After months of trying bland stir fried dishes and soups loaded with nerve-numbing quantities of MSG, I have finally discovered a decent Chinese restaurant in London. It's called Young Cheng and the food is right up there in the good cheap-eat Asian meals category. I can't describe the simultaneous joy and relief that overcame me when I first tried their Fukin (pronounced Fu-ken not Fuk-in) fried rice. It felt something like home. This is definitely not your white tablecloth dining experience, but everyone needs a basic cafe-style Chinese restaurant for those mid-week cravings or after-drink meals. And this is that.

Young Cheng is apparently famous for its inexpensive single plate meals. Their menu has pages of them; this appears to be common practice here. Unless it's a fried rice or noodle dish, it seems rather bizarre to me. Coming from Sydney, we usually just order 1 meat/vegetable dish per person and plain rice to match. The whole communal eating experience is definitely more Chinese. They must have developed the single plate meal thing for the London crowd. Regardless, Young Cheng is far from being Gwa low. While the setup is not as authentic as it could be, the quality is above average. I highly recommend this place if you're in Chinatown and are looking for a good meal on small budget. Be sure to stay away from those all-you-can-eat places and don't go to Crispy Duck unless it's past midnight.