Pepper Lime

Was drawn in by the very positive Unilocal reviews, as we have only ever been disappointed in and around Chinatown… But, this is another so-​so place. It is tiny (and very hard to get 4 people into a 4 people table — the tables are small, and the seats fit into them snugly, so don’t expect any elbow room). The menu didn’t seem heavily laden with Szechuan options, despite apparently being a Szechuan restaurant.
Dim sum was a bit doughy, and with dryish meat. Mains were OK, but bland — my seafood and Japanese tofu hotpot had a lot of (very nice) tofu, and a few pieces of squid, but was under spiced. My daughter’s noodles with duck was mostly a bland broth with some large pieces of roast duck. My son’s pork chops in Capital sauce was like cheap sweet and sour.
I don’t know where the other reviewers ate, or how they arrived at 5 stars, but I kept checking that this was the same place they’d reviewed — it certainly didn’t seem like it.

Good little Chinese restaurant among the seemingly hundreds of others in London’s crowded Chinatown. Friendly and quick service, reasonably priced. Five of us were seated in the small room upstairs which was nice and quiet on a Wednesday night. We ordered from the B and C Set Menus and were very satisfied. Recommended.

The waiter didn’t seem to be able to understand English. Some of the food was nice, but most was very fatty with no meat and the chicken was the horrible fake chicken. It was extremely expensive for what it was and I have had an upset tummy for 2 days after. so will definitely not be going here again!

So a Groupon was offered for this spot by the name of Kai Soho. It was slightly difficult to find since I was looking for Kai Soho but the address was in plain sight so I found it that way. I was ushered into my seat and given a menu for my drink while they placed an order for my crispy duck aka peking duck. The duck came extremely quick. It looked quite scary. Kinda like it was sitting around and re-​fried. Then the guy started to «cut» the duck with a fork and spoon. Never saw anything like that in my life. I was given some spring onions, hoisin sauce and these flat white pancakes. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and the service wasn’t bad at all. The J2O has me still dreaming about it. I would love to come back.

New, formidable player on Lisle Street.
The hard selling was a bit annoying but did get me through the door.
Ordered jajiangmien and spicy pork ears to go. I applaud the generous serving of grind pork and sauce; pork ears were spicier beyond expectation (naturally a good thing).

Thanks to fellow Unilocaler Irene L who organised a meal to Kai, which has been open for about 6 weeks. Kai means ‘Open’ and it reflects the wonderful hospitality that we received on my visit — our waiter was very helpful with ordering our meal and the staff were very attentive throughout, making sure our teapot was constantly topped up throughout our meal
Kai showcases food from northern China, meaning spicy heat to combat the cold winters and hearty flavours
Between Irene and our waiter, they came up with a yummy combination, including some off the menu dishes! It pays to eat with experts!
The star dish of crab with noodles with ginger and spring onion arrived first, together with crab picking implements and finger bowl, nice touches for a Chinese restaurant. The crab was sweet and well cooked though we could have done with more noodles!
My second favourite dish was a slow cooked pork belly, which was meltingly soft with gentle cooking and sweet
The next star dish to arrive even caused the waiter to take a photo himself as it wasn’t something which many customers ordered — a whole fish, which had been deep fried and then served up in a savoury sauce. The fish was wonderfully crunchy but the sauce was a touch too thick
We had a selection of skewers with prawns, tofu, beef and squid covered in a hot Sichuan sauce. This was probably the most ordinary dish of the evening
The chef wanted us to try 2 of his dishes that we hadn’t ordered and gifted us some lovely steamed dumplings as well as some fried chicken, which had great crispy skin and tender meat
Our last dish was the best dan dan noodles I’ve had in London. They were appropriately spicy with Sichuan peppercorns but it had been toned down enough so that I could taste the profile. I couldn’t stop eating these
A nice addition to London’s increasingly diverse Chinese food scene

好味道 (hao wei dao) literally means «GOOD TASTE»! True enough this restaurant lives up to its name. This is a great restaurant for Sichuan cuisine having just recently opened (i.e. last week) and I had already visited it a couple of times.
Love the Sichuan Dan Dan noodles. If you are brave enough to try something new, this will blow your mind! On the surface it looks like a typical bowl of noodles with peanuts and sesame garnish. However, what lies beneath the noodles is the REAL thing! It has bold flavours, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from garlic and chilli peppers, as well as the unique flavour of the Sichuan peppercorn and facing heaven peppers .
I went to the restaurant again in the evening on the first day of Chinese New Year. The place was packed. There were 10 of us, all geared up for a proper sit down meal. Despite being very busy and working under stress, the food was delicious and generous portions.
We had the following dishes:
~Crabs with spring onions and ginger on noodles
~Crispy aromatic duck
~Stir fried snow pea shoots with garlic (dou miao)
~Fried frog legs with dried chilli
~Black pepper & honey eels
~Steamed turbot with chilli and spring onions (Check out the photo, it was big one!)
~Salt & chilli squids
~Preserved vegetables & belly pork (our classic must have, as a ½ Hakka person)
~Mango & grapefruit with sago dessert (complements of the Chef)
I was very pleased and all of my guests thought the food was great. The chef did a wonderful job!
Simply awesome :)