Mandarin Gardens
Mandarin Gardens
Mandarin Gardens
South Tay Street
Dundee
01382 227733
Despite being situated close to a number of very popular restaurants in the heart of Dundee's arts and theatre land the Mandarin Gardens seems to have no problems attracting customers through the door.
Maybe it's the good karma the building exudes from reputedly being the first in the city to use Feng Shui - resulting in the front door being round the side - or it could just be the excellent food and discrete but attentive service.
The menu is certainly extensive and offers a wide range of starters and main dishes and - surprisingly for a Chinese restaurant - desserts.
I was tempted by the Mongolian lamb - available as both a starter and a main - the duck in plum sauce and just about all the noodle dishes but couldn't quite decide which I would really prefer.
As my companions were equally indecisive we eventually took the easy option and plumped for a banquet so we could try out a few dishes each.
The inclusion of aromatic crispy duck in the last of the four banquets on the menu made up our minds and luckily there were four of us - the minimum number for that particular selection.
The starters consisted of a large platter of spare ribs, vegetable spring rolls and prawn toast served with a spicy sauce. This was followed by a very generous dish of crispy duck, three pancakes each, spring onion, cucumber and a most deliciously honeyed sauce.
Thankfully there was a short lull before the main event of special fried rice with mushrooms, ham and prawns, and five separate dishes covering the whole vegetable, prawn, chicken, pork and beef spectrum.
There was far too much of everything but we made a good attempt at finishing it off particularly the deliciously tangy crispy beef and the spicy and succulent chili chicken.
At �20.00 per person the Schezchuan Banquet is not the cheapest option but it is plentiful and is perfect for those wanting to sample a range of dishes. It also includes tea and coffee. Individual main dishes cost around the �7 to �10 mark with starters and desserts under �5.
- by Hilary McNally
(29/03/2001)
