Restaurant Review - Tropica Chinese Restaurant
Tuesday 23 April 2013
Many years ago I remember a popular Chinese Takeaway to which everyone flocked after the rugby hops. We downed large quantities of mustard yellow Chinese curries with chunks of woolly chicken and chewy onion in the name of exotic food. Chinese restaurants were not an awful lot better at that stage but still we gobbled away happily on what passed for Oriental delicacies! Then it changed for the better, in Dublin anyway, with some pretty good Chinese restaurants coming to the fore doing what you might call ‘nice middle class Chinese food for Europeans’ in plush surroundings. However, in recent years with the popularity of Thai food coming to the fore, Chinese restaurants seemed either to melt into the background or embrace Thai dishes.
I was looking forward then to the opening of Tropica a new Chinese restaurant Dalkey, in a prominent premises that had been empty for a good while following the closure of a previous Chinese eatery. With a reception desk cum takeaway counter to the fore, Tropica was gleaming following its makeover. The young Chinese waiting staff were delightful, and we were happily seated at a corner table.
I began to have doubts however when presented with a shiny multi coloured menu, that was pretty well a duplicate of their takeaway menu apart from prices, and my heart sank as I scanned down through it. Appetizers €5.90/€11.90 had very basic offerings of spicy wings, spare ribs, sesame prawn toast, andchicken Satay. It read like the listings from the freezer cabinet in an Asian wholesale market with six types of ‘Rolls’ from Spring rolls to chicken and cheese rolls– the mind boggles. Brendan opted for Chicken skewers in Satay sauce (€6.50) - three skewers of dry tasteless chuck smothered in a brown sauce which not only left him unmoved but puzzled! Crispy Aromatic Lamb (€11.90) was a large sliced chunk, which was served Aromatic Duck style with pancakes, vegetables and hoi sin sauce. The plates and the pancakes were stone cold, and the lamb wasn’t heated up that much either, so when the delightful girl arrived back with hotter pancakes and a warm plate, the lamb was cold.
Mains included Chef’s Specials €13.90 - €23.90 that had more crispy lamb, Bang Bang chicken, crispy shredded chicken, Fillet of Beef Teriyaki, Fish n Chips with mushy peas, Peppercorn salmon, Duck with Bangkok or Cantonese sauce, “succulent half roast chicken with mashed potatoes and red wine jus, as well as sirloin and fillet steaks with your choice of “fired” or creamed potatoes. The selection seemed like someone had got out an Irish, a Chinese and a Thai menu and stuck a pin in them as you might do with the Grand National Race Field.
“Deep Fried King Prawn (€15.90) salt and chilli” fell at the first hurdle. They were not lightly dusted in salt and chilli as is the norm, but were hard dry anaemic battered torpedoes which tasted like sawdust and were totally overpriced. An accompanying side of bog standard noodles was €4.50, and a bowl of “Quinn’s” sauce – sweet chilli – was another €2.50 – making this ridiculously expensive for what was served. Brendan was equally unimpressed with his Amber Chicken (€13.90) described as “stir fried shredded chicken with vegetables in a traditional Hunan spicy sauce.” All puff and no substance it also required a side order of fried rice (€3.50) making the overall price €17.40. <ep>
Even though the staff were still smiling, the Chinese music was funereal and with desserts of the laminated picture variety, it was time to escape! With a bottle of Valdelamillo D.O. Rioja Crianza (€25) and service our bill was €90.70. <ep>
There is a real opening for a top notch Chinese restaurant anywhere between Dalkey and Ballsbridge; I had high hopes that this might be it. Unfortunately it wasn’t!
Tropica Chinese Restaurant,
3C Castle Street,
Dalkey,
Co. Dublin.
Tel: (01) 202-5000
FIRST PUBLISHED BY THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT