CityLife

Green Tea Restaurant

King prawn pak choi 1 / 4 images

Green Tea
West Didsbury
November 2010

CityLife rating: 3/5
Decor: 3/5, Service: 3/5, Food: 4/5

Chinese food is my favourite takeaway. There’s just something about it that feels more like a treat than pizza, curry or fish and chips.

And yet, it’s rarely my first choice to eat out. Partly to blame is the overwhelming temptation to order the naughty options – and plenty of them – which somehow seems less appropriate in a restaurant environment.

My excitable approach probably dates from first trying Chinese cuisine as a teenager, one Friday night at my best friend’s house.

Having only previously encountered rice in its plain, boiled guise, the egg-fried version was a revelation. Rice – fried! With tasty stuff in it! Then came the exotic delight of dozens of (also fried) appetisers such as sesame prawn toast and salt-and-pepper chicken.

These foods – for which I’ve never sought calorie counts, as I’d really, really rather not know – are staples of the standard Chinese menu, along with a mix-and-match variety of proteins, vegetables and sauces. Oh, and don’t forget prawn crackers.

This epic choice often leads to indecision and eyes-bigger-than-stomach syndrome… followed by an expensive bill and a mono-sodium glutamate hangover.

But, of course, this stereotype is just one side of Chinese food.

West Didsbury restaurant Green Tea is on a mission to banish such bad habits, having recently relaunched with a streamlined new menu.

Serving contemporary versions of authentic dishes from north east China, its emphasis is on simplicity and attention to detail, using fresh local ingredients and no MSG.

But that’s not all. Owner Jenny Cui, who first opened the Burton Road venue on August 8, 2008 – a culturally lucky day – has teamed up with local personal trainer and nutritional scientist Michael Bach to create an additional selection, ‘free from guilt’, with tight limits on salt, sugar and fat.

Green Tea’s new décor is suitably fresh and modern, with dark wood, crystal light fittings, shell-toned accessories and white paintwork broken by a deep red, textured wall-covering on one side. We also liked the red Chinese lanterns hung on the tree outside, swaying in the chill of a late autumn breeze.

Our table was close to the door and unfortunately there was quite a draught when people banged in and out to smoke cigarettes, or collect takeaway meals. We also found that fellow guests were sometimes greeted immediately beside us, which was a distraction.

But being such a small space, with only about six or seven tables, these issues are inevitable. We also felt at ease throughout, thanks to the welcoming manner of Jenny and her waitress.

Affordability is another of Green Tea’s targets – and this was shown by the selective drinks menu, which featured no wines above £20 a bottle and house options at only £2.95 a glass. We chose a 2008 Pasquiers grenache (£15.95), which we really enjoyed; fruity but well-structured, with a long finish.

It was a pleasant change to read a menu of only one page, with the ‘guilt-free’ options on the reverse.

We began with a selection of starters: beef jiaozi (£3.50), steamed dumplings of minced beef with ginger and spring onion; seasonal vegetable spring rolls (£3.50); and ‘bang bang’ shredded chicken (£4.80), drizzled with spicy chilli sesame oil, atop a cool salad of cucumber, spring onion, coriander and red onion.

All impressed, being delicate yet full of flavour. The beef in the dumplings stood up to the sharp seasoning, while the vegetable spring rolls – so often greasy and flabby – were crisp and tightly-wrapped; and my companion was thrilled with his fresh and zingy chicken.

Moving on to mains, I decided to try a ‘healthier’ meal: king prawn pak choi (£7.80), stir fried with coconut oil and sea salt and garnished with spring onions. The prawns were large and perfectly cooked, while the gentle seasoning lifted the vibrant vegetables.

From the standard menu, my partner chose sizzling beef steak in fruity sauce (£12.50), which, much to his amusement, arrived on a cow-shaped platter. Best of all, it was actually sizzling – a promise so often undelivered.

The meat was tender and the sauce incredibly well-flavoured, with sweet onion and surprising depth… and I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. But despite being less exciting, my dish succeeded in quality and value – and I had the smug knowledge of fewer calories to work off.

Steamed jasmine rice comes with all main dishes at no extra cost: simple, yet very well-executed.

We utterly failed at choosing a non-naughty dessert, shunning rose water tea and fruit of the day in favour of banana fritters with vanilla ice cream (£3.50). In our defence, they were decidedly un-greasy… and banana is a fruit, after all.

Things were a little disorganised on the service side, as the pace was noticeably slow and our beef starter arrived at least five minutes after the other two. I was also accidentally charged for the main menu’s king prawn dish (£2 more) instead of the healthy one.

However, this didn’t dent our enjoyment, as the atmosphere was glowingly relaxed and the food worth waiting for.

Green Tea also refrains from torturing your wallet in exchange for a nutritionally-balanced meal, as choosing the most expensive dishes from the ‘guilt-free’ menu would only result in a three-course bill of £15.80.

We found the standard menu more appealing, but this still resulted in the healthiest and best-value Friday night meal we’ve had in a long time.

Have my bad habits been mended? Probably not entirely. But I will be measuring future Chinese experiences against this one. 

Green Tea Restaurant, 222 Burton Road, West Didsbury, M20 2LW (0161 4455 395, greenteadidsbury.com).