Lychee Oriental - Mitchell St

This was one I was really looking forward to! I had seen so many reviews on Instagram about how great of a place Lychee Oriental is and was so pleased to hear that the chicken was halal! 

Halalness: chicken is halal but ask server on the day just to be sure! It might also be worth asking if any other meats they use are halal certified. Alcohol is also not added to dishes but do double check when ordering as some Asian restaurants do add it into food so it’s something to watch out for. Alcohol is also served here. 

Food:

Chicken Satay Skewers

I chose the chicken satay skewers as my starter and loved the presentation, they made it look so beautiful! The portion was on the smaller side but personally I found it to be just the right amount for a starter. The chicken looked perfectly done from the outside but as soon as I took a bite I saw that the skewers were bright pink from inside which was a massive disappointment and quite a shock as this was not what I would have expected from an expensive and award winning restaurant. It was a shame as the flavours and presentation were amazing and I really was so excited to try these but they were basically inedible and went to waste. 

Rating: 2/10

Chicken Noodles

The presentation was once again lovely, an area that Lychee Oriental definitely does well! The portion size I felt was perfect, not too small but not too large for a lunch either. The chicken was succulent and had good flavour but unfortunately I found the noodles quite salty which was once again a disappointment. If they went less heavy on the salt I would have loved this a lot. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Ambiance:

The restaurant itself is absolutely stunning! The interior is glamorous and the whole restaurant vibe was pretty fancy which we had not prepared for! We went for lunch and so luckily it felt more relaxed, however if I was to return in the future for dinner time especially I would wear less casual clothing. This restaurant is the perfect place for celebrations and special occasions, it really has such an opulent feel!

Price:

We opted for the lunch menu which was £14 for 2 courses (starters and main). It would have been nice if they included a dessert option, but overall it was still a pretty good deal as prices on the A La Carte menu were much steeper!

Service:

The waitress was absolutely amazing! She was so welcoming and friendly as well as super attentive towards our needs. She was so nice that we felt too guilty complaining to her about anything! We also didn’t have to wait too long for our food to come, probably because it wasn’t very busy. 

Overall, Lychee Oriental has a lot of potential if they are careful to not make mishaps such as not cooking the chicken for long enough and over-salting dishes. I had high expectations for this restaurant and did feel a bit disappointed with the food. Perhaps I was just unlucky as I have seen lots of really positive reviews. 

Overall rating: 6/10

Would I recommend?: I would not recommend the dishes I tried (unless you share these concerns with the staff when ordering so that they can spend extra attention on the issues I mentioned not being the case). However, I have heard of many people absolutely raving about this place so I would definitely give Lychee Oriental a second chance and order different dishes instead. Maybe I just ordered the wrong items or the chef was having a bad kitchen day!