The Red Chamber
Published: 01 Sep 04
Category: Asian
For my family it's The Red Chamber, a Chinese restaurant that celebrates its seventh anniversary this month. Run by the delightful Emma Chen, it focuses predominantly on Mandarin food, which is based on northern style Chinese cooking (from the Shandong province).
Typically this cuisine tends to be more savoury than sweet. Stronger seasonings and spices are used, including peppercorn, garlic, spring onion and ginger. Beijing (formerly Peking) was the capital for five different dynasties and consequently developed an "imperial style" that included experimenting with exotic ingredients. Wheat is often the staple alternative to rice.
A visit to The Red Chamber always brings back happy memories. When we first visited I had a seven-year-old whose idea of culinary daring was to add a big dash of tomato sauce to her overcooked burger.
She sat looking like an angry Buddha until Emma got her to try truly awesome home-made noodles and, wait for it, crispy seaweed and cashew nuts. It is still one of her favourite dishes.
The best way to sample the food at The Red Chamber is to go in a party so that you can order six or seven starters and main courses and get to try everything. You'll salivate as soon as the chiang pao sauced sizzling platters arrive at your table. Go for the ginger and tangerine prawns; deep fried calamari with black bean and chilli; crispy sliced beef in ginger, garlic and chilli sauce and sizzling kingklip in fruit sauce (very good for children) and you can't go wrong. Or try the vegetarian delight Monk's Dish with Glass Noodles in Pot, which features a selection of noodles, Asian veggies and tofu in a mouthwatering sauce.
Crispy-skinned Peking Duck is offered half or whole (R95 and R175) and accompanied by all the paraphernalia: plum sauce, cucumber and spring onions.
No MSG crosses the threshold and the menu also features a healthy corner for those who want to wear an itsy-bitsy bikini to the beach this summer.
Do yourself a favour and get onto Emma's email list. Her newsletters are fabulous - one day they should be collected and published in a volume. They'll also draw your attention to her famous "special" evenings - the crab, duck and dim sum evenings or the unmissable and unforgettable "Chinese wedding" event that consists of about 12 courses. Of course, after this, the bikini is back in mothballs for another year!
There is a standard winelist that features mainly wines from the larger estates and co-ops. Mark-ups are reasonable.
Service is efficient and helpful (most of the staff come from China), but as the menu says, if you need extra help, you can always say "Wo Yao Jing Li" ("I want the manager, now!"). Chances are you'll only do that to thank them for some of the best Chinese grub on offer on the southern foot of Africa.
Average three-course meal: R110.
br />Address: Upper level, Hyde Park Corner, Jan Smuts Avenue, Hyde Park. Tel 011 325 6048. Open Mon-Sun for lunch and dinner. BYO: R20.
Food: 4
Wine list3
Ambience: 3
Service: 4
Value: 4
For my family it's The Red Chamber, a Chinese restaurant that celebrates its seventh anniversary this month. Run by the delightful Emma Chen, it focuses predominantly on Mandarin food, which is based on northern style Chinese cooking (from the Shandong province).
Typically this cuisine tends to be more savoury than sweet. Stronger seasonings and spices are used, including peppercorn, garlic, spring onion and ginger. Beijing (formerly Peking) was the capital for five different dynasties and consequently developed an "imperial style" that included experimenting with exotic ingredients. Wheat is often the staple alternative to rice.
A visit to The Red Chamber always brings back happy memories. When we first visited I had a seven-year-old whose idea of culinary daring was to add a big dash of tomato sauce to her overcooked burger.
She sat looking like an angry Buddha until Emma got her to try truly awesome home-made noodles and, wait for it, crispy seaweed and cashew nuts. It is still one of her favourite dishes.
The best way to sample the food at The Red Chamber is to go in a party so that you can order six or seven starters and main courses and get to try everything. You'll salivate as soon as the chiang pao sauced sizzling platters arrive at your table. Go for the ginger and tangerine prawns; deep fried calamari with black bean and chilli; crispy sliced beef in ginger, garlic and chilli sauce and sizzling kingklip in fruit sauce (very good for children) and you can't go wrong. Or try the vegetarian delight Monk's Dish with Glass Noodles in Pot, which features a selection of noodles, Asian veggies and tofu in a mouthwatering sauce.
Crispy-skinned Peking Duck is offered half or whole (R95 and R175) and accompanied by all the paraphernalia: plum sauce, cucumber and spring onions.
No MSG crosses the threshold and the menu also features a healthy corner for those who want to wear an itsy-bitsy bikini to the beach this summer.
Do yourself a favour and get onto Emma's email list. Her newsletters are fabulous - one day they should be collected and published in a volume. They'll also draw your attention to her famous "special" evenings - the crab, duck and dim sum evenings or the unmissable and unforgettable "Chinese wedding" event that consists of about 12 courses. Of course, after this, the bikini is back in mothballs for another year!
There is a standard winelist that features mainly wines from the larger estates and co-ops. Mark-ups are reasonable.
Service is efficient and helpful (most of the staff come from China), but as the menu says, if you need extra help, you can always say "Wo Yao Jing Li" ("I want the manager, now!"). Chances are you'll only do that to thank them for some of the best Chinese grub on offer on the southern foot of Africa.
Average three-course meal: R110.
By Janine Walker
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Food: 4
Wine list3
Ambience: 3
Service: 4
Value: 4
