The Good Earth is a Bellevue Road stalwart: the area’s go-to ‘smart’ Chinese. Plenty of locals have been heading here for years and are on visibly friendly terms with staff. And actually, the slick, super-polite service is one of its best qualities, a far cry from your typical Chinatown brush-off. The setting, though dated, is attractive: golden-hued walls, starched linen, splashes of coloured glass carving up the different areas.
Standards of cooking, however, have dropped since the last time I went: dishes are now solid, rather than sensational. Wonton soup was decent: springy dumplings in a light broth. There was a trio of deep-fried, vermicelli-wrapped prawns which, while on the greasy side, came with a nicely piquant sauce. Just don’t bother with the too-soggy dry-fried beans or the meek, distinctly pedestrian kung po prawns. The best dish? A plate of ubiquitous crispy duck, its meat moist, crunchy edged and nicely fatty.
The Good Earth may not be the destination it once was, but if your craving is for high-street, rather than high-end, it’ll fit the bill nicely.