Golden Dragon Chinese And Malaysian

TL;DR: This is bound to be a good night out that is going to be more the audience-pleaser as opposed to that experience that will truly blow you away and transport you to another part of the world. Not to say that intending any kind of back-hand, since from start to finish you are taken care of and they manage to make everything look so good and appealing. Attention to detail is right there with the service, and for once a Chinese place gives the friendly service as oppose to the characteristic indifference. Having a potential reservation here on hand, I just knew it would be perfect for a special occasion and it all prove me correct.

The Golden Dragon is an unsuspecting delight, half-hidden from plain view and ultimately worth either a deviation, or a booking to get there. Right in possibly the most suburban of suburbs around this part of town, you may as well be in the Sunnybank area or Chinatown, because the attention to detail is some of the most precise from top to bottom. Giving the experience of a good yum-cha setting, the relaxed atmosphere is merely the beginning - what follows from that is fare that is not only good quality, but also flavoursome throughout.

There were two phases in getting here. The first phase happened when I joined up to the site Cud, and then collected a number of vouches (mostly for food) that were at so many dollars credit at a reduced cost. One of these was a Chinese place, in which the total credit could go up to $200. With the lot of them, whenever they were going to be used - that I did not know. So they were off to the side for a while. Cue a few weeks later, when I realise that Father's Day is approaching quickly. It was with that that I phoned him up, and proposed a stipulation for a dinner one week. With that idea put forward, he was quite open to it. Cue a little further ahead in time, and there was an appointment for both my parents in town, and that was chosen as the night to arrange the dinner. All that was left to was phone up the restaurant and book it - a table for five (which was me, my parents, my house-mate, and an old family friend) during the middle of the week, and there you go.

From the moment that you enter the restaurant, it becomes apparent that you are in for a treat. Every table is already set, awaiting a new batch of diners to each one of them. The plates, bowls, and chopsticks are all aligned in perfection formation; for the bigger tables in the house, they are round and adorned with a lazy Susan, and plant dead center of it. Red hues take precedence, especially with the chairs and the walls. Lighting hangs low with the lamps, and it gives off a brightness that is somewhere between dim and bright so to set a nice, relaxed mood for the evening. With the sheer size of the layout they have been given, they have laid out the tables very well, and it can accommodate a big party if need be. Adding onto all the excellence that the crew has put into the aesthetics and decor, the food likewise has that perfectionist touch with how it is presented, and how it will come across to the clientele. That is no exaggeration.

One thing I have always noticed with the service at Chinese restaurants - and that is from the high-end places, all the way to the dingy holes in the wall - is that it is always up to a high standard with how everything is run, and getting the food to the table. The manner it is done though is frequently impersonal, and that runs to all the clients. They get things done, and that is that. A bit of an exception exists here though, as the main lady we had was surprisingly pretty pleasant, and the rest of the waitstaff had a more laid-back approach than normal. Everything else about it was still up to standard - food was brought out promptly, they took orders efficiently, and they were constantly bringing out freshly brewed tea between times. Between the dinner and the dessert, they managed to clear the whole table in a couple of minutes - and a lot was ordered to say the least. No stone is left unturned, which in the midst of it all is done without any hitch.

It has a pretty massive menu going around, and to put it in brevity - we are not in Chinatown, and this ain't a yum-cha. Most of the menu is Chinese, with a little Malaysian thrown between the cracks at times. Fare is pretty similar to it, yet in terms of quality this is going to be several cuts above the familiar suburban takeaway. And in saying that, to give fairness to it all, a keen and wandering eye might find some more daring fare hidden in the menu. When the entrees come out, it is less about many variations of a dumpling, and more a range of the general bites from around the Asian continent. Also in lieu of starters, a handful of soups are on offer following that.

Afterwards, there is the mains and they are sectioned into the different sorts of meat. Depending on what kind of meat it getting sought, the types of meal under the headings can range from stir-fried, to Malaysian style curries, to some steam-boats, barbecued meats, whole birds, and the deep-fry. Omelets are also on the menu, then next is the "miscellaneous" dishes that are based on vegetables but not always vegetarian. For the feel of a hawker-style store, the noodles and rice section features a number of the old favourites, especially going for the laksa with several variations on hand. It all finishes off with a couple of choices for dessert, and a small range of drinks.

Around the place, there might also be specials not featured on the menu which can vary from time to time. It keeps the place interesting, gives it a distinct atmosphere and approach to the cuisine, and even without that the customer remains truly spoiled for choice.

Getting out the two staples of any big Chinese meal, there was the bottomless tea, and the many buckets of steamed rice to with the meals. Both of these are pretty simple as they can get, so not too much is in the way to talk about why they worked or not. On that hand though, that could be the point since the steamed rice is an absolute lynch-pin for ensuring that a big Chinese meal goes as planned. That was as such, with each serving being pipping hot, and very soft with the flavours of the rice slightly coming out. It absorbed many of the sauces, complimenting all the components including the meats and vegetables; the rice is such an under-rated component, one of the best parts at the end of the night is seeing the soup-like rice mixture with all the residual sauces piled up and finishing it off. It has not been subtle that tea is not my forte as much as other drinks, when it comes to going Chinese I make an exception there. Whatever kind of tea they used, the flavour was not so present at first - actually bordering on bland a bit - with the real taste of the tea leaves becoming apparent when getting to the bottom. It was hot and refreshing, and lasted the entire night pretty well. Again, these components are fairly simple in their execution, and there is only so much to really talk about them before repeating the same phrases.

