Chinese Star Restaurant – Karama

This second branch of The Chinese Star Restaurant has just opened in Karama, the first and original is in Sharjah. Sandwiched between the Bhukkand Café and De Fish, Chinese Star is an authentic Chinese restaurant in the heart of Little India. From the street it’s unmistakably Chinese with cliché red lanterns hanging under its shop sign board. There are no such shenanigans inside where its décor is simple, clean and cool.

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Although the restaurant also offers hotpot, we stuck to their classic menu ordering Deep Fried Dumplings to start and the Chicken with Green Chilli, Mixed Vegetables with Garlic Sauce, Mixed Fried Noodles, Yang Zhou Fried Rice and Sautéed Chinese Greens as our mains. The food took a while to be prepared and then everything was served in one go kinda defeating the purpose of starters. We started with the dumpling anyway. Stuffed with minced chicken, the crescent shaped dumplings are very similar to pan-fried Jian Jiao Zi dumpling or even Japanese Gyoza. They were good but don’t expect anything on the same level as Lucky Panda in International City.

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The rest of the food was very good. This is not the hardcore authentic Chinese you get in International City restaurants but it’s close. The greens and vegetables we ordered were superb, perfectly cooked and seasoned. The chilli chicken was good but definitely needed more kick. The noodles were lovely; I look forward to trying their beef noodle soup to see if its as good as the Lanzhou beef noodle soup we get in International City. I didn’t like the Yang Zhou fried rice, finding it bland. BTW, Yang Zhou fried rice is perhaps China’s most famous fried rice and is known in many restaurants as special fried rice or mixed fried rice. And that’s because it has just about everything mixed in.

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My food buddy Amin and I walked into the restaurant while a training session was still ongoing so I can tell you for sure that their staff are trained. Not that I need to because you will find they are a friendly accommodating bunch. I think this restaurant is a welcomed addition to Karama’s amazing culinary scene. Chinese restaurants in Karama have been getting more and more Indian. It’s good to have an authentic alternative. This is a restaurant well worth a visit.

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Xerxes physically dines at, or orders from, each and every venue he reviews. He pays in full for whatever he and his companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts no money, gifts, discounts or free meals in return for reviews or favouritism. What you have read was NOT influenced in any way by the venue. Join me on Instagram @ravenousxerxes or email me on xerxes@dellara.com.