Loving Hut (Camden, London)

You know you suck at blogging when places close before you post about them. At least I can cast some light on why it might have closed.....

Having visited other branches of Loving Hut in the UK and North America the Camden one was the worst by far. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either - similar prices to Veggie World but with vastly inferior food.

I ordered a couple of dishes when I visited in September - 'Chicken' Satay Skewers and 'Steak' in black bean sauce with noodles. There wasn't a kitchen so to speak - behind the till was a small work surface and cooker.

The skewers looked good, but were cold inside and almost certainly the frozen ready to cook type available in Chinese supermarkets (similar to those we sometimes buy from Wing Yip in Birmingham). The sauce wasn't peanutty enough and had a texture as if it'd been made up from powder.

The 'Steak' in black bean sauce looked alright but tasted like a medium priced stirfry from Tesco. Tasty, but more student food than eating out food.

It's never good when v*gan places close and I know several people who loved the Camden branch of Loving Hut. Perhaps other menu items were better, I caught them on a bad day or Veggie World's given me an unrealistic expectations of the level that other Chinese(esque) restaurants should aspire to.

I'm not ready to give up on Loving Hut yet - their hotel in Austria looks very promising indeed. Will post a review if and when we make it over there :)