Review: Johnstown's Victoria Garden showcases the best elements of Chinese food

Located within a few metres of the main road that runs through Johnstown and sees plenty of traffic go by each day to and from Naas, Victoria Garden is in an ideal place to attract any amount of hungry customers through their doors. Those who try it out will almost certainly return as the long-established restaurant is a fine example of how Chinese food should be cooked and served. The atmosphere is serene and laidback, while the head chef has created a menu to eek out all the flavours from the wonderful sauces that Chinese food is famed for. Having returned from Malaysia a number of months ago to enjoy what he describes as a more relaxed and stress-free lifestyle, our excellent and attentive waiter Daniel, who also runs the restaurant, made us feel right at home and ensured we never lacked for anything throughout our dining experience. We were comfortably perched in an elevated area of a well laid out restaurant, which is essentially divided into three small parts that all have adequate space for dining. When opening the menu at first you almost feel overwhelmed at the wide array of dishes on offer, many of which can be combined with a selection of rices and sauces to appease even the most adventurous foodie.

Roast Spare Ribs in BBQ sauce

Starters

There are plenty of options on the appetizers menu, ranging from aromatic duck to vegetable skewers, with a wide variety of soups also on offer. Feeling slightly adventurous and with a pinch of curiosity, I opted for the salt and chilli frogs legs, a dish I had never tasted before. The portion size was generous, and they were most certainly quite tasty. Not all that different to deep fried chicken, it was a pleasant first experience of frogs legs. My dining companion went for the roast spare ribs in barbecue sauce, and having tasted a small sample size of his dish, I can confirm that they were as succulent and kind on the taste buds as he was attesting to.

Main course

Having allowed a few minutes to digest the delightful starters, we awaited our main courses with a degree of excitement. I went for beef in black bean sauce, while my companion ordered the chicken with aubergine in hot garlic sauce. It was recommended that we try out the yang chow fried rice, so we went for one portion of that and one portion of egg fried rice. While the egg fried rice was perfectly fine and tasty, the yang chow fried rice was absolutely supreme and almost a treat by itself. It contains spall pieces of ham and a mixture of vegetables and herbs to provide a unique flavour. The beef in black bean sauce was deliciously tender and served on top of mushrooms and vegetables, and the portion size were more than enough to keep any diner happy. Likewise for the chicken, which sizzling and spicy with a good hint of garlic to raise the flavour profile.

Chicken with aubergine in hot garlic sauce

Before the main course was served two hot plates were left on the table, both of which were powered by good old fashioned candlelight. Daniel explained to us that the use of candles under the hotplate tray ensured that the heat lasted longer on the dishes than it normally would with an electric hotplate. Such attention to detail is what makes a good dinner a great dinner. Despite being two men with good appetites, we admitted defeat before seeing the bottom of our plates such was the generous amount of beef and chicken served up on front of us.

Beef in black bean sauce

There was simply no room left for dessert after that, though we were reliably informed by one couple that their dessert went down extremely well, so maybe next time we visit we will be able to fit some in. It was a fine experience overall, and one that will be repeated in the future.