Bintang

It can be very difficult to come across a Pan-Asian restaurant in London that is able to successfully pull all the Asian cuisines together on one menu. In theory, it sounds amazing to be able to have delicious sushi rolls whilst eating some crispy peking duck all in one meal, however it doesn’t always work. The only Pan-Asian that I have thoroughly enjoyed to this date would be Novikov and it still remains to be one of my top five favourite restaurants in London.

With that in mind, when I came across Bintang I was a little hesitant about visiting, however, I was drawn to their creative menu with delicious offerings like Taiwanese Tacos and I just had to drag BW all the way to colourful Camden. As soon as you enter, their walls are littered with pop art inspired posters and quirky pieces and it becomes evident that they have gone the distance to offer something a little different. It’s hard not to get excited about the food they are about to put in front of you.

Blueberry & Lychee Mojitos
Having heard many positive things about the blueberry mojito at Bintang, I straight away ordered this but found that the drink had a consistency more of a blueberry smoothie rather than a fizzy mojito. Disappointed with my drink, I then took BW’s lychee mojito only to find that it wasn’t a lot better than mine.

Beef and Duck Gua Baos
This was one item on the menu that I had been dreaming about for months. A gua bao, also known as a Taiwanese Taco, is a soft , squidgy and doughy bun usually filled with all sorts of goodies and we went for both the beef and duck version of Bintang’s gua baos. I absolutely loved the concept and the bun, but found it to be very messy and difficult to handle using your hands. Both the beef and duck were cooked nicely so that the meat was soft, however I was expecting more kick from the filling considering they had used wasabi flaw.

Korean Chicken Wings
The wings were so perfectly cooked that when you took a bite you got a nice crunch followed by the hot, moist chicken. My one criticism was these amazing and crispy wings were then topped with a pool of overly sweet sauce that would have gone better on the side or as a light, sticky coating.

Beef Bulgogi
A beef sirloin, I’m guessing, was sliced into small pieces and served on a hot sizzling plate with colourful pepper chunks and sliced onions. The beef was really tender and flavourful, with a discretely sweet undertone. This was definitely our favourite dish of the night.

Chicken Bintang
Bintang’s house curry had a similar take on the popular green Thai curry with the sweet coconut cream and lemongrass. The chicken was cooked just right, and the curry was decent, but had an almost bitter aftertaste which I wasn’t a huge fan of.

Sweet Potato Nori Fries

Roti

The total bill amounted to £51.92 for two people, including slow service and mediocre mocktails, which tends to be the average London dinner price these days. However the decor and sheer creativity of this restaurant won my heart – not only did they make the restaurant very artsy but managed to pull of a well designed online presence to catch the eyes of potential visitors. Sadly, Bintang wasn’t able to shift my view on Pan-Asian restaurants as only a couple of dishes were well worth recommending however they made a huge effort to engage with their restaurant goers and offer them a quirky dining experience.

[I know, I know, the quality of the photos are just something else but my SD card full of restuarant photos decided to give up on me this weekened and I lost all of my recently visited restaurant blog photos! ]

Address: 93 Kentish Town Rd, London NW1 8NY
Telephone: 020 7267 2197
Website: http://www.bintang.com
Closest Station: Camden Town or Kentish Town stations
Parking: Free outside the restaurant after 6:30