Over the past couple of weeks, I had the rare opportunity to dine out at two different branches of the same restaurant. I don’t usually do that. And the experience between the two was poles apart.

Good things first: a cousin and I headed over for lunch to the Gulberg branch of Mandarin Kitchen that opened up only a couple of months ago off M.M. Alam Road in a street that’s bustling with many other restaurants. The narrow, congested entrance leads you to the main lounge where the tastefully done interior is modest, yet gives off very chic, sophisticated, comfortable vibes. The ceiling is high, there’s a lot of metal and wood, large glass windows through which sunlight pours in and lights up the entire dining area, sofas as well as wooden chairs, a live kitchen, a wooden floor.

On to the food, we ordered the Korean Fried Chicken as an appetiser, which turned out to be more than just that. The double-fried chicken was perfectly crispy and crunchy on the outside, and succulent inside. Sprinkled with peanuts and sesame, the chicken was glazed with a sticky sauce that was a riot of flavour: sweet, tangy, salty. It was served on the side with potato fries. Irresistible.

From the mains, we tried the Spicy Shanghai Chicken, Thai Crispy Beef, Crispy Honey Prawns and a small portion of Dragon Noodles. The stir-fried Shanghai chicken is cooked in assorted veggies and a loaded dragon sauce that (as the name suggests) is sure to knock you off. If you are spice-tolerant, this one’s for you!

The honey prawns weren’t something to write home about. While the prawns, sprinkled with sesame, were cooked nicely and had a crunch to them, the flavour was one-dimensional: one couldn’t taste anything but sweetness. Wish it was balanced a bit.

The Thai beef that was available off the menu and will be part of the main menu in the next few days was crunchy, juicy, sweet and salty and sprinkled with sesame. Will be a safe, pleasant addition to the menu.

The Dragon Noodles with succulent chunks of beef, assorted vegetables and noodles in a soy and garlic sauce was subtle and comforting though nothing extraordinary.

The overall experience was satisfying with some delicious Chinese fare in an urbane ambiance.

Now for the not-so-satisfying stuff: my experience at Mandarin Kitchen’s Defence branch a couple of weeks ago was nothing close to this, which is why I wanted to give the restaurant another chance. It all began when we (eight of us) managed to move from a small table to a bigger one. The first put-off for us was when we were served prawn crackers after we were done with our soup and the bowls were being removed – should have been served WITH the soup. Having said that I must mention how good the spicy Mandarin Soup – house special with generous chunks of chicken and shrimp – was.

The Thai Red Curry with prawns from the single serving section wasn’t too bad either. The Pad Thai was a major disappointment! Not only did it not look like a Pad Thai, but also taste like one either. It was messy as if cooked in a hurry, lacked any sauce and tasted sweet. The Shanghai chicken, which was supposed to be spicy and loaded with chill sauce, was bland. Which is why I ordered it again at the Gulberg branch to check out the difference. The prawns in the Hot Garlic Prawns were mushy, probably overcooked and the garlic sauce was more like custard. Oh, and our food was served within five minutes of ordering, which made us suspicious.

But this isn’t to say the restaurant should be shunned; I, for one, didn’t. We probably caught them on a bad day, and to be fair, every restaurant – or even person – experiences this (ideally shouldn’t). The Defence experience was redeemed by the Gulberg branch, and I’ll surely go back. It may be one of the hundreds of Chinese restaurants in Lahore, but not all of them will appeal to you, and if you love Chinese food, you’ll love Mandarin Kitchen!

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2019