Restaurant Review: Silk Road

We ventured to Camberwell in search of new flavours...

Do a disproportionate number of people have unprotected sex in June? We are barely halfway into March and I've already been to five birthday bashes whereas I didn't go to any in February. If there aren't many reviews for a while after this you'll know why - I'm going to have to go on a strict diet to get beach body beautiful again.

But before then one last blow-out. And I'm sorry but I've ventured out of SE22 again. This time to Camberwell, which I think is just about allowed. It's where I used to live so I'll always have a soft spot for it.

And Silk Road and I have a bit of history. Way back in 2009 Jay Rayner wrote a glowing review of Silk Road in the Observer so a few days later we went along to try it out. Not being familiar with food from the Xinjiang province I consulted my phone and simply ordered exactly what Rayner had ordered.

And just as I pulled out my phone and was looking at his big beardy picture byline who should walk in and go up to the counter but Jay Rayner himself. We all had a bit of a giggle at the table, he looked a bit confused, picked up his takeaway and left.

Anyway, this is the first time we've visited since then and business has clearly been good as there have been some changes. The restaurant is now about three times the size, stretching so far into the distance when we sat at the back we were almost at the Elephant & Castle.

The decor has gone upmarket too. Freshly painted walls, wood panel and a bright, airy vibe. Blimey. And no communal tables any more either. So posh it could almost be in East Dulwich.

The menu did not seem all that different though and this time around, thanks to our children who eat there regularly (this was the youngest's birthday treat so we were a quintet tonight), I didn't need to fish Jay Rayner out of my pocket, I had a pretty good idea what to order. We started we something familiar, steaming plates of minced shrimp and beef dumpling. Soft, doughy scalloped cushions with a taste explosion when you cut them open. And even better dipped into soy.

We thought this was a starter but we'd barely started when more dishes started to arrive. Crisp cubes of cucumber in a special sauce which was so crisp and fresh we should have really saved it as a palate cleanser but couldn't wait. And cold shredded kelp, which looked like ink squid pasta but tasted like tangy vegetable.

Stir-fried pak choi in garlic sauce was a classic (it was the first thing I fancied when I was recovering from Covid) and we were soon fighting over the leaves until they were quickly gone. Hot and sour shredded potato was a sensory surprise. Almost like a very mild sauerkraut. Stir fried aubergines with tomato and green chilli were a piping hot pleasure.

Best of these smaller plates though was the fish shish (that's what it said on the menu, I'm not sure if shish is a Chinese word either). This was a boneless red snapper roasted over charcoal, seasoned with salt, cumin and just a hint of chilli powder, served on steel skewer. i remembered enjoying lamb on a skewer like this last time but I don't think it was as good and certainly not as big as this red snapper.

The helpful waiter had said that two rices would be enough between the five of us. I was sceptical until I started to realise how many more dishes we had ordered. My partner had her regular go-to Chinese favourite, chicken with chilli. The chicken was a little too neatly cubed for my tastes and I tried to avoid the red chilli, but there was nothing wrong with it, I was just a wimp.

Xinjiang cuisine does seem to go big on chilli. I was tempted by the stir fried chicken gizzards, mainly because the word gizzard makes me giggle, but that also contained chilli. Instead we went for the lamb with noodle which was great, although there wasn't a great deal of lamb in the brothy bowl.

It was hard to find room on the table already and then they brought the main attraction. Having concluded rightly that the Big Plate Chicken would be a dish to far we went for the Middle Plate Chicken, which still deserves the capital letters and comes in something that is more like a small bath than a large dish.

You really have to have the Middle Plate. Watching the food swimming in the broth will make you want to dive in even if you are already feeling full. Belt noodles are wrapped elegantly around large chunks of potato and chicken pieces that look like they have been randomly chopped by a chef who wanted to get his money's worth out of a new cleaver. This means you might get a bit of non-specific bone with your poultry but that's part of the fun.

It was all washed down with jasmine tea and a few TsingTao beers. Needless to say we struggled to finish the lamb noodles and the Middle Plate. Well, we did finish them, but for lunch the next day, when somehow they tasted even better (at some point I'll have to write a whole column about the joy of leftovers).

The one thing that doesn't seem to have changed that much about Silk Road since 2009 is the prices (though I think they are very slightly higher than on the menu linked below). The bill came to £126 between five of us. It's no surprise that even though it has expanded substantially it was still full at 8pm on a Wednesday. Greedy gizzards that we are we were the last to leave. I wonder how big it will be in another 16 years.

Silk Road, 49 Camberwell Church St, London, SE5 8TR

All meals paid for and identity not revealed before or after.