Beijing Chinese, 88 Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9JA
It’s been a weekend filled with travelling so after a long drive back from Yorkshire I really couldn’t be arsed to cook a thing, I wasn’t that hungry to begin with but then I started hankering for some sweet & sour chicken balls (please don’t think I make it a habit to hanker after balls but if you’re silly enough to deep fry them in batter and... I’m around there is a good chance they’ll be nothing left of them by the time I've left).
I’d not tried the Beijing Chinese before so I thought I’d give it a whirl.
To be honest when you walk in you’re greeted with a rather tatty little room, paint cracked & peeling a bit, those stupid wallpaper mid boarders peeling too and big Chinese fan on one wall and a few wooden chair set up against the window.
I hit the counter & peruse the menu, since I’ve never been here before I just opt for my usual. Sweet & Sour chicken balls – check, Pancake roll – check, Mushroom fried rice…. Erm, I can’t see it on the menu… erm… then the kid behind the counter looks a bit confused and he too checks down the menu.
Kid – “Erm... nope, we erm… don’t do mushroom rice”
Me – “You do Mushrooms though right?”
Kid – “Yeah.”
Me – “And plain rice?”
Kid – “Yeah.”
Me – “You can see where I’m going with this?”
Kid – *blank gaze*
Me – “Can you just do normal rice and put some mushrooms in it?”
Kid – *Looks at menu again* “We don’t do mushroom rice.”
Me –“O…K… I’ll just miss the rice then.”
So I sit and wait alone in tatty room, after 10 minutes of silence the kid tries to start a conversation.
Kid – “So… you watch football?”
Me – “No, sorry mate.”
Kid – “Any sport?”
Me - *Patting my plentiful belly* “Sorry mate, I’m not really the sporting type... more of a gamer.”
Kid – “Ah, yeah... you look like a gamer.”
So kids, watch out if you play video games, you’ll end up fat and hairy just like your Uncle Belly here!
One rather awkward conversation about video games later I was relieved to have my food thrust upon me so that I could get the hell out of there!
I get home and dish up the grub; first thing I notice is just how greasy the batter is on the chicken balls, apart from that though everything else seems fine. The pancake roll is a MONSTER! The sweet & sour sauce is thick and tasty (but that’s what you get from something so packed with MSG that if you took it on holiday there would be no room in the case for anything else, it’s also a little too red for my likening but now I’m just being bloody picky).
The chicken is cooked pretty well and retains an element of juiciness & although the batter is greasy it still tastes good and doesn’t leave too much of a grease film in my mouth, the pancake roll is also very nice but I would have liked more shrimps in it and a little less pork (but to each their own).
OK, so I only tried two minor dishes but to be fair they were pretty good, not the best I’ve ever had but by no means the worst (that award goes to a skanky little place in Kempston next door to Blue Ginger… blurggghhh).
Mrs Belly and another friend made a comment about Chinese food the other day which now that I think about it is pretty spot on. Both have said that while they don’t dislike Chinese food it’s not something they would be fussed about eating as “You never finish a Chinese meal and think ‘WOW! That was amazing!”
They’re right though, Chinese food is good but unlike Indian or Italian food it‘s never fantastic it’s always just nice. In the case of the Being Chinese this is just below nice in the “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad” category.
In my opinion for the price you’d be better off going to one of the “All you can eat” Chinese buffets, the quality is about the same but at least at the buffet you get more variety for the price.
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