RESTAURANT REVIEW: Silk Road

If you live in London and you like your food you've probably heard of Silk Road in Camberwell and how it's the best Chinese food in the city! You've heard correct, not only is it constantly voted one of London's best cheap eats but the fact that Camberwell is a pain to get to yet people are willing to trek across the city to eat here is a testament to the amazing quality of the food.

I went last week with a few friends for the first time in over a year and as I walked into the busy, canteen style restaurant I breathed in the sweet aromatic fumes and knew I would be in for a culinary treat that evening. Silk Road isn't your bog standard Chinese restaurant, it specialises in north-western Chinese fare therefore a lot of the flavours are quite middle eastern in taste.

This is definitely a place that works best if you share food. The portions are large and the menu is full of different meat, vegetable and noodle options therefore it's best to come with a larger group so you can sample more food.

The home style aubergine is one of my favourite dishes on the menu, fried with peppers, garlic and chilli this dish is sweet, spicy and delicious.

There's not many places where a plate of 10 steamed pork dumplings would cost so little and taste so good, another staple choice for any visit.

Kelp is a funny one, I always think I don't like the stuff but once it arrived the cold slippery seaweed packs a great punch full of chilli and sesame oil.

 Lamb shish skewers (£1 each) aren't for the faint of heart as they're loaded up with chunks of fat as well as lamb meat but they sure do taste good. Incredibly moorish it's incredibly easy to scoff a few of these each.

Pork belly cooked with onions, garlic and chilli is definitely my favourite thing on the menu. The pork belly is succulent and so full of flavour that you want to savour every slice and lick the plate clean once it's all gone.

The special lamb noodles with cabbage, onion, garlic and chilli (do you sense a theme) is another delightful plate full of flavour. The noodles are homemade and cooked perfectly al dente. The dish is hot without the chilli being overpowering.

The middle plate chicken is a huge bowl of chicken on the bone, potatoes and green chilli cooked in broth with a generous portion of thick homemade noodles. This is somewhat of a speciality dish here but it's probably my least favourite. The broth isn't that spicy thus appearing bland when compared to the other dishes, next time I visit I think I'll give it a miss.

The best thing about Silk Road is the price. On this visit there were 4 of us, we all had a drink and the bill was £12.50 each and as you can see we had quite the feast. I can't wait for my next visit.

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