The legendary Tai Ping restaurant in Dean Street Newlands is still there after 38 years of serving some of the best Chinese food in the town. Badly hit by recent events—do I need to spell it out?—they soldier on. A recent visit proved delicious and for the first time in my long life I learned what pot stickers are called in Chinese.
Succulent Dim Sum
Crispy calamari
We started with some absolutely delicious Dim Sum, called Siu Mai, 2 with prawn filling and the others with vegetables. Easy to get carried away and overdo it, they just go down so easily. After that we had the pot sticker versions called Gow Tze, with pork and more prawn fillings. Can’t overdo prawns as far as I am concerned. The Crispy calamari looked too good to miss so it had to join the parade.
Crispy King Klip
Hot and Spicy Chicken
The one main course was superb Crispy King Klip, bite sized chunks, soft and white inside and crisped into a coma with a gorgeous crunch on the outside. You have to know what you are doing to get this sort of result but I guess 38 years is enough to time to do it right. The dipping sauce had a nice sweet sour bite to it—delicious. The other main was hot and spicy chicken, irresistible, with some veggies and cashew nuts to give it some crunch. Their famous house fried rice was a nice bland accompaniment to these excellent main courses. Frankly the portions were so generous we had to take some home –plenty of food.
Get there and try it for yourself or if you can’t do that get some of the best Takeaway Chinese food on the planet and enjoy at home—with wine!!!
Gow Tze potstickers
TAI PING CNR DEAN AND WILKINSON STREETS NEWLANDS PHONE 021 686 6312/ 685 2129