Getting off on a good foot, a couple of cuts of meat were gotten in lieu of entrees. They were half-a roast duck, and some crispy skin roast pork. Both of these orders were as simple as they got, the description is merely in the their name. Different strokes go here for different folks, but right here I honestly believe some of the best eats from Chinese restaurants come from long hours of barbecuing cuts of meat. It was like that here. Especially when it comes to duck, that acts as a specialty from these folk. Both the cuts of meat were succulent, with the flesh being really tender - the pork way more so than the duck, that former one practically being butter down the throat - and were made even better with the respective meat skins getting that bit more flavour into it, thanks to some lovely fat. It also varies from person to person, I am one that will take to getting an industrial piece if that is what is there; it was like that with the duck, having cuts from the bone, which is a game once you tuck right into it. Comparatively, the pork was pretty light-weight work to eat. Bits of belly were cut into dices, and the crackling glistened in the light of the restaurant. That resulted in some tender flesh, bits of fat which could get swallowed easily, and a lovely crunch from the finish of the skin.

If this were indicative of the quality that was about to come, there was some good reason to be optimistic. What followed suit from there held up to a high standard. Much in the familiar pattern that happens at the family lunches/dinners, the best effort was made to get a good range of items varying up the meats, and how the meal is prepared. Suffice to say, it managed to be successful. A few different meals were ordered, and the plates just kept coming out - it was a feast to behold, and that went for both the taste-buds and from the eyes.

If the memory serves me correctly, there were five more meals added on. All of them were very tasty, had bold aromas and palates which made each one be able to stand out from the last, and were balanced out with a good array of ingredients, and different tastes. These meals were a kung-pow chicken, the Szechuan beef, spicy green beans, stir fried vegetables, and possibly a King prawn meal of some kind. You could easily say that is a lot of food, and it would be true - the majority of it managed to be cleaned out without too much fuss.

From each of the dishes, the cuts of beef and chicken in the respective Szechuan and kung-pow were well chosen, tender as they could get, and were the right size to absorb the sauces. Both of those had a bit of a spice hit to them, nothing that is an outright challenge or anything, but they definitely have chilli added in there somewhere. The previously talked about meats had carrot as a side vegetable, right here they mix in capsicum and onion giving it a characteristically smokey sort of aroma. As for the king prawns, they were delicious and sweet as per normal. Often they work well when given their fare due, but under hands such as these they truly become something else.

Finally, before it come to the sweet end, there were the vegetable dishes. To give the full credit to the cooks here, these ones might not be the favourite for a lot of people and at the same time they do not come across as after-thoughts. Maybe the stir-fried vegetable were kind of what they were to me (a range of greens with a small amount of some kind of sauce) and I could really take it or leave it there. As for the green beans, those were delicious. What made them especially good was the mixture of mince pork that was right in there with a hoi-sin sauce, plus some garlic and chilli. The green beans were crunchy and plentiful, supplementing themselves very well with the rest of the chosen meals.

Especially with it being a special occasion, with a bit of room left in the collective stomachs it was time for dessert. My parents have an especial liking for the deep fried ice cream that is served at Chinese restaurants ever since a fantastic one from many years back, and often make it a point to go order some at the end. That is still in tact, and they made the effort to order it right from here. Three order were made for the deep fried ice cream; always being one that tends to buck the trend, what I eyed off instead was the deep fried banana. In that dish, there were two bananas that got fried and it - likewise with the other dessert - came with a choice of flavoured topping on top of some ice cream. I went with good old caramel.

Overall, it was decent - I have had better fried bananas, but it also could have gone a lot worse. Maybe getting one that was a little more ripe could have done the trick, since this banana still wasn't so characteristically soft (to call a banana hard will just be a misnomer at best). Aside from that little gripe, the fruit was pretty sweet, and the batter that they used was practically like a tempura - always a treat when it gets done right. On the side, the ice cream was smooth and creamy obviously being a cut above most varieties, and topping it all off with caramel gave it that final sweet finish. Bias comes through right here, the combination of banana and caramel is one of the best flavour combinations to stumble upon since it always works so well.

With the Golden Dragon, all up it was very much an enjoyable experience. All the food here was at a top notch level of quality, prepared freshly and coming out pipping hot. It is a bit of an amalgam between the yum cha restaurant in terms of how it is set out, and showcases the more familiar fare that suit palates that aren't so adventurous. On its own merits, all the necessary aspects are taken care of very well and combining them together, the team here ensure that your night out is as good as it can be. This may not be the absolute authentic experience that one would find going down to Chinatown, that is aside from the point. Servings here are generous and will fill you up, the presentation from the decor of the restaurant all the way down to how the food is prepared, and how the table is set up before clients arrive, is all on-point. The night out was a solid one at that, and because of that the Golden Dragon manages to snag a recommendation.