Welcome to Jade Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant

This is a combo review. I first went here for dimsum sometime in Feb this year and was favourably impressed. Since it was a while back, I can't give lots of details but the food was tasty, service was good ( we were asked a few times whether we wanted more from the trolley) and the selection of desserts good. Unfortunately I have no idea of the price as someone else paid!

Anyway, I most recently went for their Chinese new year banquet special. We got great value as seafood lovers. If you don't like or can't have seafood, you would need to steer clear of this menu at Chinese New Year. We started of with the Yee Sang; a salad with raw salmon and pickled vegetables. Full of flavour but quite gingery so if you don't like pickled ginger, this may not be dish for you. This was followed by a mixed seafood with dried scallop soup. The soup was thick with shreds of the dried scallop. The richness of this soup countered by the addition of red vinegar but this was up to individual choice. We also had tooth fish which was very fresh, lobster in garlic sauce. It was a shame no rice or bread was provided to mop up the sauce as it was so delicious, I could have happily eaten plain rice with the sauce alone. Other dishes was almond chicken stuffed with prawn paste. Very Moorish. Roast duck which my husband thoroughly enjoyed despite being stuffed full from the previous courses as the duck came with a nice crispy skin and was very lean. Quite often, we have had roast duck which had such a thick layer of fat that all you'd get to eat was the fat and the skin. There was a baked seafood rice, yummy but can't remember it too much. Shelled prawns deep fried in batter then coated in salted ducks egg yolks. Very decadent dish but oh so bad for your heart!! Stir dried scallops, squid and snow peas in XO sauce. The ingredients were very fresh. Their was ice cream with mango puree and fruit to finish. I've been told that the person who manages this place used to manage the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant in East Perth. this person follows around the manager or chef wherever they go as they love their food so much!

I realise that this menu is no longer available but it has tempted me to go back again and try their usual ala carte dishes.

Since the recent refurbishment of its premises, can Jade Dynasty on Francis Street lay claim to being Perth's most beautiful Chinese Restaurant? Equipped with a wide and elegant new foyer (which use to be a little on the dingy side) with spectacular new fibre-optic look chandelier and concertina doors up the back which can be used to divide the room for private functions, Jade tries another new and fresh initiative by introducing steamboat buffet. For the unfamiliar, steamboat involves collecting from the buffet kiosk a selection of uncooked foods which you then bring back to your table and cook in your own personal 'steamboat' (a metal pot with a lid) on a little gas burner in the centre of the table. Yes. It involves sharing. If you, like me, like to crack an egg directly into the broth to poach it, then prepare to be somewhat unpopular.

Upon arrival we are greeted courteously by the glamorously attired manageress and are immediately seated by a waiter. The restaurant has been divided into two spaces, the tables in the front half of the restaurant are reserved for a la carte diners and the back for steamboat diners, with the buffet kiosk up on the back wall. The waiter asks for our selection of steamboat broth (we choose chicken stock) from the menu which ranges from traditional 'medicinal' type soups through to the thoroughly 'modern' (a cheese broth!). He also takes our drinks orders and then promptly returns with our steamboat pot and post mix jugs. The soft drinks are included in the price and it looks like if more than one person orders a certain one then it comes out in a jug or else you get a can to yourself. Service is courteous and abiding although not a bending-over-backwards quality unless specified: we received a broken steamboat lid, missing half the handle which was given to us without any further thought. The waiters also have a habit of immediately removing all empty plates on the table as well, even though those plates were relatively clean and being kept aside for another journey up to the buffet kiosk. This is probably due to the 'upper crust' service the restaurant is aiming for, although the handsomely attired waiters and the crisp napkins folded into cones look wonderful.

The restaurant, despite it being the time during a Saturday evening when things should be at the busiest, is relatively quiet and it makes the place feels empty and lacking in ambience. This is probably not helped by the high ceiling which only truly stops feeling cavernous if the place is relatively full, and the choice of annoying and repetitive tinny music which sounds like it was purchased in the music store section marked 'elevator music'.

The food looks great, nicely set out and looks very clean, like a Chinese version of what you will find at Sheraton or Hyatt buffet. There is a wide selection of seafood including prawns, crab, New Zealand mussels, scallops, salmon slices, cuttlefish, and fish and cuttlefish balls. The prawns are a good size, but on this occasion some of the scallops in the mix look a bit small and off-colour. There is also a meat selection (chicken pieces, beef balls, tender slices of streaky beef and streaky pork, delicious!), Asian greens (baby bok choy, Chinese lettuce and Chinese spinach), noodles (udon and rice vermicelli) and miscellaneous, like for example these hallow balls things which refuse to sink in the steamboat and turned out to be a modern version of a deep fried dough dish translated roughly from the Hokkien Chinese as 'oil fried dumpling'. Not recommended though. A bit tough in the mouth, most likely tough for the stomach!

The only complaint is that despite the sauce and condiments table in the centre and the deserts display having individual labels, there are no labels on any of the main food items! Hard to tell what some things are for us experienced folk, let alone for 'beginners' Thus it was discovered almost too late that the uneventful looking thin pale 'things' on one plate was actually a treasure trove of abalone slices! 'I thought they were bamboo shoot slices' said dad quaffing them straight from the plate without cooking (NB: they can be eaten this way as they have been smoked pervious). 'I thought they were bamboo shoot slices too!' said mum returning to the table and sliding a large plateful into the broth. 'Shhhhhh! I think everyone thinks they are sliced bamboo shoots as well,' added mum clandestinely giving a sideways glance towards the buffet table where punters were passing over the 'sliced bamboo shoots' to get to the prawns.

Starrsheep ate a bit of everything (it is impossible not to ingest other people’s selections as well), sample various sauces (soy with fresh cut chilli, chilli oil, chilli sauce and Chinese BBQ sauce) and for dessert ate a mango pudding (yum, summery!) and a slice of what looked like ...... defrosted Sara Lee cheesecake. The dessert selection was pretty good, red bean soup, white fungus and red date soup, mango pudding, sago, sweet tofu with fruit, plum soup and ....... defrosted-Sara-Lee-cheesecake.

Remember the rules: you get fined for not finishing anything you bring to the table and also any unconsumed drinks, you are not playing 'create an inedible psychedelic dessert out of the dessert bar Sizzler style' kiddies. Great price for buffet. Starrsheep says: 'Give it a go. Steamboat is a great way to get people together and be involved in something very communal. You can try the other very busy steamboat at Perth's most popular steamboat restaurant or if you are looking for a bit more peace and quiet give Jade Dynasty a go. I would change the music, but It is not too baaaaaa-d!'

The food is consistently good, and well-priced.

Ambience is cheerful and spacious. They're upgraded the toilets (thank goodness). Not a date restaurant though - more a place to go with friends/family.

Service is good for Chinese restaurant standards. It is cheerful and quick, but not primo-restaurant standard.