Tai Pan - Manchester Reviews

I have sampled Chinese food in various locations around the world, but none compare to the crispy duck in plum sauce available at the Tai Pan. We lived in Cheshire and worked in Manchester, which meant we could visit the restaurant regularly. We now live in Suffolk and try to include a visit to the Tai Pan when we visit family in North Wales - it is fabulous!

It’s in a good location, just ten minutes walk from the Apollo. It has great food at reasonable prices. Two courses plus one drink for £17, but poor service. It was not a busy night, Sunday, but one starter was forgotten and came very late after having to remind them twice. It’s a shame to ruin the experience over a simple matter. I won’t be going again.

The Tai Pan is our Chinese restaurant of choice in City Centre to South Manchester. It's in the style of the huge Hong Kong restaurants; tiny by comparison but the food is of a quality that would be acceptable in Hong Kong. The variety is not quite HK standard but at least it's in the same ball park. It's not intimate and I'll scream if I hear ""Happy birthday to you" again. One of the main advantages is that the parking is excellent and your car is there and undamaged afterwards.

The service is good and we can always find something on the menu that we have not tried before and then add it to the long list of favourites. Even golden oldies are worth revisiting from time to time. The best Manchester centre restaurants are as good but the parking and accessibility are the deciding factor. The star is their cold roast belly pork. Now that they have realised that Europeans enjoy it too, they have it available every day.

My one criticism is that they have a separate menu written in Chinese and I want to know and try some of the fantastic things I see Chinese families enjoying but I've no idea what they are. Discrimination in my view.