Saturday 19 September 2009

Uncle Lim's Kitchen, Croydon

Whilst browsing through The London Paper a few weeks ago, I found a listing for an apparently authentic and cheap Malaysian restaurant in Croydon, which happily for me is only about half an hour by bus away. I've always found Croydon just a touch bleak and a little too suburban for my liking (ahhhemmm ... says the girl who lived in Kingston for 4 years and grew up in suburbia KL!) but it's not such a bad place to hit the high street shops. A quick Google search confirmed the article's rating of good food at Uncle Lim's Kitchen at the Whitgift Centre, so to Croydon it was.

Uncle Lim's Kitchen, Croydon

I have been shopping in Croydon several times (it's godsend at Christmas when Oxford Street goes into meltdown - the situation only slightly better in Croydon but as long as it's better than meltdown - fine by me) and I still find a the Whitgift Centre one of the most confusing places to navigate (and I usually have a pretty good sense of direction). I picked up a map of the building and still wandered around the centre twice before I found the restaurant. More of a cafe than a restaurant; it's spartan but clean with their small menu posted on the wall. There's a choice of picking a meal deal from the 'economy rice' section or picking from their cook to order one plate dishes - a variety of fried noodles and rice. I was definitely going for their economy rice sets - I was starving. After a bit of oo-ing and ahh-ing I settled for rice (they only have egg fried and not boiled - a touch annoying as I've never warmed to fried rice when I'm having dishes) with sambal prawns, sweet and sour chicken and fried mix veg. All this and a tin of soft drink for £6. Not bad.

Economy Rice - Uncle Lim's, Croydon

Of the three 'dishes' the prawns were the best. They were very good in fact. The prawns were a good size and still freshly crisp. The sauce had a good heat to it, not mind-blowingly but not just a passing puff either, and the coconut came through nicely. Although better than most takeaways, the sweet and sour chicken was forgettable in comparison to the prawns. The vegetables were nice -well, they were just stir fried noodles with garlic.

Hainanese Chicken Rice - Uncle Lim's Kitchen, Croydon

The meal left me with a smile on my face ... and so darned full! I was definitely going back again. I did a bit a research after my visit and found another recent diner at Uncle Lim's Kitchen - LondonEater who raved about the Hainanese Chicken Rice and knew that my visit to Croydon was going to be a lot sooner than I thought.

Hainanese Chicken Rice - Uncle Lim's Kitchen, Croydon

The next visit was today - perfect as the chicken rice is a weekend special (£5.80 a plate). And oh how right LondonEater was. The chicken, drizzled with soy sauce and sesame oil, was silky, succulent and the experience very probably heightened by the fact I was given a whole deboned leg - not white meat in sight, yay! The rice was full of the garlic and chicken flavours as expected and the chili sauce was good, though a bigger portion would have been most welcome - I could have asked for more but I was too lazy to walk back to the counter. Only disappointment was the lack of chicken broth that usually accompanies this dish. Again I was left with a smile on my face and a very full belly. I did also manage to bag a few chicken curry puffs (£1 each) to take home - there was no way I could have fit them in after the chicken rice. So I'll be having them warmed up for breakfast tomorrow.

Uncle Lim's Kitchen
Upper North Arcade, Whitgift Centre, Croydon, CRO 1UZ

5 comments:

Wendy Yap said...

I Would love to try Uncle Lim's Kitchen's Curry Noodle when i dropby some day....Heard friends recommedation is GOOD....Cheers....

Luscious Temptations said...

Hi Wendy,
I was debating between the chicken rice and curry noodles the last time I was there but the chicken rice won :) Both are weekend specials as well, so I can't just drop by to have either at any time. Maybe I'll have the noodles the next time

Anonymous said...

Hi Luscious,

please do let me know taste of Uncle Lim's Kitchen's curry noodle after your try ya......

Merry X'mas to you.....and a good 2010 year ahead.....

Anonymous said...

I went here today, starving. I went for the £6 meal, and the plates they give are huge! There were many dishes so i chose sweet and sour chicken with roast chicken, chips, noodles, sweet corn and a soft drink for £6! I could barely finish it but was very filling and delicious.

By the way, The meat there is Halal.
I would highly recommend that you go there.

Anonymous said...

Are you people aware that this so-called ‘restaurant’ is run by a pimp and his mistress and that the place is filthy with rats running all over the place? Do you know how many people have succumbed to food poisoning there? The food is terrible and the attitude of this arrogant couple even worse. Avoid this place like the plague – do not even eat there for free!!!

The Food Standards Agency’s rating:

Date of inspection: 17 November 2011

Food hygiene rating is ’0′: Urgent improvement necessary

ZERO!!!!!! Are you people mad?????