There are plenty of things that you can experience in Elephant and Castle. For instance, being hit by a car. Or being mowed down by a Just Eat delivery person cycling on the pavement. But one doesn’t often experience high quality Chinese food there. It’s for this reason that we were devastated when our favourite Cantonese ‘Dragon Castle’ closed in March  2020, but they are now back with a vengeance. 

With the cheap chandeliers, plastic plants, lazy Susan’s and even a water feature, at Dragon Castle you delightfully experience the feel of being in a mega restaurant in Beijing without the torture of six lateral flow tests and a 10 hour flight. But alas, you are at the top of Walworth Road. We commenced our feast with the dim sum sampler. Dim sum is a speciality of DC, and they did not disappoint. Crammed with prawns and veg, they were congealed in a very pleasing way and were almost certainly made fresh on the day. 

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My dining partner enjoyed a main of braised pork belly and broccoli flavoured with soy and spices which the dining partner described as  ‘delicious and  also generously sized’. A slight sweetness to balance the saltiness and meltingly soft pork was evident. It was a delicious soft fat, as you want, but with a high ratio of pork meat and plenty of it. 

Your scribe ordered the sizzling beef and black bean with green pepper, onion, and chilli. Served with generous soy sauce, the beef was extremely lean and tender. It was just on the right side of spicy with the black bean sauce creating a big, palate clinging flavour. The generous sticky rice portions were served in metal lined baskets looking not dissimilar to mop buckets.  

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Dragon Castle is not as affordable as it used to be but still good value for the quality of the food. We ordered draft beer as the wines started at £25. Importantly. there were not a retinue of delivery people scurrying in and out (but DC is on Deliveroo). A fun night out, and the risk of a vehicular injury could perhaps even add to the adventure.