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The Hungry Dragon, Southsea
The Hungry Dragon, Southsea
The Hungry Dragon opened just over a year ago, time enough for this recent recruit to Southsea’s Osborne Road to settle down and deliver.
Housed on Southsea’s Restaurant Row, opposite and next to two distinctive Chinese restaurants – Chez Choi and Noble House – it needs to compete to survive.
Décor is on a shoestring, with little to woo the customer to try its ‘authentic Chinese’ food and hospitality. But many a simply-decorated restaurant can impress due to the sheer quality of cooking and service.
The people behind The Hungry Dragon seem to have got out a yellow paint pot and covered the walls, then added five Chinese prints and simple, unadorned tables, placed two dragon motifs on steamed-up windows and opened the doors.
Chinese cuisine is one of necessity and invention, no wastage encouraged. Meat and fish are stretched with vegetables and noodles.
Exported to all global corners, Chinese food has been adapted and distorted for over a century in other nations. Think of chop suey, an American idea unknown in China.
At The Hungry Dragon, the food is billed as authentic. But is anyone cooking here really aware of what the word means? And, yup, chop suey is on the menu.
The menu relies heavily on a running buffet, 20 dishes at lunchtime and 35 at evening service alongside a mega-generous separate menu.
Prices are £6.50 for buffet lunch and £8.50 for dinner, with most separate menu dishes around the £6-7 mark.
Don’t rely on the labelling to inform your choices, as I found many were incorrect. One noodle dish was tagged as a vegetable one.
Two soups, highly gelatinous, fatty ones including chicken, were looked at and ignored. Every other dish seemed to include a vibrant yellow rice. There were chicken balls in a thick coating; vegetable samosas; spring rolls; lemon chicken; Malaysian chicken or beef; two types of spare ribs; Thai chicken; deep-fried chicken; vegetable omelette; beef curry; noodles; prawn crackers.
I tried 10 dishes in all, many of them swimming in a swirling bright liquid. I kicked off with a tasteless vegetable samosa in which I struggled to find any vegetables. Then there was an unpleasant-tasting chicken ball and a very poor spring roll.
The rice tasted stale and none of the other dishes I tried were even slightly palatable. However, a pot of jasmine tea was enjoyed, as was the service provided by the excellent waitress. She was delightful, charming, friendly, smiling and attentive.
I find it a mystery as to why those behind this venture can offer such poor quality food, yet still expect us to fork out. My bill came to £7.70, not including a well-deserved tip.
The Hungry Dragon
42 Osborne Road, Southsea PO5 3LT
(023) 9281 4422
Open: Noon-10pm 7 days a week.
Food: One (out of five)
Service: Four
Atmosphere: Two
Disabled access: OK
How to get there: Osborne Road is off Clarence Parade, the restaurant on the right coming from the Parade. On-street parking.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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Comments
There are 11 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Bunnymanor
Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 11:45 AMI have to disagree with Carol Godsmark’s review of the Hungry Dragon, apart from her comment about the lovely helpful waitress. As one who is used to Michelin starred restaurants and ‘Gastro-pubs’ she obviously finds it a little basic. I have always found the lunch buffet tasty, hot, good value for money and better quality than similar establishments in the area. I would rather pay £6.50 here than a similar price for an unhealthy snack in a fast food outlet. If I could afford the over-inflated price that many restaurants and pubs charge I would still patronise the Hungry Dragon and similar privately-owned businesses.
GRAY121UK
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 10:06 PMi have eaten at the hungry dragon and was more than happy with the food and service...i totally disagree with this review
natyy1
Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 01:20 AMHong Kong tea Bar is ace..
