Between Christmas and New Year, we visited Ocean Palace in Darwen, Lancashire; this is a Cantonese restaurant we have dined at many times and it has rarely disappointed.
Sometimes we simply get takeaways but as it's a 20-minute car journey one way this is not as often as @dismayedworld would like as she loves the food.
Going inside to eat is a much less frequent event and why I have not covered the restaurant in previous @tasteem reviews.
It was dark when we arrived, hence the outside view photograph that shows just this.
We had to wait around 10 minutes in the bar before being seated despite pre-booking. I'm not a big fan of this practice but it seems to be normal at Ocean Palace and so we tolerate it.
We chose a weekday to visit knowing weekends are very busy, but the main area was still around half full despite the early arriving time.
The menu was in a hard-backed cover but inside is the usual restaurant style paper copies protected by cellophane sleeves.
Today it was Deep-Fried Won Ton as a shared starter at £5.60 followed by Duck in Orange Sauce at £14 and Roast Pork in Black Pepper Sauce at £13.
The latter item is not on the menu but available on request as we have eaten it many times as a takeaway item.
Add some Yung Chow Special Fried Rice (that’s the ‘top’ rice with prawns and all kinds of other goodies) for two and we were all set!
Service at Ocean Palace is on par with other such quality restaurants and the Deep-Fried Won Ton arrived in good time. You don’t get much but boy is it good!
A crispy exterior with a prawn filling and a dip of sweet chilli sauce makes for a good start.
I have ordered both main courses previously so knew what to expect. I do love a bit of crispy duck and when it is ordered and consumed on the premises it always seems to taste better.
@bingbabe has a habit of ordering the most boring meals available and then wanting to swap with me!
I persuaded her to go for the Roast Pork this time. It was a little spicier than usual but seemed to hit the spot.
By this time the restaurant had started filling up so I was grateful that I took my table snaps earlier. I didn’t want any more strange looks like I seem to get from other diners.
I was more than full by the end of this meal, and @bingbabe too which is not so surprising as she managed to eat around 75% of the rice.
After some hot towels and oranges to freshen up the mouth I was presented with the bill.
Almost £53 for the two of us is a little above average but there’s also a takeout of Chicken Fried Rice at £7 on there.
We can’t go to Ocean Palace without fetching this for @dismayedworld, or there will be serious trouble.
This is another restaurant I can recommend without hesitation and fits the @tasteem ‘Palatable Beauty of Chinese Cooking’ contest very well.
Restaurant Information
Ocean Palace
98 Bolton Rd, Darwen BB3 2TT, UK
This post participated in the Tasteem contest The Palatable Beauty of Chinese Cuisine
Living in Indonesia is very pleasant. Western food and Asian food are all here.
Won ton is a good one. But, dimsum is a best one for me. :)
#tasteem-curation
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The do offer DimSum and I have had it in the past. They offer many starters and I havent had a bad one yet, from the pawn toast to the salt 'n pepper wings.
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I just truly love Chinese and this one looks like it would fit right in my wheelhouse! In fact, it looks like a whole lot of Chinese restaurants I have been to in my life.
The food looks scrumptious. I'm just sitting here waiting lunch and it can't come soon enough!
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You know that I don't give out great reviews for everything I write about. I just posted this on their Facebook page. I know the manager there, but he wont know who @slobberchops is.. LOL!
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No shit, Sherlock!
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A lot of meat choices there! I would want something either veggie or fish. The fried rice looks amazing though. The wontons look good too.
When I was a teenager I used to demand chicken chow mein whenever my dad went near a Chinese restaurant (note I said Dad - Mum would just tell me to make my own).
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They do have quite a lot of fish options, I didnt include the fish menu as looking at pages of menus might not be so interesting to some. There's online menus on their own Website too.
Good to hear you coming to SteemCamp in April. Will be good to hook up with you.
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Yes it will be great to meet! Looking forward to my first Steemit event.
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Here we have Chinese all you can buffets for about 10 bucks YUM!
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We have them here too, bad for people like me with sparrow like appetites.
There was one in my local town and they used to make you pay more if you left any of the all-you-can-eat. Not surprisingly they went bust very quickly.
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LOLZ here they just have signs saying not to take more than you can eat!
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Ah, I wondered if it happened anywhere else. I don't tend to go in those place so much now.. you get a lot but the food quality is never as good.
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This looks really good and is making me want to hit the local buffet that is near our house. I have never tried duck, but I hope to at some point in this lifetime. I hear lots of good things about it all the time. It all looks very tasty.
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That seems like a really cool and chill place where to celebrate such a beautiful event. Over here is all about parties..really not my type. The food looks delicious too! :)
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That really looks incredible. I can almost smell it from here.
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I do tend to be critical in my @tasteem reviews but this one scores highly. It is good and is deserving of the praise I give it.
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Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue 378 (01/22/19)
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The restaurant looks really classy. The food must be delicious too .
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That crispy duck looks so yummy and that Roast Pork look look so gravy. A bit expensive but i'm glad you enjoyed your meal.
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I've never had Cantonese duck in orange...just the usual pancakes. It looks and sounds delicious.
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It's a common dish in the north, is it that you have never tried or that you have never seen it?
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Both I guess. I've heard of Duck a l'orange but never as an oriental dish.
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The roast duck looks very good, a lot of Chinese restaurants tend to deep fry them to death but this look nice and moist. Hope it was good
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Hi @slobberchops!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.300 which ranks you at #2566 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 3 places in the last three days (old rank 2569).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 240 contributions, your post is ranked at #37.
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Hi, @slobberchops!
You just got a 6.74% upvote from SteemPlus!
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I love Chinese Food. Those pictures you have taken, all the foods looks so deliciously good.
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Thank you for entering our <The Palatable Beauty of Chinese Cuisine> Contest . Thanks to @slobberchops, Tasteem has become a more attractive guide. We upvote your post, wish you the best of luck in winning our Contest!
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