Restaurant review: Asian food quick and cheap at Wonton House

A rice wrapper dish, the vegetarian spring roll, at Wonton House. Pawan Singh / The National

Chinese food is difficult to get right. It’s a tricky cuisine, delicious when done well, hideous when you’re served noodles in gloop.

Wonton House on Sheikh Zayed Road is somewhere in between. It is an unpretentious restaurant, great value for money and decent. Given its location, its clientele is very much the working community in the area, and the eatery has created a vibe suited for its customers.

The Asian restaurant claims to be a casual dining spot that focuses on healthy and balanced dishes for today’s modern lifestyle. By Asian, they mean Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and needless to say the menu is very long. So the best option is to decide which part of Asia you fancy for lunch rather than waste time perusing the entire menu.

My guest and I were here to review the business lunch, and the waiter pointed out the “do-it-yourself” option displayed on the board outside to lure in hungry workers.

You choose a sauce, then either chicken, prawn, beef, lamb or vegetables and order a side of noodles or rice plus a drink, all for Dh50. Bargain, especially considering the size of the dishes.

For starters though, my guest and I opted for the dynamite prawns before piecing together our mains. The prawns came sizzling to our table, and the fumes of chilli quickly hit the back of our throats. They were well prepared, although far less spicy than expected, given the kick of the fumes.

As for the do-it-yourself option, I went for the Szechuan beef with a half-and-half rice and noodle combo, while my guest opted for the Manchurian beef with fried rice. The beef was melt-in-the-mouth tender, each morsel required no more than two or three rounds of chewing.

Business lunches require a lot of chit-chat. For those who do not wish to speak with their mouths full, it can be a painful experience, one that requires a lot of patience. Tender meat helps conversations to flow, as no time is wasted chewing it.

Describing the size of the dishes as hearty would be a bit of an understatement, I managed to finish only half and I’m someone with a hearty appetite.

The service was remarkably prompt. The dishes were plated out within minutes of ordering, perfect for those with only 45 minutes to an hour for lunch.

Your eyes will not fill with tears at the sheer joy of a mouthful of Wonton’s food. But it is satisfying and affordable.

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