natyy1
Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 01:14 AMDear Carol, As the owner of the Hungry Dragon I was pleased that you visited and voiced your opinion. I am in my 20's and this is my first buisness. I take any advise and do my best with it. I am always learning. The first year has gone extremely well, although mistakes have been made. We have an incredible number of regularrepeat custom for our restaurant and our takeawaydelivery goes from strength to strength ( please see justeat.co.uk for reviews ie.Top Takeaway in Portsmouth ;-)) . Christmas was great and we had christmas partys for many local buisnesses and familys including Aqua and southsea Natwest bank all of whom have been before and we will see again. Having been open a year I can confidently say we will be here for years to come providing employment, taxes and a great product to the comunity. I agree completely with two isues you pointed out 1. The Decor When we opened money was set aside to redecorate, however soon after taking over the council put an eviction notice on us as the building did not meet its fire saftey standards. The extraction system was making 2 decibals of noice over the allowed and the roof caved in. 12 grand spent and a hard first lesson. 2.Lunch Time Buffet It has been a great concern of mine that the unpredictibility of lunch time trade has left many food quality issues. If its busy fresh food keeps coming out and all is well. But when its quiet the food stays on the buffet too long and quality lapses. Although we make sure the food is safe by constantly checking and recording tempretures. To solve this we will be closing for lunch Monday to Thursday and have all our regular lunchtime customers move to Fri-Sundays. In the summer it was always busy for Lunch but not at the moment. Dinner is always busy and with much more choices we charge slightly more but dont worry you wont break the bank. I do have my own concerns about your article 1. Chop Suey We have never served this on our buffet, ever. We do offer it on our takeaway menu as every succesful chinese take away does 2. Mini Spring RollsCurry Triangles Every Restaurant in the area, yes EVERY restaurant, use the same supplier for these. To advise people that we are using an infirior product when we share the same supplier for these and all our stock is unfair. 3.Our Chef's not Knowing about authentic chinese food With over 50 years experience between the three of them to make such a comment is absolutely absurd. They are all well known within the chinese comunity as the elite chefs. I do not feel the need to write there CV's out for fear of becoming more busy than we already are which may lead to a drop in standards. 4. The level of service you recieved You say the service was great and I thankyou as I am very strict about what I want from my waiting staff. However if you asked for fresh rice or passed comment about something you had not enjoyed (obviously not the spring rolls or curry triangles as they are the same everywhere) you would have seen exactly how far we go to ensure all our customers leave satisfied. We hope to re-decorate through January and that you will return on a weekend night soon to soak up the atmosphere in southseas busiest chinese restaurant. I do not expect you to re-write this article however it would be nice if you made yourself known and passed on your thoughts. Learning the hard way PV
Rational man
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 07:58 PMThink this revue is very unkind. Yes, the food is not comparable to Chez Choi etc, but when you are paying £8.50 for an all you can buffet, what do you really expect? It's not the sort of place you are going to sit down for a romantic dinner, but for a group on a night out it is more than adequate. By the way Carol....there is a dish from the Toisan region in Southern China called Tsap Seui meaning "miscellaneous scraps" in Cantonese. Thought to be exported to America by Chinese immigrants......very lazy journalism.
Old-Fashioned_Chair
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 07:01 PMThe Hong Kong Tea Bar is excellent - it looks a little dreary, but the food is very good. The Hungry Dragon's predecessor wasn't up to much either, and it's no surprise this review is so poor. I've always walked past without a second glance. There are several fantastic Chinese restaurants nearby as people will know, and I'd rather pay £12-£18 a head for a brilliant meal at Chez Choi than £7.50 for a poor one in a place like this. There's no excuse for poor Chinese food in a city like Portsmouth where restaurants are ten a penny.
Rosie2412
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 10:27 AMOr even the Hong Kong Tea Bar!
Rosie2412
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 10:26 AMalfonso, I have never been to the Honk Kong Tea Bar, but will certainly try it on your recommendation!
alfonso
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:15 PMI haven't tried this restaurant and, based on what I've read here, will not bother. However, I don't necessarily agree with Rosie's assertion that "it's a case of you get what you pay for". I have been a regular visitor to The Hong Kong Tea Bar in Portsmouth and that is cheap but very, very good - as reported by Carol some time ago. It might not be a restaurant but, hey, if I'm in town during the daytime or early evening it is the number one place to eat.
Down to the bare bones
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 05:32 PMApart from the DELIGHTFUL, CHARMING, FRIENDLY, SMILING and ATTENTIVE waitress, it sounds like you had a BAD time, Carol. For just £7.70, it's no surprise quite frankly. Was the rice fried or dried ? The bitterness of poor quality remains LONG after the sweetness of low price is forgotten..
Rosie2412
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 12:17 PMHave to say for once I agree, the food here is awful, but the service good. I suppose it's a case of you get what you pay for.
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