I was in York 2 days this week at a work conference and headed straight from my train back to London King’s Cross to an invitation I had received to try new food place Baker Canteen, located inside existing Bright Courtyard restaurant. I was a bit confused about what the invite/new business was and when I got there it was still a bit confusing.
Bright Courtyard is an existing restaurant which seemed to have a very good and large menu offering things like sweetcorn soup, Chinese curry dishes and even lobster and whole Peking duck that gets carved at the table side. It seems we were not invited to try this menu as we later found out that the menu we could choose from had not even been printed yet and we would have been expected to check Deliveroo for the menu options if we had not already told the staff that we would trust their judgement and were happy to try whatever they believed was best or anything that they wanted me to try and review online. We did mention we love spicy food so would be excited to try some spicy options.
The first dish we received was a tiny portion of Classic Mini Pork Sticky Ribs that was quite nice in flavour but tiny in size and not much to write home about.
The second dish we received was another tiny portion but this time of Shanghai Smoked Crispy Fish (we had to keep asking the waiters/waitresses what each dish was and they didn’t know but I found these descriptions on their Deliveroo page later). I really liked the taste of this dish but it was quite tiny between two people and I think this was the stage we realised we were not being served from the same menu as all of the other diners around us (who’s food looked INCREDIBLE – that duck!)
Next up, we got a portion of Special Shanghai Wontons which were pork and prawn and came with a homemade peanut sauce that tasted a lot like Satay sauce but apparently was not Satay sauce when I asked. These wontons were quite nice again but lacked a bit of extra flavour and I now wish I had asked for some extra chilli oil to dribble over them instead of just the peanut sauce. I think this would have made them really good!
Dish #4 was a Beef fried rice dish which was actually really good and I really enjoyed it although it was not a huge portion – I had to fight my boyfriend for this one it was so good! I would definitely order this if I visit again but as a side to another dish, preferably a curry-style dish.
Finally (and I think the main attraction for them) was the Braised Lion Head Meat Ball Noodle Soup which neither of us liked at all. It was very bland and we did not enjoy the meatballs at all which I think were Pork. The noodle soup was very watery and the noodles were basically plain spaghetti.
I think now that I have seen more posts, it seems that Baker Canteen is an alternative lunchtime menu served only between 11:30am-5:00pm and on Deliveroo as a takeaway option. It was arranged for us to eat here at 6:15pm which I think was what caused the confusion between our food and the other diners and not fully understanding the concept of the new business Baker Canteen. After 5:00pm, I believe the food reverts back to the usual restaurant menu which looked a million times better.
The restaurant was really nice and had a fancy feel to it and the staff were lovely and kept us well topped up with wine and beer. Plus there were definitely a few highlights from this menu such as the Beef Fried Rice and Shanghai Smokey Crispy Fish (and the Wontons if I had thought to add chilli oil). I think maybe we were just expecting a different experience as it was not properly explained and we arrived during the evening menu hours but overall, I was a bit disappointed with the new menu food and probably won’t be back to try this menu again BUT I might very well be back to try the original evening Bright Courtyard menu, especially that whole Peking duck!!
North Fish Big SeA 