Jacky's Kitchen
On 7 January 2008, a friend and I went to Jacky's Kitchen, new restaurant in the Chinatown, Birmingham.
The reason why I chose as the first restaurant to visit in 2008 was that last year a very good review (5 out of 5) of this place appeared on the local news paper Birmingham Mail.
It does not look particularly attractive or inviting from the outside, but inside it is pretty elegant by the standard of the Chinese restaurants in this area. The menu is bilingual, and features Sechuan and North-Eastern dishes reflecting the recent fashion.
This is boiled and spiced beef meat and stomach from the cold starter section. Sliced meat and various intestines are flavoured with chili, chili oil, Sechuan pepper, shredded leek and salt.
It is difficult to pass judgement on this dish as this was the first time to eat it, but I guess it was average. It is a quite spicy, and I wanted a bowl of steamed rice to go with. The intestine did not have particular smell or taste. Besides, it was too much as a starter, even for two of us. We ate quite a lot, but almost a half remained uneaten.
This is seafood chow mein. The seafood chow mein in Cantonese restaurants is usually pan-fried thin yellow noodles, with seafood gravy on top, but this one had much thicker noodles and the seafood was stired-in.
The content was pretty poor for £6.50. The seafood was two king prawns, two slices of squids, and one mussle. I have gotten more for less price in this neighbourhood.
These are boiled jiaozi dumplings. The north east China is famous for this type of dumpling and that was why we ordered them. They were to be eaten with Chinese black vinegar (at the left upper corner in the photo).
To our disappointment, the skin of the dumplings were too thick and doughey, and the filling also were poor. They did not look to be made by professional cook either. Even I could have made something better.
We ordered also a pot of jasmine tea, and the total bill game to more than £18 (so we paid £20). It is not expensive, but I could have eaten better as some other Chinese restaurants in the same area.
It is true that we tried only three dishes, but considering that they failed in basic things like chow main and jaozi, I am not sure if I bring myself to return this place
** P.S. **As there was no one else eating when we visited (later arrived two sets of two persons) we were led to the table next to the window so that we could be visible. While we were eating a young black girl went passing by showing her middle finger toward us. And later, a young white guy holding booze bottles ran by, being chased by three shop keepers. This is not a dangerous neighbourhood during the day time, but evidently it is not much elegant either. It is better to be cautious during the evening.
Jackys Kitchen
Unit 4 Southside, Bromsgrove St, Birmingham, B5 6QB
Tel. 0121-666 7187
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