Delicious Chinese Cuisine at Golden Dragon

Chinese cuisine has always been a favourite in Sri Lanka, and Golden Dragon at the Taj Samudra has been serving up delicious Szechuan fare to its customers for a long time now. The restaurant underwent refurbishment and reopened a few months back, with vibrant hues of blue and gold in a beautiful setting.

While revamping the menu, old favourites remain, and new dishes have also been added. I visited Golden Dragon recently for a menu tasting for the Food Factor, and enjoyed the much loved flavours the restaurant has been identified with, over the years.

Tucking into vegetable fried rice, kung pao chicken, hot butter cuttlefish and a broccoli and spinach dish for lunch, the flavours were exquisite and comforting, yet simple and delicious at the same time. The fried rice was served warm, and was rather flavourful with chopped peas, carrots, spring onions, corn kernels, and topped with fried pieces of garlic. The kung pao chicken with a rich sauce and cashew nuts was paired excellently with the rice, in addition to the hot butter cuttlefish – crispy and just the right amount of spicy. Other items on the menu also include noodle dishes, and a variety of chicken, fish, beef, pork, and seafood dishes.

For dessert, I picked lychee ice cream, which is made in the kitchen on a daily basis to ensure freshness and quality of flavour. Despite lychee being a sweet fruit, the ice cream isn’t overly sweet and includes chopped pieces of the fruit, all in all an ideal way to wind down after a heavy meal.

Executive Chef of Taj Samudra Dhaithya Krawage overlooks operations of all the restaurants at the hotel, while the entire menu at Golden Dragon has been created by Chef Bai Ping, who holds 25 years of experience in Szechuan cuisine in his native China. Chef Bai Ping strongly believes in incorporating fresh flavours into the menu, and is responsible for creating the much loved dishes, which has ensured a strong customer base, people who keep coming back to dine on what they enjoy eating the most.

The Golden Dragon also has dim sum brunch every Sunday. For reservations and inquiries, please call on (011) 2446622.

Text and photos by Sarah Kellapatha
Photographs of Executive Chef Dhaithya Krawage and Golden Dragon interiors courtesy Taj Samudra