China Club

Tasteful Chinese restaurant by Dubai's creek 2 Reviews

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From Time Out Dubai Eating Out 2008

This Chinese restaurant remains popular with a sedate older crowd. The contemporary but homely decor suits the clientele down to the ground, and groups of diners can reserve one of the stately private dining rooms. But does the food live up to the tasteful interior design?

Pick wisely from the menu and you’ll dine like an emperor. Plump for the juicy roasted duck salad, for example, and it’ll conjure up visions of Hong Kong. For vegetarians, shredded bean curd salad is inventive and comes with a ginger kick and fresh coriander leaves.

Avoid the red snapper and black bean main, on the other hand – it looks magnificent with the head and tail arranged next to the chunks of fish, but lacks any depth of flavour despite the spicy gravy sauce it swims in. Accompany your meal with perfectly sticky steamed rice – which could have come out of a kitchen in China – and baby pak choi with garlicky shiitake mushrooms, and you’ll be pleased that you came.

The menu could do with a few more Chinese teas to wash your meal down with, although the big pot of oolong does the job. Desserts are slightly let down by a lack of authentic ingredients – one should have been filled with lotus seeds, but they’re probably difficult to source in Dubai.

Opt instead for the caramelised banana, which is made at your table and dished up with vanilla ice-cream – crack open the piping hot banana balls and devour the sweet molten flesh.

On the whole, the food here is well executed and the service attentive; you’ll want to return.

• Previous reviews
  • 17 March,2009- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 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
  • 29 December,2005- reviewed by Matthew Lee
  • 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.