Restaurants

Despite its unpromising name, Chinese Experience has an auspiciously decorated interior (red walls, simple furnishings) and offers surprisingly satisfying, no-fuss dining. The typically long menu includes a page of chef’s special recommendations, many of which sound enticing. Braised pork belly in chinese five-spice arrived as a mountain of tender meat cloaked with a savoury, spicy, thick sauce. Steamed chicken with chinese mushrooms and cloud-ear fungus was fragrant with the lotus leaf in which it had been steamed, although the silky-soft mushrooms were let down by the chicken being slightly overcooked. Pea shoots stir-fried with garlic were crisp, crunchy, not too oily and pleasantly spiked with nutty, salty garlic. Our final order, pei pa beancurd, had been stuffed with minced prawns and water-chestnuts, then fried and garnished with enoki and shiitake mushrooms – a pleasing combination of textures and flavours. Savouring competently produced Cantonese food is the Chinese experience you’re likely to have here.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009