When your scribe made a request to review the lunch options at Kennington Cross Chinese eatery Firecracker, the Observer finance director Adam said ‘you need to bring your own lunch’. When it was pointed out that a selection of rice or noodle dishes is just £8.50 or £10.00 if you add a soft drink or side dish he jumped out of seat and said ‘I’m your man’, and out of our secret office bunker we emerged.
On arrival at Firecracker we were greeted by a young waiter who had a ‘my parents own this gaff’ attitude to service. And to complement this swagger he had an amazing head of hair, reminding us somewhat of a Vileda mop. Adam was feeling spicy and chose belly pork and French bean with chilli bean sauce. He pronounced this properly spicy with plenty of beans and pork along with slightly sticky but lovely jasmine rice. Adam also decided, using his own words, to ‘splash out’ by ordering a side dish of prawn toast which was crunchy and abundant with sesame seeds.
Your scribe went old school and had sweet and sour chicken. The flavour profile was tangy and sweet, with the chicken very slightly battered and well combined with the tender vegetables. Between the rice bowls, noodle bowls and salads there were about 15 dishes to choose from, all at the same price. We didn’t tell Adam at the time, but given that the portions are perfectly decent you don’t need a side dish, even if some prawn toast did sound tempting. Not that offered us any, mind you.
Firecracker should be packed out but it was quiet on our visit on a Thursday lunchtime. Service was laid back in style, even a little sparse, but the food came quickly and was well presented. Let’s make this great Kennington lunch special more of a big deal and give the staff something to get excited about other than having great hair.
