Is this the best Chinese food in Glasgow? I'm not so sure

The Herald Scotland

8 hours ago

Twenty minutes on the treadmill is surely a free pass for noodles and rice, right?
I was a fan of this spot's previous incarnation as Salt & Chilli Oriental (also run by Lee), which had a relaxed street food feel and enormous portion sizes that would explain the pre-emptive exercise.
The menu was short but sweet and no doubt driven by the city's enduring love affair with all things salt and chilli seasoning that sees restaurants and cafes sprinkle the stuff on everything from hash browns to 'haggis baws'.
But Lychee is a different beast, vying to bring the cooler, more sophisticated vibes of its older sister restaurant, first established on Mitchell Street in 2015, to the Southside.
While the interiors of the split-level venue on Kilmarnock Road have barely changed, the food offering is now hugely expanded, drawing inspiration from Chinese, Thai and Japanese cuisines.
On a Wednesday evening, the place is busy with a mix of families, larger groups and couples. We're shown upstairs, where a tight fit between tables is just on the right side of cosy rather than cramped, before ordering a couple of soft drinks. On another occasion, I'd have been drawn to the cocktail section of Singapore Slings or Lychee Cosmos, which sit at a reasonable £8.50 each.
There's a selection of salt and chilli dishes available at Lychee, so we're going for a portion of the squid starter (£7.50) to see if they've still got it, as well as Yuk Sung, spicy minced pork and chicken served with little gem lettuce leaves (£8.50).
Though we've not requested them, a small bowl of prawn crackers arrives to munch on as we wait. Some early bonus points there.
But, oh dear, that squid is looking awful peely-wally against cubes of green pepper and fiery chilli as our server approaches with the starters.
Pictured: Starters of Salt and Chilli squid and Yuk Sung (Image: Newsquest) Close up, it's not much better. Whatever has happened between the journey from the kitchen to our table, there's not a hint of crunch left in these chunky strips of battered seafood slick with oil. There's a good hit of salt and chilli from a surface dusting of dry seasoning, but otherwise the spicy, moreish flavour fails to carry through to the rest of the plate.
The Yuk Sung is more appealing. Mixed mince is firm and meaty, holding up in a bowl of soupy sauce that's to be spooned onto boats of lettuce leaves and eaten by hand. With the addition of pickled red cabbage, it's fun and fresh, if nothing more.
My confidence in Lychee has been shaken slightly by the time the half-finished plates are cleared, but there's a lot of hope reserved for the main dishes.
Pictured: Main dishes selected from the Specialities section of the menu at Lychee Oriental (Image: Newsquest) Both selected from the 'Specialities' section of the menu, the chicken claypot (£14.50) and roast duck (£18.50) are served in identical ceramic dishes. They won't win any prizes for presentation, but with this kind of food, looks don't matter all that much. It's all about the big, punchy flavours that emerge as you get stuck in.
After a few spoonfuls of each, I'm still searching.
Slices of duck are served with oyster sauce and mushrooms, while the claypot chicken, which sounded like the most adventurous of options on the menu, shares its red beancurd base with cloud fungus and Chinese sausage.
The latter is my favourite of the pair, the delicate mushroom caps of cloud fungus and slivers of sausage adding intrigue and layers of texture where bland chicken pieces fall short.
But there's not an awful lot that differentiates the taste of these two seemingly contrasting dishes aside from a hint of sweet nuttiness from the redbean. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that in a blind taste test they would be all that distinguishable from the sauce in the Yuk Sung starter either.
Eaten with side dishes of wok noodles (£4.50) and egg-fried rice (£4.00), this trio could be from any local takeaway I've tried over the years, rather than a sit-down spot that aims to serve 'the very best Chinese food in Glasgow'.
I wonder if we would have had more luck choosing from the crowd pleasers, like Hong Kong sweet and sour or crispy lemon chicken while picking out the best bits of mangetout and tofu skin from the leftovers.
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We'll remain seated a while after admitting defeat, but with no offer of a dessert menu, decide to forgo any sweets this time round rather than catching a server's attention. They've been incredibly attentive all night, so this feels like a small oversight rather than a real inconvenience, and we're keen to give them the table back as the restaurant starts to fill up.
A quick check on social media later indicates that banana fritters could be the star of their sweet selection, so if that's your thing, be sure to hang around for pudding.
I'm not sure what prompted chef Jimmy Lee's decision to transform his Salt & Chilli restaurant into a second Lychee branch, but as we leave, I feel a small pang of sorrow for the demise of a failsafe favourite.
I suppose you never really do appreciate what you have until it's gone.
Menu: It's a tantalising selection of dishes ranging from crowd pleasers like crispy lemon chicken to more adventurous claypot dishes. Plenty to choose from. 4/5
Service: Aside from a slight hiccup with the lack of dessert menu at the end, the team here is amiable and attentive. 4/5
Atmosphere: The upstairs of the restaurant is cosy, but there's not much room as bigger tables start to arrive. We never quite settle in before feeling we should vacate our seats. 3/5
Price: Lack of wow factor means £18.50 for the roast duck feels steep, but overall prices here aren't bad. They also run a set menu and lunch deals if you're watching your budget. 3/5
Food: I fully expected a knockout meal from Lychee Oriental, but found nothing to rave about in any of our dishes. 5/10
Total: 19/30
Lychee Oriental is located at 67 Kilmarnock Road in Glasgow.