The Golden Dragon
With a refined ambience and luxurious interior decor, The
Golden Dragon is one of the foremost venues in Colombo to treat your palate to exquisite Chinese Cuisine. Reserved for a fine dining experience, the newly instated Chef Shi
Xi Ling is a maestro in the art of preparing Chinese cuisine. Having been serving under the
Taj Hotels Chain for the past 25 years, predominantly in Mumbai and Delhi, Chef Shi was recently instated as the head chef at the Golden Dragon at Taj
Samudra Colombo. Fusing his own unique twist to prepare this cuisine, Chef Shi also specialises in spicing up regular Chinese food to satisfy the expectation of the Sri Lankan Palate.
The Food Appetisers
We were served with a special menu that was handpicked by Chef Shi himself. Our appetisers included an Assortment of
Dim Sums, Vegetable fried Wontons, Fried Water Chestnuts with Black Pepper Sauce, Crispy Shredded Chicken with Honey
Chilli and Sichuan Chilli Fish. Priced quite reasonably, with most dishes on the menu being below Rs. 1500/-, the portion sizes were quite large and filling. The food itself tasted fantastic! I particularly loved the Dim Sums which were basically bite-sized dumplings that were filled with various savoury and sweet fillings. Chicken, pork and tuna were the savoury fillings while there was a chocolate filled dim sum as well. The chocolate Dim sum was excellent! The chocolate just explodes in your mouth and is good enough to make you the happiest person alive.
Mains
The main course included Bean curd with vegetables in Fresh Chilli Sauce, Dry cook Okra, Beef in Chilli oyster sauce, Prawns in Chilli plum sauce, Singapore vegetable fried
noodles and Egg Fried Rice. Each dish was a delight in itself but once combined it was truly a match made in heaven! The beef was particularly remarkable, as it literally just melted in your mouth, and the chilli oyster sauce was a mouthwatering complement. The prawns were huge and juicy by itself but the chilli plum sauce made it a lot more savoury and amplified the taste much more. The Okra had just the right amount of pleasant crunch to it and the perfect texture and spice as well. All this combined with the rice and noodles was definitely an explosion of flavour that is worth trying out!
Drinks
We opted for the Lychee and Raspberry Mocktail as well as the
Very Berry. I felt that they could have reduced the amount of sugar used in both mocks but nonetheless it tasted quite good. Being a mix of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries the Very Berry was definitely my favourite pick of the two. Without a doubt, I would definitely recommend The Golden Dragon at
Taj Samudra, headed by Chef Shi Xi Lin, if you are looking to experience authentic and exquisite Chinese Cuisine.
For dessert
The Chocolate Mousse which we got for dessert was an absolute mouthwatering delight! Being a mixture of creamy mousse and chocolate sauce with a strawberry on top it was certainly an amazing treat to be savoured at the end of our meal. Couple this up with some ice cream and nuts and you could just melt with satisfaction.