We were bullied into ordering fast, which is pretty much the norm for Soho and one of the reasons people return. I remember choosing the Wong Kei time and again over other more friendly restaurants, just so I could be shouted at by the waiters and staff generally; great fun and no extra expense for the show. My favourite memory of that place was when I saw an American couple being berated by the waiter for trying to pay with a credit card – “ Money! Money! No card! No card!” HK diner is of that ilk but not as much fun.

We ordered the set meal letter C. Hot and sour soup, a quarter of duck with pancakes, shredded beef with chilli, chicken in black bean sauce, big prawns with something, some very busy rice & because we are stupid western people an extra portion of Singapore noodles; just in case. The meal was hot, very spicy and not too glupy – so I would ordinarily recommend that you go there for OK food, if it weren’t for a couple of things. Firstly the complete lack of atmosphere down in the basement – no light, no pictures, not even dodgy wallpaper or a 1995 calendar showing views of Hong Kong from the air. The music was painful – A described it as Chinese Eurovision – or is that a contradiction in terms. After a hot and sour soup coughing fit, (entirely my own fault the chillis always get me), and on my return from the toilet – I made steady headway through the soup but was stopped in my tracks by a piece of black stone, or tile or concrete we couldn’t decide. Nor could the waitress who came to check it out – it was hard but also slightly crumbly. As the staff gathered round for a look, I apologised for having found it in my soup, and they didn’t.

The rest of the food was fine, but we felt for the rest of the meal as though we had done something wrong and were being punished. There was a general air of aggression - the waitress unnecessarily chopping our duck for us and pouring our tiger beer dangerously fast into the glasses – it’s a kind of attentiveness that makes you edgy but not grateful. The final clincher was the moment when at the end of the meal, as the plates were removed and the table wiped, A was showered in bits of fried rice and lumps of twice cooked pork.
HK Diner did stick out from the bunch and will continue to do so for me unfortunately. There are plenty of OK places to go in Soho and HK Diner is one of them, but try those before you try this. Havoc