EuroRevs

MAXIM – Ealing, London

MAXIM London – dates of visit 2014-2023

There is a great divide when it comes to food. Be it the ingredient itself or the method by which it is prepared: no one is partial to a texture that they cannot tolerate. We all have to eat so why is it only foodies or trends that drive us a certain direction into feeling like our palates are only so-so? Or that we have to try things in a restaurant because it’s expensive or someone cool said it’s delicious?

Maxim is a Chinese restaurant specialising in Cantonese cuisine, in Ealing, West London although it’s based in Northfields and much closer to get to on the Picadilly Line by tube from there. Ealing didn’t have many Chinese restaurants specialising in any regional or traditional foods or cuisines when Maxim arrived – so it was crowned Ealing’s best Chinese restaurant.

Cold jellyfish is prepared with a side of mustard sauce for dipping and thinly sliced cucumber. It’s a trilogy of textures and flavours I never thought I’d try and yet it works as though The Godfather Part Three was typecast to satisfy its audience. No fishy taste or Haribo jelly texture just smooth cartilage-like bite with a slippy snap that gripped the hot mustard and mellowed out with the cucumber. The creamed Chinese cabbage: a juxtaposition of things you’d not like to eat, is milky, sweet and on the scallion side of allium forward fruitiness. They are my two favourite dishes at Maxims. Executed impeccably.

So there’s the jellyfish that looks like translucent hand cut noodles, that is crunchy and moreish and the creamed Chinese cabbage: two reasons why ordering in a group is good here. I would not think to order these alone. I’ve ordered both from Maxim as many times as we visited as family – which is probably 25-35 times.

The spring rolls are fat cigars – probably frozen filo pastry filled with bean sprouts, carrot and Chinese cabbage – succumb as much to that instagram -able presentation as absolutely nothing on the menu at MAXIM.

In spite of what you feel about chilli oil, this is what David Chang called “ugly delicious”. Only works if it is –and it is, delicious.

We had been coming as a firm family favourite to MAXIM in Northfields for a decade or so and I was avoiding the past tense, until this statement. I want to clarify a few things. There’s a husband and wife team at the head of business or operations in the kitchen and the wife is a delight who takes every individual’s dietary needs, requests, on board without fuss. The Hot and Sour Soup and stir fried mixed vegetable dishes at MAXIM sent me to my kitchen (a place that simultaneously sustains my life and sucks and spits it out) to seek replicable answers.

The food was good. Consistent yet pricey for, well, Northfields. But good.

One evening, on a bank holiday that was not busy we were encouraged to order our drinks first. We ordered bottles of wine for the table as it was a special occasion and our usual sparkling water. We were charged £20 per bottle of sparkling water and when we were asked if we would like to order anything for dessert (we barely did as its mostly frittered fruit and ice cream from Tesco) we mentioned it was a birthday. We had the option to decide what we wanted in this case and we left to the server. It was a version of what I just described and we charged for it. All in all, it left us with a bitter a taste for the establishment. Take with that, what you will.

Overall MAXIM - LONDON in Northfields - Chinese Food Ealing

Taste: 6.9/10

Service: 1-3/10

Value for Money: 4.5/10