Happy Garden

PROFILED BY DEGROOTS MEDIA
Dining options have dwindled at Parap Village, so it’s heartening to see a restaurant that’s proven to be a consistent hit. Happy Garden keeps the drifters pleased with an all day takeaway outlet offering Chinese standards, while a more formal dining room opens its doors in the evening for those who wish to linger over a more extensive dine in menu. The carpeted dining room is typically Chinese, with lots of reds and golds, round banquet tables and karaoke on some nights keeps things lively.

The menu covers all the bases, with a blend of traditional Asian fare and Australianised Chinese dishes. For starters you could order the crabmeat and sweet corn soup, crispy fried quail or a half dozen steamed oysters with black bean sauce. For a treat, order a whole roasted duck, fried pork spare ribs with spicy salt or a seafood dish such as the whole fish steamed with ginger and spring onions. Indigenous Territory ingredients are readily adapted into Chinese dishes, and Happy Garden devotes a special section on the menu for them, titled "Flavours of the NT". Sample sliced crocodile with snow peas and punchy XO sauce, or fried sweet and sour barramundi.

Fiona Davies