Well Sticky Beak bloggers, my little flock has been out and about again. The hubster and I were invited to the prelaunch opening of the Oriental Palace in Ambergate at the beginning of March, and were suitably impressed by the quality of the food that we decided to return with the Tribal elders in tow.

We had two options: the fixed price banquet, or a la carte. After a bit of deliberation (and much munching on the complimentary prawn crackers) we decided to go with the Banquet option, which is priced at £12.90 per person Sunday-Thursday and £14.90 per person Friday and Saturday. To accompany the food we ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and the Male Birds had a pint of Asahi lager each, with the Chick having her usual Apple Juice. It was pleasing to note that the wine list is extensive, and includes Champagne too for those special occasions. 

We all opted for the Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup, although I was tempted to go for the Peking Hot and Sour soup. The soup came out piping hot, and was delicious. Sometimes I find that the soup in Chinese restaurants can be a bit glutinous in consistency, but this one was just a bit thinner, so it was perfect in my opinion.

After the soup came The Assorted Dim Sum Platter which had Katsu Yaki (Spicy Pork Skewers), Crispy Mini Spring Rolls, Spare Ribs and Sesame Prawn Toast. As you can imagine, this veritable feast of starters didn’t last long with my hungry flock, although the Katsu Yaki was just a little too spicy for my Daddy Bird. The Crispy Spring Rolls were exactly that - crispy. Not greasy at all, this is a bug-bear of mine as you know, and fully filled with vegetables. The ribs were moist and meaty, and I have to say the Prawn toast was perhaps the thickest, Prawniest prawn toast I’ve ever had! Yumtastic so far......

There is then an option within the banquet to have Aromatic Crispy Duck (for a minimum of 2 people at an extra cost of just £3 per head). And guess what reader? Yes, that’s right we all opted for this extra, even my baby chick. Well, a huge mountain of shredded duck was placed in front of us all, accompanied by Spring Onion and Cucumber slices, a dish of Hoisin Sauce and a basket of Pancakes to wrap everything in (you are invited to ask for more pancakes if needed).The Duck was lovely and moist with just a little bit of crispiness on the outside - perfect. So we all tucked in with great gusto, and were mightily satisfied with this course.

For the Main Courses there is an extensive range of dishes to choose from with Chicken, Duck, Beef, King Prawn, Mixed Meat and Vegetarian options available, in total 46 dishes to decide from.2 people can choose 3 dishes from this range,3 people 4 dishes and 4+ people can choose 6 dishes, which are all served with either Fried or Boiled Rice or Chips. Our chosen selection was Duck In Plum Sauce x2 ( for my Daddy bird and myself ),Mixed Meat Chow Mein for my Mummy Bird, Crispy Shredded Chilli Beef for the Man Bird and King Prawn with Mixed Vegetables for my Little Chickadee. We also had Chicken in a Lemon Honey Sauce.  Every single dish we had chosen was delicious; my chick had plenty of King Prawns on her plate, the Crispy Shredded Chilli Beef was superb - you could actually see and taste the beef in it, unlike the usual takeaway affair of it being so thinly sliced you never taste the meat. The Chow Mein was chockablock full of meat, and the noodles were thinner than you usually get which Mummy Bird thought enhanced the dish. The noodles weren’t at all oily and the sauce was very flavoursome. The Duck in Plum Sauce was beautiful, the sauce wasn’t too sweet and the tender duck meat married superbly with it. However, the Oriental Palace pulled the rabbit out of the hat with the Chicken in Lemon Honey Sauce. Rather than being the normal sweet, over –honeyed, no-taste -of -lemon -at –all affairs, this was a total treat for your taste buds. The tang of lemon was expertly balanced with the sweetness of the honey to create a dish that cocooned the chicken so sublimely that you just went “aaaah” when you tasted it.

At this point, ordinarily, you would expect that you would be full and skip the dessert menu but this little flock dear reader is made of pedigree, gold medal winning gourmets. We pride ourselves on our stamina when it comes to gastronomic matters, and so the dessert menu was pored over. The tribal elders did bow out at this stage, but the young whipper-snappers took up the baton. My chick had a chocolate pot and the boy wonder and I shared a Charlene Caramel. Ooh, ooh, ooh, the desserts were exceedingly scrummy, and different from the expected assortment you find in most restaurants. To finish we had coffees and my Mummy Bird had a Jasmine Tea which was beautifully served in Traditional style. Both the tea and coffee is refilled free of charge, which I think is just something a little different from other restaurants too.

Throughout the evening, our waitress Sam couldn’t do enough for us and Ailee (one of the owners) came to check that our meal was up to standard.

If you haven’t been to The Oriental Palace before, I can quite honestly recommend that you go. The food is beautifully presented, well cooked, and the Restaurant itself has a lovely atmosphere. You won’t be disappointed.

Find out more about The Oriental Palace

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