dinner: Tasty Restaurant, Victoria Street
One of Wellington’s best kept Chinese food secrets. Tasty is quite hard to find, hidden in behind the BNZ on the corner of Victoria and Manners. Even when you get there, Tasty often looks closed. That’s just a ruse (often very effective) to keep diners out.
Four of us, starving adults, attacked an almost entirely empty Tasty on a Friday night. Service was sufficient, and could’ve easily collapsed into over-served. We wanted to catch up with an old friend and didn’t want to be over-waited on, we just wanted food and conversation and that we got aplenty.
We ordered combination fried rice (no shrimp, please), beef with spring onions, chicken on noodles, fried mixed vegetables, a couple of bowls of streamed rice, and a pot of oolong. The mixed vegetables were particularly good. Simply good rustic fare - much the same as you’d find in any reasonable restaurant in rural China. Always a good sign when the only other diners are from the Chinese community. Authentic.
Lots of laughs later, including our friend experimenting with Indian love calls in the echoing hard walls, we were done - filled to our substantial capacity. I’ve eaten there many times in the last few years - lunch and dinner - always good, always room, perhaps Wellington’s best kept Chinese food secret. Sichuan fans, check it out.
8/10
Points off: Hard surfaces makes sounds zing. Just refilling the teapot makes the tea strong and bitter - not very palatable to most western tastes - better to start from fresh each time. Plastic chopsticks - they might be more hygienic i.e. dishwasher friendly but they’re horrible to use. Invest in the stainless steel ones, or the bamboo disposable ones.
Points on: Family friendly. Authentic. Consistently good food. They do great lunches too. Avoiding those hideous peppermints individually wrapped in plastic - they're hideous. The owner's three year old daughter demonstrating her Coke(tm) top spinning device - live entertainment and great food - oh yeah, it's all good.
Parking: Parking building down Victoria, and if you’re there early in the evening, there’s one in Willis. Rarely a problem, and if it is, make the effort.
$ 45.80
Tasty Restaurant
3/120 Victoria Street
801 0168 - bookings (at this point) probably only needed if there's a squad of you.
Four of us, starving adults, attacked an almost entirely empty Tasty on a Friday night. Service was sufficient, and could’ve easily collapsed into over-served. We wanted to catch up with an old friend and didn’t want to be over-waited on, we just wanted food and conversation and that we got aplenty.
We ordered combination fried rice (no shrimp, please), beef with spring onions, chicken on noodles, fried mixed vegetables, a couple of bowls of streamed rice, and a pot of oolong. The mixed vegetables were particularly good. Simply good rustic fare - much the same as you’d find in any reasonable restaurant in rural China. Always a good sign when the only other diners are from the Chinese community. Authentic.
Lots of laughs later, including our friend experimenting with Indian love calls in the echoing hard walls, we were done - filled to our substantial capacity. I’ve eaten there many times in the last few years - lunch and dinner - always good, always room, perhaps Wellington’s best kept Chinese food secret. Sichuan fans, check it out.
8/10
Points off: Hard surfaces makes sounds zing. Just refilling the teapot makes the tea strong and bitter - not very palatable to most western tastes - better to start from fresh each time. Plastic chopsticks - they might be more hygienic i.e. dishwasher friendly but they’re horrible to use. Invest in the stainless steel ones, or the bamboo disposable ones.
Points on: Family friendly. Authentic. Consistently good food. They do great lunches too. Avoiding those hideous peppermints individually wrapped in plastic - they're hideous. The owner's three year old daughter demonstrating her Coke(tm) top spinning device - live entertainment and great food - oh yeah, it's all good.
Parking: Parking building down Victoria, and if you’re there early in the evening, there’s one in Willis. Rarely a problem, and if it is, make the effort.
$ 45.80
Tasty Restaurant
3/120 Victoria Street
801 0168 - bookings (at this point) probably only needed if there's a squad of you.
posted by Lynsey | Friday, July 15, 2005
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