My Old Place, City of London, London

Can’t rate this place enough. CT doesn’t hold a candle to this place…Honest food and service.
One of the first places, where we’re strapped for cash due ATM outages, managed to eat like kings, 2 people for under £30 tip incl.

There is an English and a Chinese menu. Offers standard fare that is tasty and good with some dishes being better than others. While I wouldn’t go out of my way, I will definitely consider when I’m around the area.

The food is worth a 5, but overall a 4 seems fair. I did have a Chinese national ordering for me - so I have no idea what I actually ate - but the soup was superb, the green beans with chilli even better - even the cold 'lung' dish was delicious, I just wish Id never asked what I was eating.... Very good and Id recommend - great to get away from multi mono gump, that we have come to know as Chinese food.

GOD! This is the worst one I have ever been!!

Very poor service.. Staff don't speak English. If there is something wrong with the food they pretend they didn't understand you, they don't listen to you and of course they are not willing to change anything. Food comes really late with the worst attitude..

Its been a horrible experince..

Never again!!

I'm sorry but the fact that they have two menus: a basic 3-page-long English menu and a Chinese one that actually resembles a book, is absolutely unacceptable. Is this even allowed?
I was willing to tolerate the long waits in the queue, lack of manners, very poor English, slow service, cash-only-payment, receipts that are simply a piece of paper from a notepad with scribblings in Chinese and the provokingly indifferent attitude towards anyone non-East-Asian but this takes the biscuit!! And the most frustrating thing of all is that you can't even complain about any of the above, because no-one will understand you!
It's a shame because the food is indeed very good - the lamb skewers are to die for, the prices are reasonable (possibly even more reasonable on the Chinese menu, I bet :P) and I live really close. But I won't be going back...
I gave it a few chances, just in case my bad experience was a one-off, but...no.
There are plenty of nice places to eat in the area, and if it wasn't for the Chinese-fanbase queuing up outside every day, I bet the place would be empty.

Four stars for the food, no stars for the service, so that makes it two from me.

Great food, lousy service. There's "bring it when it's ready" and there's waiting an hour for rice.

I went expecting a bit of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am chilli punch to the head, but chose the wrong dishes. Eating the well-cooked and tasty, but ultimately frustratingly tame tasting tender beef, i got a major case of dish envy as chilli laden plates went wafting by in an eye (and mouth) watering waft of spicy aromas.

The lamb skewers were good, although our second two were much better in terms of spicing than the first couple - although like @raistlyn below, my companion said they were much better at Gourmet San. never the less, these were a treat, particularly for those of us unused to the Xinjiang cuisine of China's western regions.

The Chef's Special Curried Crab happily tempered a bad case of the green-eyed-monster and pulled my attention back to the food in front of me. Strongly flavoured in a tongue-tingling way without overwhelming the flavour of the crab, this was a great dish.

The moral of the story? Be brave and dive straight into the chilli laden dishes with the higher spice ratings because they're the ones that will blow your socks off. And go in a group, because as noted below, the dishes are huge and two mains and a 'side' of veg is enough to fill two hungry bellies.

My Old Place (or Lao Di Fang in Mandarin) on Middlesex Street is the sister restaurant of Gourmet San in Bethnal Green.

The food served here is generally decent, but I much prefer the original restaurant, and the lamb skewers which are incredibly delicious at Gourmet San don't taste of anything at all at My Old Place.

If you can spare the time, I'd recommend going to the original. Otherwise, this place will do, but be aware that, in my view, it's really nothing compared to the original.

Sensational. No other word for it. Better than most places in China, and I've been to a few of them. The best Szechuan food I've had in UK or almost anywhere else.

One of the best Chinese restaurants in London, miles away from the westernized Chinese food so common these days. Portions are huge (you can ask them for a doggy bag, no worries) and it's really cheap. Staff speak english but if you can, bring a Chinese speaker along with you (it would be easier to order / ask for specific requests plus the Chinese menu is better than the English one)

Worth a vsit, good Szechuan food, fresh and tasty...spice lovers will enjoy this place

Great place for authentic Chinese food… especially sezchuan food! Very spicy and oily…. one of the characters of szechuan food. Try the aubergine and meat; deep fried chicken wings with coke… really great. There are some cold dishes that are absolutely amazing… this is the second time I have been there… each time I am belly busted! The portions are huge…. and each time without fail…. it will fill you to the brim with a small bill to foot at the end!!!!

This is probably the most authentic Szechuan food I’ve eaten in London! Hidden away on a side road, the restaurant spans two floors. The decor is very minimal, having a feel of a cheap Chinese canteen rather than a proper restaurant.

The staff do speak English, but one gets the feeling that the usual customers are Chinese-speaking. The majority of the diners when I was there were of Chinese origin, a testimonial to the authenticity of the food. Furthermore, one of the menus is fully in Chinese, and although I think all the dishes on it are on the English menu too, it might be best if someone in your group knows Chinese or at least knows what the dishes are.

Its a perfect place to try “ma la” dishes, which is a numbing sort of spicyness only found in Szechuan food. Prices are very reasonable with massive main dishes costing £7-10. The 4 of us hungry young adults who went there managed to spend only £40 in total (excluding drinks), and there was so much food we couldn’t finish it all.

The food is probably not to everyone’s taste and has not been Westernized, but for those seeking an authentic Chinese, or more specifically Szechuan experience, this is the place to go!

This is the second branch of My Old Place, with the original branch in Bethnal Green attracting queues, and it’s rather good.

Szechuan spiced food is the order of the day, with a good range of spicy dishes as well as some excellent barbeque and soup.

They do a cheaper lunch menu, with rice and soup, or the full menu, with huge portions and high quality. The service is a little random on occasion, but the staff are normally friendly if a little distracted or confused.

If you ask nicely they will do takeaway, although you may end up with a small pile of takeaway containers to be able to carry the rather silly sized portions.

I recommend the double cooked pork as well as the fish fried pork, which is my regular. Take care with how spicy the dishes are, as they vary from visit to visit and can sometimes be significantly more fearsome than you would expect.

Summary:

'My Old Place’, well it’s true this place has been around a long time. It used to be a Thai restaurant before this current Chinese theme/menu was adopted.

I’ve been twice and each time the food has been authentic and well prepared. It’s a Northern China restaurant, of which there aren’t that many in London anyway, so it’s refreshing and worth a visit.

Northern Food is often spicy and simple. Vegetables and fresh ingrediants are key and there’s a particular like for strongly flavoured items (sauce or actual meats). Great for the taste buds.

Review:

Food: 4/5 - Good food, although the Chinese menu is better than the English menu. Take a native with you for the best dishes. I liked a lot of the fish dishes as well as things with aubergine in them. They also do traditional Chinese deserts, eg, sweet potato.

Service: 2/5 - Poor, little English comprehension and slow service. They don’t forget dishes, but they will forget ad-hoc requests or dishes. It seems to be focused on English speakers though, so I guess if you’re Chinese not so much a problem. Also lower score due to attitude, some of the serving staff are a bit sullen.

Price: 4/5 - Very good, we went as a group of 15 last time and a massive meal worked out at £13 a head with drinks.

Location: Easy to reach via Liverpool street.

Conclusion:

Good, solid entry to the Chinese food list in the UK.