Rice Republic

A long overdue food revolution is taking place down in Streatham. It’s called the Rice Republic, and its mission is to rescue Chinese cuisine from the vicious clutches of Formica-and-fluorescent-lighting greasy-spoons and restore it to its rightful place in the pantheon of damn good and damn good-looking food. Bravo, then, to this Streatham High Road outpost to proper Chinese made with love, the new rice bowl of southwest London. We’ve signed up, will you?

Rice Republic’s menus are their gastronomic manifestos; however, unlike many a polemic, they may be long (so long they need three separate menus to cover all their culinary aims) but never succumb to boring, empty rhetoric – every dish is a winner at Streatham’s most stylish Chinese restaurant. The original menu is the core of Rice Republic’s offering, covering starters (the fantastic Jumbo Starter is perfect for sharing, as is the stack of pancakes with crispy duck) and soups, and working its way through the food groups from veggies and seafood to meats, rice and noodles. Beautifully prepared and plated artfully, the overall vibe at Rice Republic’s Streatham High Road premises is decidedly populist, totally delicious, and not a little hip.

A separate so-called Super Sea Menu is a fantastic semi-DIY option for lovers of the briny – pick cod, prawn, squid, or soft shell crab, done salt ‘n’ pepper style, and choose from black bean, sweet and sour, or black pepper sauces. Voila. Vegetarians can go the same route, but with broccoli or tofu instead of cod and crab. Weekends see Rice Republic’s strategically positioned Streatham High Road restaurant pack out with hungry hordes in search of dim sum. Here, you can get some of the best dim sum in southwest London, our favourite being the enigmatically named Year Of Sheep platter, with a selection of chicken, pork, har gow and squid dim sum for you to indulge in. Confirming its position as a less-than-usual Chinese casual dining restaurant, Rice Republic also have a nice and long, well-annotated wine list, with old and new world vintages helping Streatham locals enthusiastically along in this new era of Chinese dining.