Beijing Chinese Restaurant and Takeaway

I feel a bit bad slagging this place off. Not out of any concern for the premises itself, but because my friend bought me dinner here last week, when he asked me to be his best man at the forthcoming nupitals. He’d managed to blag some free tickets for a gig and we wanted a quick and handy bite around Sandyford, south Co. Dublin.

Beijing Chinese Restaurant and Takeaway occupies the downstairs of one of those many soulless white, square commercial buildings that gulped up large swathes of Irish suburbia during the final two years before the economic house of cards collapsed. Not exactly a fair observation, I know; plenty of restaurants, such as the excellent Baan Thai (in Sandyford’s big, sprawling commercial “Central Park” complex) also occupy these eyesores.

In this case, it was as though the architect and chef had collaborated to produce a interpretative synergy of awfulness. My Satay Chicken (€8 including boiled rice or chips) was a gloopy mess. The chicken had a strong taste, but it wasn’t the taste of chicken. I asked for them to make it spicy, but I found the dish quite mild and bland. I couldn’t finish it.

Hopefully my friend won’t read this, but if he does, I’m sorry! Thank you for the meal and for the gig too.