Yuan Tong

Off Tariq Road, (Lane of Shoe Planet)
173P, Block 2, PECHS,
Karachi, Pakistan.
Tel: (92-21) 3454-2934, 3454-6625
(Also referred to as: Yuang Tung, Yuan Tung, Yong Tong)

Cuisine: Chinese

Ratings (Out of 10):

Ambiance: 6
Food: 8
Service: 5
Value for Money: 7
Overall: 7

Cost: Rs. 2300/- for 4 people (5 people could have eaten in the same amount, we had plenty leftover)

Order: 1 Soup and Prawn Crackers, 2 Appetizers, 2 Main Courses, 1 Fried Rice and 5 Cold Drinks

Review:

This restaurant is one of the oldest chinese restaurants still operational in Karachi. It has maintained itself over the years. There is generally a crowd on weekdays and the restaurant is packed on weekends. The exterior or decor is nothing out of the ordinary. Generally all the non-5 star chinese places look the same. Cleanliness is well maintained though especially considering the restaurant's age. The aquarium outside is quite an attraction for the young ones, though kids are getting pretty high-tech these days, so dunno at what age the amusement stops. Another interesting thing I found on my table was that the edges could be folded or brought up to make the tables round or square, however you like it.

The menu has a decent variety. Everything may not be available at all times, but most of it is. I've been there quite a few times. This time however, I tried to order something a little different while still trying to keep it it mainstream for the others in my party.

The corn soup was good as usual, the serving is enough for 4-5 people. Having it with crackers with a bit of the hot red chilli sauce give it the edge. The prawn crackers were done perfectly, crispy and not very oily. There were a lot of options for the soups, but last time I was a bit disappointed with the hot and sour.

Our appetizers were prawn on toast and Crab Foo Yong (Crab Omelete). The prawn on toast was an ample helping. Its a good prawn on toast but different from what you might get elsewhere. The toast is thicker and so is the coating. Its fried well but can be a bit oily for peoples taste. Please remember that its incomplete without the oily red chilli sweet sauce that you have to ask for separately (they might charge for this but it goes well with almost all the food). The Crab Foo Yong just had strands of crab not enough for one to get a taste of it. If you didn't know it was Crab Foo Yong, you'd mistake it for any other Foo Yong. It was a well made omelette though, very fluffy and easy on the veggies.

For the main course (most likely you'll be starting to feel full by the time you get there), we ordered chicken with lime and chillies and dry beef chillies with a side of fried rice. The chicken was good, a little on the sweet side (rather than bitter/lemony that some people like). Also unlike some other places the chicken was not pre-fried in batter, it was regular chicken. The dry beef chillies was awesome as usual. The is also slightly on the sweet side but the chillies brought back the balance. On other occasions, I've had the prawn with garlic sauce and the sizzling chicken manchurian and have never gone wrong with those two. That said there's a world of chinese dishes to be explored here.

A plus point was that the cold drinks were served chilled. Didn't bother with the dessert, they only had two items chilled pineapple and ice-cream/kulfi.

The service was nothing special. Not comparable to something you'd find at a 5 star or some of the swanky places on Zamzama... one might describe it as lacking 'shashkey'. But reasonably quick and effiicient; what counts when one is hungry. However, if they were a bit communicative, one might experiment more.

Overall, its a place where you can go to get good chinese any day. If there's 5 people going, its around 450/- per head which is very reasonable considering some of the other Chinese options in the city. If you're going for the food and a good family atmosphere; this is the place. If you've got space for dessert after, there's Sunshine and Rehmet e Shireen on the main road that you can checkout.

Reviewer: Huzefa Lotia (hzl@khaopiyo.com)


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