)

the won-ton soup is pretty good too.

but i know loads of people who absolutely refuse to eat there. loads of chinese people and all. i dont get it. whats so bad about that place?

 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I haven't been there since I found maggots in my won ton noodle soup. It used to be notorious for its exceptionally, exceptionally rude service, where the staff were totally contemptuous of you, and would literally throw the food at you. This became a factor - almost like a tourist attraction - as to why people would go there/ would not go there.

Until the maggot incident - and this was years and years ago now - I used to like it cos I thought the food was OK. There are similar cheap noodle places on Gerrard St, my favourite for cheap noodle soup is the first one on the left as you walk down Gerrard St from the Wong Kei, and opposite is the Golden Dragon which is more pricey but the food is good.

Best Chinese food in London is the Royal China in Baker Street though, if you get a chance go there on Sundays for dim sum, it'll change your life.
 
B

biz

Member
when i lived in london in 94/95, i went to Wong Kei several times. my fav. anecdote happened one night while we were waiting to be directed to our seat. the host would just glare at you and say "how many", you say 2 and he says, "2, UPSTAIR!" or "2, DOWNSTAIR". this night, we were behind a guy who was obviously finding seating for a tour group. we heard "how many" and then the host guy paused, picked up the phone and a couple seconds later said "67, UPSTAIR!". i was extremely impressed that it only took a couple seconds for them to find space to seat 67 people at that moment. can't say i remember the food being that good but i do remember it being cheap.
 
rockypoppy2

rockypoppy2

wtf?
mistersloane said:
I haven't been there since I found maggots in my won ton noodle soup. .
Click to expand...

!!!

i think im gonna eat more attentively there now. as for the rudeness, yeah that still persists. the waiters circle the table like vultures as soon as you're half way through the meal ready with the bill.
 
M

martin

----
The rudeness is the selling factor, I loved it. Two of you would walk in, the place was desolate, and they'd insist on seating you next to the only couple in there. It was a great place to take people who hadn't been to London before, just to watch their faces. Having said that, you should have eaten the maggots.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
martin said:
Having said that, you should have eaten the maggots.
Click to expand...

I was with my sister and we used to eat there ALL the time, like once a week cos she got expense account lunches, and we were like ( Woody Allen voice ) 'You do this to your GOOD customers?'.
It was so out of order it was funny, we didn't even bother to complain.
 
P

petergunn

plywood violin
a friend of mine went to china a few years ago and i asked him how it was... he said "you know when when you go to a chinese restuarant and the waiter treats you with a sort of indifferent comtempt? well, the whole country is like that,,,"
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
martin said:
I think the next 'Dissensus meet' should be at Wong Kei. We have to break THEM.
Click to expand...

Rule One Of Urban Living : Don't Fuck With The Wongs.

I seen an argument down on Gerrard Street ending up in machete fight, I think breaking them might be, like, supra-not-um-good-idea, although it might be a good way of covertly getting rid of COUNTER CULTURE TERRORISTS.
 
Last edited:
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
petergunn said:
a friend of mine went to china a few years ago and i asked him how it was... he said "you know when when you go to a chinese restuarant and the waiter treats you with a sort of indifferent comtempt? well, the whole country is like that,,,"
Click to expand...

S'totally not true, people who notice you are very friendly, but most people - outside of the major tourist zones - don't even notice you there if you look Western, you're so far out of their field of interest that you're invisible. It's not contempt, one just doesn't even register. I don't think one person in Cheng Du even looked at me, it's a strange feeling.
 
M

martin

----
mistersloane said:
Rule One Of Urban Living : Don't Fuck With The Wongs.

I seen an argument down on Gerrard Street ending up in machete fight, I think breaking them might be, like, supra-not-um-good-idea, although it might be a good way of covertly getting rid of COUNTER CULTURE TERRORISTS.
Click to expand...

I meant more like eating maggots if they serve them again and asking for more, rather than actually fucking them around through provocative behaviour, but I take your point. Anyway, according to the Chinese, this year coming's the Year of the Rat which is supposed to be brilliant for me.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
mistersloane said:
S'totally not true, people who notice you are very friendly, but most people - outside of the major tourist zones - don't even notice you there if you look Western, you're so far out of their field of interest that you're invisible. It's not contempt, one just doesn't even register. I don't think one person in Cheng Du even looked at me, it's a strange feeling.
Click to expand...

Kanye West said once that when he was there as a kid people would come up and rub his face, like it was black paint and would just come off in their hands.

Edit: er, that's China, I mean, not Wong-Kei - they're not quite that rude.
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
mistersloane said:
S'totally not true, people who notice you are very friendly, but most people - outside of the major tourist zones - don't even notice you there if you look Western, you're so far out of their field of interest that you're invisible. It's not contempt, one just doesn't even register. I don't think one person in Cheng Du even looked at me, it's a strange feeling.
Click to expand...

wierd! I'll be in cheng du sometime later this year and i wonder if i'll be looked at... in parts of northern europe i felt like they've never seen a chinese person before in their lives -- all stares.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
zhao said:
wierd! I'll be in cheng du sometime later this year and i wonder if i'll be looked at... in parts of northern europe i felt like they've never seen a chinese person before in their lives -- all stares.
Click to expand...

Yeah parts of Northern Europe freak me out for that.

I will never, ever forget eating the hotpot in Cheng Du as long as I live. The kids who served us in the restaurant were laughing at us, and offering us the yogurt drinks they drink to calm the heat down. It was one of the nicest things ever, ever. I'm gonna be in Guilin in March Zhao, know anything about it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top