China Bistro | Karama
Last week, we dined at China Bistro – a brilliant Chinese restaurant that serves up a mix of creative Asian as well as comfort food under one road. Seating options are plenty but it would be advisable to book a table, since we found the restaurant houseful and bustling with groups and families on a Monday evening.
Located on the main road in Karama, I’m surprised I never noticed this bright and peppy spot before.
To start with, we were offered an Asian amuse bouche which included a portion of kimchi and a portion of pickled veggies. Then we moved on to mocktails. I ordered the Blue Hawaiian while my plus one went for the Pomegranate Lemon Ginger. Very crafty, the sweet and sour blend in the latter featured pomegranate and lemon juices, along with ginger ale, and a lovely flavor boost thanks to the addition of black salt. It was almost like a kala khatta. The former drink, combining sweet pineapple, bold blue curacao and strong kaffir lime, was truly tropical in looks and taste.
The drinks were followed by soup and we went for our unanimous favorite – Tom Kha with Chicken. While the name of the restaurant is China Bistro, they serve a fair deal of Pan Asian cuisines like Japanese and Thai too, like the soup. This one’s always been my favorite, obviously because of the coconut milk, and the one we tried was nothing less of comforting. Although the chicken was slightly chewy, the creamy texture and the inclusion of mushrooms was good enough for me.
Based on the servers recommendations, we started our appetizers with Ginger Chicken Fiaozi dim sums. These, tbh, were probably the best dim sums I’ve had in a long time. Generously stuffed with a chicken filling flavored with ginger, and steamed inside a beet red coating, they were perfect in both, taste and presentation. Next up was South Asian Chili Chicken. Fairly spicy, and to my liking, this chicken starter was quite the palate sparkler. In Chinese food, it’s all about the sauce and this one was worth a try. Along with the chicken, came another prawn-based starter – Prawns in Hunan Sauce. These prawns were simply wow. Not too spicy, and thankfully not sweet either, they oozed flavor, juiciness and crunch in every bite. The dried red chili and green peppers made it a perfect mix.
After going all out on starters, we decided to skip rice for mains and stuck to noodles (my fav) and gravy instead. Although it’s slightly difficult to imagine gravy without rice, the Mao’s Favorite Chicken gravy went great with noodles. I loved the addition of crushed peanuts on top. As for the Wok Tossed Chicken Hakka Noodles, they were classic! It was everything you’d expect from the perfect Hakka noodles and I was in my happy place with these. Infact, these noodles have motivated me to go back and try out the fried rice as well.
Finally it was time for dessert. I always find it interesting to see how Asian restaurants spin classic desserts to fit their style. And these Hot Chocolate Rolls were a lovely concept, that fit the bill just right. Filled with oozing chocolate inside spring roll pastry and topped with more chocolate, they were like a dream. I, obviously went a little cuckoo when I saw the coconut garnish, but truly these rolls were everything – crunchy, creamy, chocolatey and of course, coconutty! The smooth vanilla ice cream on the side added a sweet touch to the rich chocolate.
China Bistro
- Food
- Drinks
- Ambience
- Pricing
- Service
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With so much good food to choose from, you will be much better off going with a big group and trying out a variety of dishes to satisfy your Chinese food cravings. I loved almost everything, especially the dim sums and the prawns, but if there were one thing I would skip next time, it would be the Mao’s Chicken. I didn’t quite like it as much as I like Manchurian chicken or Garlic chicken. I am definitely going back to try their fried rice though.
Location: Near Park Regis Hotel, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street, Trade Center Road, Al Karama, Dubai
Contact: 04 5269169
