9:00pm Thursday 31st December 2009
By Sophie Edwards
TUCKING into good Chinese food is like going back in time for me – every Christmas Eve my family would go to our local restaurant for a feast.
About two hours later, we would all be desperately thirsty and hungry, such was the Chinese dining experience, or so I thought.
In the name of journalism, I decided to take my flatemate and test mypreconceptions at the Jasmine Garden, at Leigh Broadway.
Daring as ever, we started off with spring rolls and chicken satay.
In my experience, rolls can often be limp and chewy, while the chickencan resemble skewered road kill.
But not these starters. Crispy, golden and piping hot, the rolls had all of the joy of spring; while the chicken satays, which came with homemade peanut sauce, were succulent and meaty.
For main courses, the brunette and I kept it traditional, opting for szechuan chilli chicken, beef with ginger and spring onion, and singapore noodles, all old favourites.
Then, seized by a moment of madness, we decided to try the chickenmassaman curry, a sort of Thai- Indian fusion dish, which the waitress told us was a speciality.
The curry turned out to be the best dish – coconuty, fresh, and a bit different.
The other dishes were good too, although I don’t think the deep friedchicken did my arteries any favours.
Much to the waitress’s amusement, we bravely ordered on, and did whatwas unthinkable during my family outings. We had one of the eye-poppingly too-good-to-be-true desserts pictured in the menu.
Fulfilling a childhood dream, I had the pineapple one – a slab of fresh, zingy pineapple ice cream, which arrived complete with pineapple and pink umbrellas. Fantastic!
I left the Jasmine Garden a convert. Their blend of traditional withmore adventurous cuisine, combined with fresh and tasty ingredients, showed me you don’t have to go to some trendy noodle bar to get exciting Chinese food.
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