The right ingredients for a great meal

Imperial Dragon Café, Bur Dubai

When you spend 25 years managing a popular restaurant, you develop something very like a fan following.

Over the years, Patrick Tony Ranee, former manager of Golden Dragon, has seen customers come in as children and later with children of their own.

Regulars thought of Patrick as much as a part of the place as the food.

But Patrick's life had to go on too, and he eventually left to start his own restaurant.

Lasting ties

One day he ran into a former regular at a government office.

The customer immediately got directions to the new restaurant, and went the next day with his family.

The children were delighted to see Patrick. "It's not the food," the customer said to him. "It's you."

Being a successful restaurateur over so many years is about creating lasting relationships with customers. It also helps that the food is good.

When we walked into Imperial Dragon Café, we were seeing Patrick for the first time, but he was warm and welcoming, and instantly got us over our new-restaurant anxiety.

He maintained this warmth without ever being obsequious or ever-present.

The name Imperial Dragon Café is misleading because it isn't a café at all. It's a restaurant that specialises in Cantonese and Szechwan cuisine.

Authentic

However, Patrick is quick to say that their food is Indian Chinese, with a slight bias towards Chinese.

This makes a change from the many budget Chinese restaurants that go heavy on the Indian side: Imperial Dragon Café lets the main ingredients shine through a little more.

In fact, one of the Café's star dishes is totally authentic - the Peking duck.

However, we chose to try the Roasted Duck with Honey and Sesame Seed, which has the bird pot-roasted, so the skin isn't as crisped as a Peking Duck's.

Even so, it was a dish we couldn't stop reaching for; the rich flavour of the duck rounded off perfectly by the sweetness of the sauce.

Meat eaters can choose very reasonably priced dishes of chicken, beef and lamb, as well as a seafood selection that covers prawn, lobster, squid and fish.

The vegetarian selection is limited, but there's a reasonable number of tofu dishes on offer.

Well begun

Our starter of Golden Fried Squid featured tender, fresh squid in a light batter that should have been drained of oil a little more.

We asked to share a seafood soup and were brought two half portions so generous it was as if we'd ordered two.

The soup was light and tasty and crammed with shrimp.

The meat in the Lamb with Celery was so tender that we stopped chewing as our eyes glazed over.

It was a masterpiece and demonstrated chef Chen Kemphoi's obsession with his ingredients, particularly how he makes all the sauces from scratch.

Décor-wise, the swirling blue pastel walls made us feel as if we were seated inside a bar of soap, which was actually rather soothing and airy.

Divisions in the room ensured privacy between sections, without it looking too boxed off.

The location is great for residents of Bur Dubai. Office workers on Bank Street would do well to sample the Café's "lunch combo-menus" of vegetables, chicken, beef or prawn.

CHECKLIST

GETTING THERE: Behind Bur Juman, (off Bank Street, opposite Automatic) Bur Dubai
OPEN: Noon to 3pm; 6.30pm till midnight
DÉCOR: Soothing and airy
SEATING: 70
DRESS CODE: Casual
RECOMMENDED: Roasted Duck with Honey and Sesame Seed, Lamb with Celery