TL;DR: This is one of these times when exploring Brisbane's dining scene that I come to one of its oldest ever restaurants - one that is still standing after decades of consistency. Being a bit of a young town in that regards, it pays well to give the old legends their due and try them out. One of these legends is none other than China Sea, which has been the recipient of many awards year after year after year, as well as getting its fair share of testimonials from the average Joe to public figures alike. That is not surprise, as China Sea is the work of several more decades of dedicated work with its chef cutting his teeth in Chinatown kitchens. Despite its facade from the street view, walking into China Sea transports you right into the experience from the get go. In this part of town, this is the close to the best you can get.
China Sea has set the bar for Chinese food in Brisbane for quite the longest time. A far cry from the all-too-familiar takeaway kind, it transports patrons right into the experience working like a well-oiled machine. Never one for pleasantries in customer service, putting that aside once you get a bite of their wonderful food, there will be nothing but satisfaction.
It was the time of the month to meet up with my friend for a meal out, and in it being alternating turns it was up to her to find the place this time. Leading up to it, she was giving out hints that a bit of Chinese might do her well. She has people in the know about good places to hit up for a meal at her workplace, and had heard specifically about the Peking duck at China Sea. Following up to the night, she was giving those hints - but as I told her, this was her choice this month. It was specifically Chinese that had her having a hankering, and before I knew it the two of us were off to the Western part of town in Toowong. Throughout all these years, China Sea had being seen in the corner of my eye. It has endured, yet until now I had not thought about it. Those days have ended, and I can rest assure its reputation is well-deserved.
With how it is set out, this is a far cry from Chinatown. They are set right in the hotel lobby, which in many cases is an absolute blessing, yet there will always be that kind of drawback. It is hard to get an ambient and lush design with the decor, try as they might. The primary aspect about going out to a Chinese restaurant that is not related to the food, is how when it comes to the whole ordeal the philosophy is "more is more" - less does not exist in the vocabulary this time. They put in as many tables, with all the chairs that they can to ensure more patrons are able to be served at any time. Right here, they could be seated on the verandah, or in an adjacent smaller room if need be. At peak times this could get rowdy, at quieter times it might well be slightly romantic. Credit where it is due, each table is decked out and fully set up just awaiting some hungry customers. That is the icing and the cherry on top of the cake, showing a meticulous and well-prepared manner of service.
Each time I dine Chinese, one thing I point out without it being in favour or going against the place is the service. You are never going to get absolutely brilliant service at a Chinese restaurant. Granted efficiency could not be any better or at a higher standard, yet that is about it. The customer service part - being smiles or anything - is taken expense to ensure the efficient speed of service. They take the orders as quick as they can, and bringing out the food they do it in quick succession. Order a lot, and the table is filled up within minutes. All of this is part and parcel of the experience, and should not be taken as a criticism of any thought. It is just a note for how things are done around these parts. For me, if the food is good enough I don't care at all. China Sea was exactly that, efficient to a machine-like quality spitting out food that was good quality, and ultimately filling.
As it will be seen soon, the menu is quite a big one. That is one reason when it comes to Chinese restaurants (particularly the yum cha variety), it is rewarding to go in a big group. It was quite a task going through it, and with almost every dish sounding just as tempting and mouth-watering as the last, whittling the choices down was going to be no easy task. One to thing to always remember, is that with both folks here they are just as easily appeased as they are willing to give anything a try - and in times like that a little thing called the banquet menu. This turned out to be a life saver, due to there being one available at the base for two patrons.
Did I say that this menu was big? It possibly went on for a couple of dozen pages, sometimes highlighting with pictures what goodies are in store. After showing the banquets for the big groups and the indecisive, next up are a couple of pages showing the greatest hits via photos. After those photos, the cream of the crop is next in the form of the house specials (always another good place to start), and the highly favoured Szechuan style dishes. Then it follows a little more conventionally to the known Chinese restaurant.
The appetisers and soups come first, to entice patrons appetites. After that, the best foot forward is the modus operandi again - listing down the seafood first (live then not-live) followed up by their duck specialties. After that is the more safe chicken, then beef, then sweet and sour, then them indicating rice and noodles have not been forgotten. Finishing all of that off is a few desserts if there is room left in the stomach.
