PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAIf you haven’t already heard about The Red Teapot, do yourself a favour and visit as soon as you can. It may not be the biggest place and you could easily miss it while walking past, but the food and service is spot on. Seating no more than 35 people at maximum capacity, this place is always full and is cute as a button. It’s simply decorated with suede banquettes and smart furnishings and usually has a great vibe about it. The staff are always pleasant and do a great job recommending the house specialties or explaining certain dishes. Appetisers like deep fried squid tentacles with chilli and garlic are extremely “moreish”, as are the crispy crab and shrimp spring rolls. Although the food is primarily Cantonese, the Japanese seaweed salad is done so well you’d think you were in a sushi bar.
There’s a great selection of traditional dishes as well as the standard beef and black bean and cashew chicken types, found at most Chinese restaurants. But before you revert to your usual selection of dishes, I strongly recommend you try something different at The Red Teapot. Their signature dish, prosperous fragrant chicken, is cooked perfectly on the bone and has lovely crispy skin and a delightful flavour that lingers for hours to follow. Team this with pork spare ribs with honey and black pepper (be prepared to use your hands), Szechuan king prawns, and the combination vegetables and bean curd clay pot and you have a meal fit for an emperor. When you do visit The Red Teapot, be sure to visit an ATM first as they operate with cash only and don’t have any credit card or EFTPOS facilities available.
Karen Bilsby-Butler, January 2008
