Menu - Città D’oriente

I wanted a break from Italian food and suddenly had a craving for Chinese this restaurant is not too far from my apartment and had good ratings, so it was an ob... read more I wanted a break from Italian food and suddenly had a craving for Chinese this restaurant is not too far from my apartment and had good ratings, so it was an obvious choice. I was grateful that they squeezed me in despite having a full house, since it was quite a walk on a rainy day...But alas it all went downhill from there, despite the sincere efforts of the personnel. First, the menu was a disappointment, because it was even less authentic than Chinese restaurants in other European capitals; a telling sign was that chopsticks had to be asked for, and were never laid out as they normally are in, say, Chinese restaurants in Paris. There were masses of people so we were all seated too close for comfort, and I had a choice between a very loud but diffuse background noise, to the constant chatter of two young girls next to me. But all of this was as nothing compared to the sheer mayhem that followed: most of the waiters were Bangladeshis, whose brave attempts at Italian were only surpassed by the even braver attempts of the (presumably also Bangladeshi chefs who tried to cook Chinese food at this restaurant. I had to wait more than thirty minutes for my order, because of communication problems between a vast population of waiters, of whom only one, competent and intelligent, managed to save the day. When this arrived, I was aghast: I 'd ordered steamed dumplings which usually arrive in a bamboo basket, and are devoid of oil, which is after all the point of ordering steamed food. These (four dumplings were pan fried and greasy, and were served from a dish that contained their equally pan fried and greasy brethren, in much the same was as samosas might be at an Indian restaurant. Oh, and before they arrived, a clueless waiter went around asking who had ordered Cantonese rice (this seemed to be the norm, one had to spot one 's dish and stop the said clueless waiter in his tracks and claim it , and when I said I had, he promptly served it to me: of course I sent it back, saying I wanted to eat the dumplings first. This rice was then served again ALONG WITH the dumplings, at which point I was so hungry that I just ate the dumplings without comment. By the time my main course of 'piquant pork ' (why don 't they give the original chinese names as well? arrived, the rice was cold and lumpy. So I asked for it to be reheated, which took a while again, by which time I thought it was better to start eating the pork, to prevent IT in its turn from getting cold. The rice finally arrived, warmer, but still lumpy I had visions of a huge pot of rice lurking in the kitchen from which dollops were ladled onto plates, without bothering to fluff out lumps and really pretty tasteless. The pork was ok, but honestly I can cook better Chinese food! The fact that there were no Chinese guests spoke volumes for the authenticity of the restaurant. But the Fawlty Towers like waiters were friendly enough, I suppose, and I felt a bit sorry for the owners who are probably doing the best they can with the staff they have. I suppose that I 'm in a minority anyway, since judging by the crowds I saw, the restaurant is doing brisk business with people who are not very familiar with Chinese cuisine.

Hospitality and decent price are the main attractives of this restaurant, which sport very good Chinese food as well since years. They recently added Japanese p... read more Hospitality and decent price are the main attractives of this restaurant, which sport very good Chinese food as well since years. They recently added Japanese part to that, resulting in a very interesting alternative for medium range foodies. Need to book a table, if you dont want to wait for tens of minutes.