Food Review: Chinese Village - Reviewed

Yeap...the famous Chinese Village. I visited the original one located in Deira Dubai in Nihal Hotel for a second time last night. While I do recall enjoying the food last time as well....yesterday it seemed to hit the spot and my wife and I enjoyed every bit of all that we had.

Getting there: So for those who don't know....this first Chinese Village is located in Deira, Dubai, jut off Riqqa Street in Nihal Hotel. It is very easy to find. Parking is a matter of luck...although they do have valet, I did not require their service yesterday since I got parking in the parking lott located right next to the hotel. The restaurant is located on the ground floor...left of the entrance.

Ambience: Typical indian-chinese dim lighting with bamboo sticks imported from Malaysia scattered around the room. A huge painting of the great wall of China is as much of China offered here in terms of decoration! :) Overall...decent ambience suitable for family dinners but probably not for a date night.

Food: As we browsed through the menu....it looked extremely promising with some great variety which extends from traditional Indian-Chinese to more authentic chinese dishes.

Hakka Fish

The appetizers and main course are divided conveniently based on principle ingredients - Lamb, Beef, Poultry, Seafood and Vegetarian.

So we started our dinner with a flavorful Chicken Lung Fung soup which was semi thick concoction of chicken, tofu, celery and other vegetables in a cornflour base broth. It was satisfying and made us look forward to our appetizer of "Hakka Fish".
The fish arrived and as I dug my fork into the fish to take a chunk...the smoke burst out and trailed away into my mouth. As I started chewing on the super tender fish coated heavily with a soy based covering of chilli, garlic and coriander....I was lost. The flavor drowned me...it was ecstatic. I must warn you at this point that the fish was definitely high on the spice meter....but it was amazing!

Chicken Tengda

Next arrived our main course - Chicken Tengda. This apparently is a specialty from Kolkata! Yea...chinese specialty from Kolkata? Well...that is what intrigued us and based on our servers strong recommendation, we decided to go ahead with it. (Next time...I'll take pictures when the dish arrives! :) ) The chicken consists of a soy and tomato ketchup based gravy with a generous helping of onions in it. The overall flavor is tangy, a tad bit sweet and again...highly concentrated. The chicken itself is diced pieces and as is the case usually with this kind of cut, there were a few pieces that were extra fatty. We enjoyed every bit of this dish, in fact I kept having a dig at it...even after my dinner was done. The vegetable fried rice also arrived with the chicken. The fried rice, maybe not exceptional, but was definitely good!

At the end of this we were left with no room for any desserts so we decided to skip that. Overall....the food was excellent and the strong flavors made it difficult to stop eating!

Service: The service was good and the staff were attentive to the fact we had a toddler with us, allowing us to enjoy our meal. The servers were friendly and attended to our  requests efficiently.

Price: AED 40-50/person without Alcoholic drinks.

Been-O-pinion: I rate it 4 (on a scale of 5). Great selection on the menu, good service, value-for-money and some yummy food....go for it....again if you have to! :)