Zheng He’s in Mina A' Salam, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah, Dubai - Restaurant Reviews

Zheng He’s

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From the tofu and scallop mini-starter on, this serene wharf-level restaurant is as far away from the gloopy, electric-red sweet ‘n’sour of high-street Chinese as it’s possible to get. Décor-wise, there’s still the odd nod to Chinese restaurants of yesteryear – some comatose crab, lobster and surprisingly pretty hammour float in tanks by the entrance – but otherwise the design is very now. You can see the legion of chefs chopping and wokking away in the open kitchens; the obligatory black and red lacquer tableware is off-set by antiques and trendy flowers.

If you’re lucky, the attentive staff will drop off some sweet and spicy nuts to help you choose from the list of tempting delicacies on offer. For starters, various combos of steamed and fried dim sum are a satisfying way to kick off. This time, I opted to begin with a trio of fish, of which the seasoned salt baby octopus was the highlight. For my main, I tried the seafood in a taro basket – lined with the smoothest bean curd – but watch out for the lethal round dried chillies: it took several glasses of milk for my taste buds to recover.

Not that my companion cared much: he was too busy tucking into the restaurant’s best dish – ‘duck, two-way’. As a starter, you get sublime crispy skin hugging a mere sliver of pinkish flesh. Your ever-attentive staff will roll up these morsels in wafer-thin pancakes, along with a dollop of plummy sauce, piquant spring onion and soothing cucumber. But it’s more fun to make them yourself. The rest of the breast comes as a more pedestrian main-course, stir fried with peppers. The pork in barbeque sauce, meanwhile, was an upmarket take on those thick dishes served up by your local take-away. Encrusted with nuts, it too proved lip-smackingly tasty.

While you pay for what you get at Zheng He’s, in terms of sheer sophistication and high class authenticity, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth.

By Rob Orchard