Fu Lam is a Chinese take-away at 215 Forest Road with Ahadh Halal Butchers to their left and Hair Design to its right.
The interior has the usual very high counter to the left of the entrance and an unseen kitchen out the back.
They have a very full menu, with headings such as Soup, Appetisers, Rice Dishes, Chow Mein Dishes, Ho Fun Dishes, Chop Suey Dishes, Seafood Dishes, Chicken Dishes, Beef Dishes, Roast Pork Dishes, Duck Dishes, Lamb Dishes (which you don't see in many places in the UK but is eaten in many parts of China, especially in the Far West), Curry Dishes, Sweet and Sour Dishes, Vegetable Dishes, Tofu Dishes, Omelette or Foo Yong Dishes, and Exyra Dishes. They also fo Set Dinners.
They will not deliver an order of less than £6, and charge £1 for any order worth less than £10. Over £10, delivery is free and comes with free prawn crackers.
They are shut on Mondays, and open from Tuesday to Saturday from 12.00noon to 2.00pm and from 5.00pm to 11.45pm. Sunday and Bank Holiday openings are from 5.00pm to 11.45pm.
Many of the dishes are clearly adapted to an English palate, but these are clearly identifable, for instance they offer chicken with English mushrooms (£3.60)as an alternative to their chicken and Chinese straw mushroom dish (£3.70), though they do not seem to have a shitake mushroom offering on their regular menu.
The menu clearly identifies the dishes with chillies, which is useful as their chinese food is based on the cuisines of Beijing (which they call Peking), Szechuan and Guangzhou (Canton). Some Szechuan food can be pretty spicy. One disappointment for seafood fans thouh is that the range is confined to king prawns or squid. There is no fish, though a crabmeat and sweetcorn soup can be had for £1.90.
A crispy aromatic duck somes as a quarter for £6.40, served with pancakes, cucumber, spring onions and hoi sin sauce, or a half at £12.20, which produces a slight economy of scale.
Standards like sweet and sour pork come at £3.60, beef with green pepper and black bean sauce are £3.70, and chips are £1.20. Plain boiled rice costs £1.80 for a small portion and £2.50 for a large, which is why, as with most take-aways which go with rice, it is a good idea to cook your own rice. If anyone is interested, the Chinese characters Fu Lam have on their red shopfront in white writing translate as 'wealth approaching'.
Tel 0208 527 1457
Opposite Best Food Ltd.