Wing Tai Restaurant

Angella

Large new Cantonese restaurant 12th January 2009

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Location
On the Edgware Road, where the old huge Chinese shopping mall used to be. Look for the big Chinese pagodas and roofs. Next to the Wing Yip supermarket where you can buy Chinese food to make your own.

Restaurant Name Meaning
Three people could not tell me. I presume Wing is the surname of the owner or developer. Tai seems to mean great in Cantonese. Or peaceful.

The restaurant is absolutely huge. So you are bound to find a free table. We had a choice of a large round table or a smaller square table. I prefer small and square so you can talk more cosily and make eye contact. But the others wanted a bigger table with room for plates.

Decor
Pleasantly brand new in early 2009. Seats still had plastic covers. Red carpet, two red pillars and two gold pillars, glass around the outside wall and a red and gold wall sign on the opposite side.

The ceiling had pinkish and bluish tones. But the overall effect is white because of the white cloths and napkins. Because of the carpet and size we did not hear anybody else talking, not even those at the next table.

Starters
They bring up white prawn crackers straight away and ask if you want Chinese tea. They didn't have a license so no Chinese wine nor Japanese sake.

Main courses
Duck in pancakes with plum sauce. Pretty orange 'flower', presumably cut from carrot or dyed vegetable, four finely sliced pieces held together underneath with toothpicks. Chicken with sliced ginger.

Lobster enough for three (I don't eat it - shellfish allergy) with some to take home.

Desserts
Bananas in toffee, very good.

Coffees and teas
Chinese tea. Coffee. the menu said floater coffee. That meant with cream floating on it. They said they didn't have it. We got coffee with milk. Okay coffee.

Service
Fast and efficient. Always somebody nearby or passing by and they call another who calls a third who runs up with what you want. I wanted a fingerbowl. Up it comes. Plus wipes in plastic. We are offered forks but we use the chopsticks which are wrapped up so they are clean. What I missed was a glass of water and some alcohol or freshly squeezed juice.

The best service was that we were lucky to get one jolly smiling chap who you see in the picture. He said he liked lobster too and he jokingly asked if he could sit down and join us.

Price
About sixty pounds for four. We had four meat dishes, a couple of bowls of rice, Chinese tea for three, complimentary orange slices, four coffees and two bananas in toffee which were cut into four and gave four of us a piece each. He who paid was happy with the price and said, 'We had a meal for four tonight for what I paid for two last night.'

Seats
The chairs have a vertical bar supporting your spine. Just right. So you sit upright, properly supported, and don't even notice the chair.

But there's no spoke on the chair and no hook on the wall so where do you put your delicate new satin evening bag? On the clean carpet - but be careful neither you nor the servers tread on the bag and dirty it or trip up or break its contents.

So better still on a spare chair. They have dozens of spare chairs around the walls and against the windows.

Toilets
Practical. Large blue-grey tiles. Two large cubicles. Hook for your handbag.

Parking
Car park outside and signs to overflow parking area.

Verdict
Fine for the family. Good value. Nothing spectacular but nothing wrong.

I like to get glamour when I'm eating out. For Chinese I'd rate Swan in Hatch End as tops. (Well, I'm partial to my local Hatch End and Pinner restaurants. A bit like preferring your own mother's cooking to everybody else's.)

We were recommended here for the food. All the food was good. All the other diners in the restaurant were Chinese which many would say is the sign of a good authentic restaurant.