I might not be able to do DIY or anything useful, but I do consider myself rather good at picking excellent restaurants. Tasked with finding something light, I decided a stodgy food could be turned into a little snack.
Susanna was surprised and delighted by the soft toys everywhere.
Bev thought it looked like me and I think it’s clear that it does, annoyed at excessive frivolity. Susanna asked the waiter if he spoke any English and he replied “I speak English perfectly, I’m American” and aside from the obvious joke there, the service was friendly, conversational and personable throughout. Incidentally, this was also one of the rare occasions where Bev managed to get through a meal without visibly annoying a member of staff, so that must count as something of a milestone.
The menu which is, as expected, quite dumpling focused. Susanna wanted a starter, but it was agreed that we couldn’t be faffing around with that.
The beer was a local lager from Pivovarna Lasko and I’ve had worse, it was clean tasting and didn’t offend me.
Some noodle type salad was brought over, I rather liked the texture of this. I can’t use chopsticks as I’m an idiot, so I had to improvise.
Chilli sauce on the right, I like a bit of spice to add to the meal.
The interior of the restaurant, which was cosy and relatively small. I thought that the temperature was just right, but Bev informed me that it was cold. She’s quite demanding though.
A portion of spring rolls that Steve treated us to, crispy and delicious.
Three of us ordered the Dragon Dumplings, which are pork based, that were the ones recommended by the waiter. The first one arrived and I let Bev have it as she gets grumpy if not fed. Mine then took a long time, but I was placated with free chicken soup, so I was more than happy.
I prefer fried dumplings to steamed dumplings and although these look like the latter, they were fried on the base. I like that textural contrast and these were excellent with a depth of flavour from the meat.
At the end of the meal, we were given some plum wine by the restaurant and this was also rather lovely. The payment process was also made easy for us and we paid individually at the end which the server didn’t seem annoyed about.
This venue didn’t let us down, it was clean, welcoming and slightly quirky. I like it when there’s something a little different about a place and the limited menu worked in their favour. The food met my expectations in terms of the taste, temperature and presentation, with the free soup for my wait being much appreciated. Definitely recommended.