Lychee Oriental, Glasgow
Hey, Foodwalas’s welcome to another episode of the tales of the foodwala.
I have always prefered Sichuan Province more than any other Chinese province….after much deliberation I finally figured out why I liked Sichuan, Sichuan has a rainy season in the summer and grows the most wheat and rice in China and furthermore the food is rich and spicy…so it is exactly like Punjab in Pakistan.
The foodwala clan was on its Sunday walkabout and we came across Lychee Oriental in Millar Street, it specialises in Sichuan dishes so we went in looking for “Chinese salan”
The restaurant is smart and decorated in light hues of green and beige and what struck us the most was the faint aroma of lemongrass as we walked into the curtained entrance.
We were greeted by a friendly young lady who ushered us to our booth since we love prawn crackers and Thai chilli crackers she efficiently brought some
I have a weakness for poppadoms and crackers and we promptly set about demolishing.
We ordered Kung Pao Chicken, Honey Chilli Chicken and Chicken Stir Fry
The Kung Pao chicken is actually Gong Bao chicken in China, and it was meant to be a rich garlic infused fiery dish cooked with bullet chilli peppers, roasted peanuts and seasonal vegetables, however, we got a sweet chicken and peanut dish which was forgettable and lacked the garlicky chilli sauce which we expected.
The Honey Chilli Chicken was beautifully presented in this birds nest noodle bowl, however yet again the flavour was predominately more of sweet than the equilibrium of sweetness and hotness.
The Stir Fried Chicken was delicious and the rich black bean and chilli sauce was perfect with the vegetables and chicken tossed into it, it was definitely the most flavoursome.
The Supposedly Garlic broccoli was absolutely forgettable, I think they forgot to add the garlic and furthermore, usually, the tenderstem variety of broccoli is usually used.
Overall, The Lychee Oriental had all the component parts of the dishes spot on but there was a certain je ne sais quoi that was missing.
Food –6 out of 10
Atmosphere – 6 out of 10
service – 8 out of 10
Cleanliness – 9 out of 10
total score – 29 out of 40