A magestic evening

REVIEW: Fireworks are believed to have originated in China in the seventh century, so it was perhaps ironic that we opted for Chinese food before the Guy Fawkes display on Saturday night.

Majestic Cuisine is located just down from The Embassy in Courtenay Place. The fully licensed and BYO restaurant has often caught my eye, and feeling like a lighter kind of meal, we thought we'd give it a go.

It was very busy when we arrived, with several large parties, but we were able to secure a small table, and when a family left 10 minutes later the waitress happily moved us to a bigger one.

The menu looked impressive, with large colour photographs of some of the dishes and pages of choices. It took us a while to decide because we were questioning whether to go outside our comfort zones with scorched large intestines, shark fin soup or chicken feet. We played it safe.

To begin, we ordered pan fried pork dumplings ($6), chive dumplings with shrimp ($6) and deep fried squid ($6).

The restaurant itself is quite spacious, filled with large round tables and separated by a wall down the middle.

A huge semicircular mirror on one wall gives the illusion of the restaurant that is expanding far beyond its parameters.

The entrees arrived as we finally decided on mains. The dumplings were good, but the deep fried squid was a little doughy. For mains we tried hot and spicy pork ribs ($20), steamed tofu with mince meat ($18.50) and the Majestic special roast chicken ($18 for half a chicken).

The meals were brought out quickly. The tofu was probably the pick of them, with nice presentation and the mince adding a good flavour to the tofu.

There was nothing fancy about the Majestic special. It was, quite literally, half a chicken, with what seemed to be a special type of breadcrumb - very tasty. The ribs were disappointing. I expected them to come in a hot and spicy sauce, but was instead presented with what appeared to be deep fried rib pieces, neither hot nor spicy.

It was a fun evening, with the waitresses very friendly, though very rushed as they raced between tables.

For three entrees, three mains, steamed rice and corkage for our bottle of wine, the meal came to $86.50.

- The Wellingtonian Food review: Magestic
EMMA BEER