China Club

Tucked alongside the more brash charms of Yum! noodle bar, you’ll find one of the InterContinental’s best-kept secrets 2 Reviews

1

© ITP Images

 

• 
• Picture 1 of 2
• 

Tucked alongside the more brash charms of Yum! noodle bar, you’ll find one of the InterContinental’s best-kept secrets. The name ‘China Club’ is particularly apposite, describing not only the cuisine (which must rank among the most authentic gourmet Chinese food in the city) but also the ambience: music is hushed, lighting is tastefully restrained, and seating consists of intimate, straight-backed booths in dark wood. In other words, it’s exactly the kind of genteel venue you’d be pleased to hold membership of, providing a welcome retreat from the mayhem of downtown Deira.

I started with duck roasted in the house style, which provided more indulgence than your average all-day breakfast. Drenched in a warmly understated, plummy sauce, the meat’s juicy, gamey nature was left to do the talking (quacking?), while my waistline attempted in vain to dissuade me from tucking into the rich, fatty strips of skin. My companion’s prawn dim sum leaned similarly upon excellent ingredients and straightforward preparation, with each dumpling a feathery parcel concealing huge, flavoursome chunks of shrimp.

We were congratulating ourselves on our polished use of chopsticks when the main courses arrived; one apparently sent with the intention of punishing our growing cockiness. The bean curd was, quite simply, impossible to get a grip on, with thousands of too-soft tofu dice endlessly dividing themselves into smaller segments every time they were so much as poked. Taking a spoon to them revealed we weren’t actually missing that much; slippery and overspicy, they were the meal’s one letdown. My scallops, by contrast, had been cooked to an immaculate level of chopstick friendly tenderness and smothered in a fiery sauce punctuated by the frequent crunch of baby corn. A shared portion of vegetable rice, although rather small, provided more than sufficient accompaniment.

Resisting the stolid charms of banana fritters, we settled on a brace of fruity desserts that barely troubled stomach or conscience. My mango pudding was a simple, beautiful mango mousse, minimally sweetened and topped with strawberry slices, whilst the ubiquitous exotic fruit platter arrived laden with morsels of kiwi fruit, papaya, and melon. It was a simple end to an excellent Chinese meal.

The bill (for two)
1 large Evian Dhs24
1 shrimp dim sum Dhs25
1 roasted duck Dhs38
1 scallops in Hainan sauce Dhs85
1 mapu tofu Dhs32
1 vegetable rice Dhs28
1 mango pudding Dhs24
1 exotic fruit platter Dhs20

Total (including service and tax) Dhs276

• Previous reviews
  • 17 March,2009- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 26 March,2008- reviewed by Jeremy Lawrence
  • 31 October,2007- reviewed by TimeOut Dubai Staff
  • 12 March,2007- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
  • 07 February,2007- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
  • 29 April,2006- reviewed by Time Out Dubai
  • 01 June,2004- reviewed by Rob Orchard
  • 01 February,2004- reviewed by Rob Orchard
  • 01 July,2003- reviewed by Rob Orchard

Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.