Place: Mandarin Chinese Restaurant
Location: 9 Joel St, Northwood Hills
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: Dinner (with wifey and our lil one)
On: Saturday, 20 July 2024
We pass by Mandarin very often as it is very close to our house but never ventured in because the place looks quite fancy from the outside. Another reason is that it is usually deserted except for a couple of occupied tables at any given time. Nevertheless, braving it, we finally walked in on a Saturday evening.
As expected, the place was almost empty, with just another family seated, so we settled down in the opposite corner. Dimly lit with nice decor, the ambiance is quite good and gives the vibe of an upscale fine dining restaurant. They offered to bring us some prawn crackers the moment we sat down, but we declined, mentioning that we were vegetarians (they did not have alternatives).
To start things off, we ordered Lettuce Wrap with Minced Vegetable, a portion of vegetarian dumplings, and a Tom Yum soup.
Served on a bed of fried noodles, the vegetable mince tasted really good. Along with the tangy and sweet soy-based sauce, these wraps were delicious and definitely some of the best I’ve had in recent times.
On the contrary, the soup was not to our liking. It was too thin, and I thought it had a bit too much lemongrass, making it overly sour. I also didn’t like the choice of parboiled vegetables in it — the tomatoes tasted too raw, and so did the mushrooms.
The dumplings came next in a steam basket. While they tasted alright, I thought the portion size was really small — just four, and very small in size. I gulped them in one bite.
For mains, we ordered Battered Cauliflower with Sweet & Sour Sauce along with some Mix Veg Chowmein and Fried Rice with Mixed Vegetable.
It took a while for the food to be brought out, which was quite frustrating, especially given that they had so few patrons to attend to. Anyhow, the cauliflower arrived first, but they got our order wrong. Instead of presenting it as a main dish with sauce, they brought the starter version. We sent it back immediately.
A little while later, the noodles were served. They tasted decent and were the typical Chowmein you’d expect at a Chinese restaurant — loaded with vegetables and noodles tossed in a tangy sauce. However, I was again appalled by the portion size, as it wasn’t even enough for two servings.
The rice arrived soon in a small bowl. This tasted better than the noodles and tbh, the best item of the dinner thus far. It had seasoning and flavour were just perfect.
And finally, the cauliflower was served. This was supposed to be in a sweet and sour sauce but the sauce was so sweet that we couldn’t take more than a bite. I informed the waiter about this and they said it was usually sweet. I requested them to modify it if possible, adding a little more spice. Thankfully, they offered to replace the dish, and I now asked for it in Kung Pao sauce rather than the sweet and sour.
This arrived in a few minutes and tasted much better. The Kung Pao had a nice flavor, but I am not sure if they used the same cauliflower, as some of the pieces still tasted sweet. We finished most of our noodles and rice by the time this arrived, so ironically, we ended up eating it more like a starter than a main dish!
Overall, it was a mediocre meal. Except for the Lettuce Wraps and Fried Rice, everything else was passable. The service was too slow, and the portion sizes were unappealing. They probably aimed for it to be a fine dining restaurant with such small portions, but neither the locale nor the food quality justifies the pricing and portions. I honestly wondered how they are still keeping the place afloat with so few diners and the restaurant being empty on most occasions. Anyway, we ended up spending quite a bit, and I wasn’t even full or satisfied with the meal. First and last meal at Mandarin!
Food: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Ambiance: 8.5/10
Meal for 4: £48.00
Verdict: 6.5/10