Adding onto the expansive food menu is the drinks menu, most of the choices on hand being different kinds of wine. They also have a range of spirits, some beers - imported and local, not to mention the cocktails that start the beverage menu off. Non-drinkers are still accounted for, with tea and coffee, plus all the usual sodas.
The banquet ordered was the first one, which came to $36 per person. This one was set at a base level, with meals getting added on with additional patrons. That is not a bad idea, in fact one that could work in many restaurant's favour. For what to drink with the meal, seeing as this was a Chinese place it made all the more sense to get some tea. Even as someone who drinks way more coffee than I do tea, there is the quite rare time I will concede for some tea and at any fancy Chinese restaurant that is the case. Getting it out of the way, the tea was nice. At first there is not that much taste with the first couple of cups, yet the taste gets stronger the closer you get to the bottom. It was bottomless, so just flip the lid over if you want more - don't get this too often, so I'll use it when I can.
Starting off the banquet were a couple of appetisers - two common favourites, spring rolls and prawn toast. Even when they are done right, both of these are what they are. At their worst, these can be merely passe. When they are done right, much of it is in the pastry for the spring rolls, and just how well the prawns present themselves with the toast. They were both thankfully pipping hot when coming out from the fryer, and when eating them like that you wonder why you would bother trying them in any other mode. These were good for satiating the appetite, as some moreish morsels were coming our way.
First of which was the combination chilli hot pot. This could not be found anywhere else on the menu, making it a little more special than normal. A bit of each meat was put into here, mostly a number of seafood plus some chicken and an occasional piece of beef could be found; that being said, they also threw in some vegetables - a bit of onion, and plenty of green beans. All of this got mixed through with a slightly spicy sauce, which as slightly pungent in taste. The meats were all tender, plus the green beans added a nice crunch.
Following on from that was something of a centerpiece - crackling roast pork. Presented in its unadulterated glory, if this is not your thing no point tempting otherwise. For those who do like it, they did it so right - could have easily filled the plate up a second time. It comes down to the heavenly contrast between soft, tender meat that is like butter, and a crunchy, slightly oily crackling. Enough said there.
The last meal to arrive on the table was the seasonal vegetables stir-fried with beef. This was fairly straightforward, with the sauce used a slightly eggy one that complimented it all. The vegetables were mostly greens and cabbage with it heading into winter, and they used a good, tender cut of beef for the meal. What made it better was they only slightly cooked the beef, still allowing that rare flavour that goes down a treat. On the side for all this was a special fried rice, which had a bit of everything mixed through it. The rice was soft, fluffy and warm when it came out, and nothing overpowered the subtle flavours of the rice.
One thing about the banquet menus bar an exception for the highest deluxe, is that they don't have a dessert attached at the end. When it comes to this friend, a rule is that there is always room for dessert whether at the place or going elsewhere. That latter one was going to be a bit hard to maneuver, plus in addition there was still a small bit of room in the stomach. Hence, after getting the menu again for a perusal dessert was chosen. At first, it was not known if there was going to be one or more fritters with an order of the banana fritter, so a second dessert was ordered in lieu of panna cotta. Both were delicious, and fairly light. The banana was tempura style, and was drizzled with caramel sauce. On the side was a massive scoop of vanilla ice cream, which was cold as the Arctic and quite creamy - all good there. The panna cotta was also good, I think they used strawberry as the flavour. It was in a shallow pool of custard, and had one of those wafer straws on top. This was also smooth and went down the hatch a treat making it all a good finale.
After so many visits to Chinese restaurants through the years, it builds up not only an enjoyment for going out with some of the most meticulously crafted foods out there, but also developing an appreciation for the works as a whole. To attempt an analogy, all the previous experience had been classes and study, and now it had come to the time for the big exam. In that big exam, what it entailed was trying to remember the curricula to the best of my knowledge and remembrance. Not quite acing the exam, but passing it well enough getting the fair share of answers and such correct - like that China Sea provided a solid enough experience that had several things done right about it. There is a good reason for why China Sea is still here after so many years, and that is because it gets down to the basics done right.
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