Imperial Dynasty, West Malling, Kent

After a rather shocking day at work on Friday I decided that a couple of very large glasses of wine were just the thing required to chill me out a bit. Of course, wine alone would make me light headed (read...drunk!) so a meal to go with it was the plan.

At first we had intended to go out as a family with the teenage son to Nando's however he decided he didn't want to go out so that gave us scope to go somewhere he wasn't fussed about.  So we decided upon ID as we have been many times in the past and its my favourite Chinese restaurant in these parts.  The food is nearly always excellent and the atmosphere is generally lively and buzzing due to its popularity.

The first thing I love about ID is its style.  Its very modern and contemporary and feels a bit more upmarket than your bog-standard Chinese restaurant.  There are no plastic artifacts here, instead there are white tablecloths, tea lights, stylish furniture, and interesting artworks.  The only downside is that there is not a lot of room to move as they really pack in the punters.

Having booked a table for 7.30pm we arrived to find the restaurant nearly full including two very large tables so it wasn't going to be a quiet evening.  Waiting staff were rushed off there feet but we could see some tempting looking food coming out of the kitchen.

A very large glass of wine for me and a diet coke for Craig were ordered while we looked at the menu. At the same time a large basket of prawn crackers were put on the table.  These unfortunately were slightly stale.

Often in a Chinese restaurant we order a set meal however as I follow Weight Watchers and am dairy intolerant this time we ordered individual dishes.  This gives me much more control over what I end up eating.

To start we ordered Steamed mixed Dim Sum and a portion of Chicken Satay.  There were 12 pieces of dim sum in total.  Six were minced pork & coriander (I think) and the other six were minced prawn.  They came with a dish of sweet chilli dipping sauce.  They were extremely hot and fresh and the filling was light.  They were absolutely delicious.

The Chicken Satay sticks (4) were served with a dish of very think peanut sauce.  You could see large pieces of peanut in it which was nice as its usually very smooth.  The chicken itself was a bit tough however this didn't affect the flavour.

For our main course we ordered King Prawns with Black Bean sauce and Green Peppers, Chicken & Cashew Nuts in Yellow Bean sauce, and Stir Fried Shredded Beef Fillet in Sweet Chilli sauce.  To go with these dishes we had a portion of plain boiled rice and a portion of Egg Fried Rice.

The prawn dish was a decent sized portion with a very thick and rich sauce.  Whole pieces of red chilli could be seen which added just the right amount of heat for me.  The prawns themselves were huge.

The chicken dish again was a decent sized portion and had lots a crunchy cashew nuts.  The chicken was thinly sliced and really moist & tender.

The beef dish was not quite what I expected. By the way the menu description was written I thought it would be just slices of beef stir fried in a sauce.  I didn't expect it to be deep fried.  The good news is that I actually really like this dish and often order it elsewhere I just hadn't intended to on this occasion.  No matter, it was still really good.  The carrots were very crisp and the sauce nicely spiced.

At this stage in the review I must apologise for the awful photography used here.  I always use my iPhone to take the pictures and I try to be very discreet.  I wait until there are no waiting staff hovering nearby and then I quickly take a photo. Unfortunately the place was so busy that there was always someone about so I just had to get on and take the picture as quickly as I could.  This seems to have resulted in blurry photos.....sorry.

We waited quite a while between courses but to be honest we didn't mind.  The two large tables got louder and louder as the evening went on and by 9pm lots of tables were being turned around for the next lot of diners.  This is a good sign and shows how popular the place is.

The food isn't the cheapest for a Chinese however around the Maidstone area it is in my humble opinion the best and is worth every penny.

Give it a go.

Imperial Dynasty

Sharon x