Tai
Wu Chinese Restaurant Manchester - reader comments
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"I've
eaten at the Tai Wu many times, and returned last night, as its always
a popular place when you're in a big group and have voted for a quick
and easy pre-going-out buffet, which I suspect is the section
of this restaurant that most people visit. The buffet is indeed
pretty good, with a nice, well cooked mix
of foods, but its enormous (seats well over 100),
and hence is far too busy for my liking most of the
time, and I much prefer the quieter Buffet City if a buffet meal is
on the cards. Anyway, this particular write up is for the restaurant...
On a side note, if you dine here, especially at lunch, they
do a pretty good, very comprehensive and quite authentic half price
Dim Sum menu, for bargain prices. I'd choose this over the
buffet any day, unless I was out on the booze!
Anyway, when dining upstairs in the Tai Wu, the first thing that you
will notice is that the vast majority of diners are actually
Chinese. Some say that this is usually the sign of a good
quality restaurant, although I've never really agreed with this, as
you won't see too many Chinese people ordering Sweet & Sour Chicken
with fried rice, as what we class as Chinese food is actually 50%
British. As well as the regular menus, there are seperate
Chinese menus, with totally different dishes, which speaks
volumes about this place.
The decor is plain, unimaginative, and lacks any real personality.
It's just functional, kind of like a conference hall, as is
the service, table settings, and everything else about the
restaurant. It won't win any prizes for design, fine food, or trendiness,
but that's not where its charm lies.
Despite its lack of personality, what I like about the Tai Wu, is
actually that its very 'Chinese', and reminds me of the fast, efficient,
impersonal, no nonsense, simple food, that I've experienced whilst
in Hong Kong on a couple of occasions. The Chinese dont really do
'posh' dining like we do, and eating is a very casual, social occasion,
meant to be enjoyed by all. The dining area is huge,
probably the biggest in town, and must seat well over 200 covers.
This is a place which caters for large groups, again,
as its heavily populated by Chinese customers, who do tend to eat
out en mass. The Tai Wu caters for this genuinely Chinese way, and
whilst it won't feature in any fine dining guides, its the
best real 'Chinese' restaurant in town, as opposed to many
which are definately better if you want 'English/Chinese' food.
Anyway, go on, be brave... stay away from the English menu with its
black bean sauces, kung po, fried rice, spare ribs and chips, I dare
you! Have a chat with the staff to translate the Chinese Menu, tell
them what you fancy, and try something off that instead, and you may
surprise yourself! It's not all chicken's feet and birds nests, so
you'll be sure to find something you like, even with a western palate.
Also, the Chinese menu is slightly cheaper than an already stupidly
cheap 'English' one (£6 per main), so what better excuse!"
- Chris Handley, Salford 30/5/08 (visited on a thursday evening) |
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"I
have tried all the Chinese buffets in the city centre and this rates
as one of the best, the choice is good
and on occasion they even have some sushi and sashami, I just wish
a bit more often! The food is mostly your generic 'chinese' sweet
& sour, beef & blackbean, salt/pepper chicken etc but you
get ALL of it rather than just some and the quality is higher
than most, there are some oddities on the menu and there
is a better vegetarian choice than some of the others.
The food is replaced throughout the day but coming
at the end of a serving is not recommended, the same goes for any
buffet!
If
you would like more Chinese and less 'chinese' then I highly
recommend the chinese Steamboat/Hotpot, it is served in
the same dining area but is a totally different experience.
Price is the usual tenner, drinks are usual price too with pints
at £2.70, bottle of house wine about £11.
Steamboat price is approx £30 per platter, but it serves 4"
- chris, bolton 9/4/07 (visited on a Sat evening) |
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