A China Crisis 

Imperial Oriental House

22 Castillian Street, Northampton

Wandering around town on a Sunday afternoon, my partner and I began to feel peckish. We considered our tried and tested options, a pub lunch or a quick snack, but neither appealed. With indecision being a trait we share we wandered some more, coming across this restaurant. My partner had been several years before and we decided to try their set buffet menu, reasonably priced for a lunch.

Our first impressions were not great, there was only one other set of diners, but it was late-ish afternoon so once seated we ordered drinks and perused the choice of two set priced options.
The waiting staff pounced immediately for our food order and were politely sent away, the choice of crispy duck or lamb needed careful consideration.

We decided on the lamb, but first we had the mixed starters, standard Chinese fare of a platter of spring rolls, ribs, sesame prawn toast, crispy seaweed and what what described as Chicken Samosas, that turned out to be a single squished prawn in a massive wrapping of pastry. Aside from the latter offering the rest were tasty and hot, as was the lamb when it arrived swiftly after, mildly spiced, I cannot guess at it’s Mongolian authenticity as the menu described, but it was good and made a nice change from crispy duck.

The mains included special fried rice, stir fried vegetables, beef in black bean sauce, chicken in cashew nuts, prawns in chilli sauce and egg noodles all served on small dishes to share. We tucked in eagerly but were disappointed by all. The beef in black bean sauce was edible, but apart from the cashew nuts being picked through to avoid the strangely spongy chicken, the remaining food remained barely tasted.

Had I cleared the plates from a table such as this, I would have asked if something was wrong with the food and as regular restaurant goers we expect staff to at least ask if we enjoyed our meal. This did not happen, plates were cleared as soon as the chopsticks were lowered and the bill was paid.
As we wandered back through town, past our rejected options offering Sunday roasts and the like, we sighed in unison and with lighter wallets and unsatisfied bellies made our way home.

Garnish Rage- Or Over Gilding a Lily

I’m a home cook and I like to think I produce good hearty tasty dishes and in general this is true and presentation is often way down the list when getting things onto the table as quickly as possible.

However when I pay to eat out, good food presentation is part of the entertainment or theatre, it’s what we’re paying for. I’m not talking delicately arranged towers of food artfully drizzled with jus surrounded by patterns created by someone with a steady hand and careful use of a toothpick to produce art on my plate. These things are art. I often feel guilty if the plate itself could be exhibited in Tate Modern, surely my greedily launching into it with abandon is a criminal offence, or maybe a social one.

No, I like clean, unfussy plates, warmed when they should be with more than six chunky chips in regimental formation or a jellified blob of mushy peas, or more commonly tiny baby salad, sorry micro leaves... I digress, the point of this minor rant is garnish, or more succinctly over-garnish on plates.

I will elaborate on this by mentioning in brief a recent meal in a Chinese restaurant we had been looking forward to trying for a while, largely due to their promise of ‘healthier’ Chinese food. My partner and I am a duck fiends, so crispy duck was duly ordered and the waiting began. We waited and we waited and yes, we waited. Forty minutes later and most of the bottle of wine consumed, the dish arrived. The duck was not worth the wait, however dear reader, I hope you agree, the garnish more than overcompensated... I still chuckle uncontrollably when I stumble across this picture.





Can anyone top this? We would love to see other garnish craziness. Can you do better? While I too am prone to an over-scattering of coriander of a brown tinged curry, can anyone else match so brilliantly the garnish to the dish.
We challenge you!