Food Review: Sino Chai

Being on Twitter helps you to come across restaurants that you might have otherwise missed. I have been to Dubai Healthcare City a number of times but have never come across Sino Chai. Was it my negligence to check out my surroundings or was it something else? Whatever it may be, thanks to Twitter, I came to know the whereabouts of Sino Chai.

Sino Chai is a Taiwanese Restaurant but what differentiates it from other restaurants is that, it is also a Tea Boutique, Natural & Organic Minimart and a tea accessory store. Once you walk in the restaurant, you will be able to see two totally distinct areas. One, being the restaurant bit of it where you can eat and savor the delicious food and the second being the area surrounded by Tea tins, boxes and tea sets.

The TeaHouse Area

The Restaurant Area

As I settled down at the table, I was welcomed with two menus. I was expecting one thick food menu and a smaller one for drinks. However, I was in for a bit of surprise here. The drinks menu was rather a ‘Tea menu’ and it was not a small one by any means. With these many options, one is bound to be confused, so was I. At the end, I decided to take some help from the restaurant staff.

The Tea Menu

My order for the tea was a Cold version of the Oriental Tea. Since I was dining in alone and didn’t have enough space in my tummy, I decided to skip starters and settled with a single main course. The main course was an easy pick for me. I chose to have fried noodles with seafood and mixed vegetables.

Cold Oriental Tea

Before the main course came in, the Oriental tea was sitting pretty on my table. Not being a tea lover, judging the taste was a bit of a task for me. The tea tasted different, it was in terms of flavour. The more sips I took, the more the tea grew into me. Bottom line, I liked it.

Fried noodle with seafood and mixed vegetables

It was only a few more minutes of wait before the main course arrived. The dish looked delicious and tasted delicious. The mixed vegetables were fresh, the noodles were handmade and soft, the seafood was cooked to perfection. All in all, the fried noodle with sea food and mixed vegetables was too good.

Teapot Collection

After the good experience, I was given a comment card to fill in, which I did fill without any hesitation. Once I had settled the bill, I took a small tour of the restaurant taking some photos. I fell in love with the setting of the tea area. My reaction was “Wow, what a collection”.

The Comment Card

Based on what I ate, I would suggest Sino chai to anyone who likes noodles, tea or seafood. It is a must visit for all food lovers.

Bill (for 1):

1 Fried Noodle with Seafood and mixed vegetables        AED 48

1 Cold Oriental Tea                                                     AED 22

Total                                                                         AED 70

Details:

Restaurant          Sino Chai

Cuisine               Taiwanese

Website              http://www.sinochai.com/

For location and contact details please visit: http://www.zomato.com/dubai/sino-chai-teahouse-restaurant-oud-metha

Follow Sino Chai on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SinoChai

Like them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SinoChaiDubai  

Food Review: Chinese Village 2

Before I start the review, I should let you know that Chinese Village 2 is my favourite restaurant in the country. Chinese Village 2 (CV2) is located at the Sea view hotel, minutes away from the Ghubaiba Bus Station. As the name suggests, the restaurant serves Chinese cuisine.

The Lion greets you at the entrance

It is always interesting to visit a restaurant when you have a bunch of guys who are vegetarian and the others non-vegetarian, as you end up ordering dishes for both the groups.

Salad

As you settle down on your table, you are greeted with a basic salad. The taste however is not that basic. The salad has a bit of a sour and spicy element to it that makes it interesting and tasty.

Crispy Spinach Chicken

For me it’s a necessity to have the Crispy spinach chicken as a starter when visiting CV2. Its taste took control over me about 5 years ago when I had it for the first time. Crispy spinach chicken is mildly spicy and is served with crispy spinach. Crispy spinach is a bit on the sweeter side giving the dish a balance. For veggies, there is a similar option in veg called crispy spinach vegetables.

Crispy Corn

The second starter we ordered was a vegetarian one. Let me just say Crispy corn makes you fall in love with corn all over again. The taste and the flavour make your taste buds tingle.

Veg. Fried Rice

Shanghai Noodles

Next on was the maincourse. Our order for maincourse was Veg. Fried Rice, Shanghai noodles, Veg. Manchurian and Chicken in Wok. I am a fan of Noodles and prefer it over Rice on any given day. My love for noodles prevailed at CV2 as well. The Shanghai noodles were much better than the veg. fried rice. However this doesn’t mean that the veg. fried rice was not good. It was decent enough but not the best I have had.

Veg. Manchurain

Chicken in Wok

The Veg. Manchurian was crispy and tasted good. The Manchurian is however not the best vegetarian dish CV2 has to offer. It was the first time for me to try Chicken in wok at CV2 and I shall add that I was not disappointed. The vegetables were cooked appropriately and the dish had the required flavour. What added to the experience of the dish was the way it was served. Look at it for yourself in the photo above.

Lychee Punch

I also ordered a Lychee punch to go along with the delicious food, however I was a bit disappointed with it. I have had punches that are so good that you can’t just have one. This wasn’t the case with the Lychee punch though.

Buddha's Statue

Overall the experience at CV2 was a good one. All you need to do is order your dishes and sit behind while you are served the food by the friendly restaurant staff. There are plenty of options in vegetarian food, chicken, beef and fish; it all depends on what you want. The food is good, the service is good and the ambience is good. What else would a customer want?

Bill (for 4):

1 Crispy Spinach Chicken                      AED 55

1 Crispy Corn                                        AED 45

1 Chicken in Wok                                  AED 55

1 Veg. Manchurian                                 Free (Entertainer voucher used)

1 Veg. Fried Rice                                   AED 28

1 Shanghai Noodles                               AED 28

1 Lychee Punch                                    AED 25

1 Water (Large)                                     AED 12

Total                                                    AED 248 (after discount)

All prices are inclusive of 10% Municipality Fees and 10% service Fees

Details:

Restaurant          Chinese Village 2

Cuisine               Chinese

Location             7^th Floor, Sea View Hotel, Al Mina Road, Bur Dubai, Dubai

Contact               +971 4 3529954

Website               http://www.chinesevillage.ae/ 

Offers:

Emirates NBD Credit Card    10-15% off on Total Bill

Entertainer Coupon                1 main course free on order of 1 main course (only on curries, not valid on noodles and rice)   

Disclamer: All offers are as of the date the blog owner dined in at the restaurant. Any changes made to the offers are not the responsibility of the blog owner. Please check the offers with the restaurant before dine-in or take away.