Tai Ping - Newlands Cape Town

I love Chinese food.  I admit that up front.  However I am very fussy about where I eat it, and at the moment I have only two places ...... one in Pretoria (to be reviewed at another time) which we have frequented for many many years, and one in CT which I have been to four times over the past year.  

Recently I had the pleasure of again visiting this fantastic restaurant. 

The decor is tasteful without being overdone - tables laid with chinese bowls and spoons and red tablecloths.  The chinese decor is authentic and away from the sometimes kitch decor of some other establishments.

Service - Waiters are attentive without being intrusive.  They know the menu and are happy to make suggestions. Service is very fast. 

Food - I have always opted for the set menu.  They have a number of them on offer, including those for one person or two or three.  The prices are extremely reasonable and are based on how many courses you have.  If you wish to try a number of dishes, this is the most economical way to do so. 

This last time I had Set Menu A which offered sweetcorn soup (or whatever one I wanted), a spring roll, sweet and sour pork / stir friend chicken, fried rice, fortune cookie / bowtie and chinese tea all for only R109.  The soup was hot and deeply flavoured followed by a vegetable spring roll.  Their sweet and sour pork is my all time favourite as the batter is crispy, the pork incredibly soft and the sweet and sour sauce generously slathered on. My bowtie was the only slightly disappointing item in that it seemed slightly burnt / too dark. My dinner partner had the honey garlic chicken which was a generous portion and according to him had the right blend of garlic without it being overpowering.  He followed this up with dumplings which were melt in the mouth soft.  

I have only one thing I would like to see done slightly differently, and that is the speed at which the various courses of the Set Menu arrive at the table.  I would have liked the breaks between dishes to be slightly longer as by the time the sweet and sour pork arrived I still had the last of the soup and the vegetable spring roll on the table as well. 

As far as pricing goes, a portion of sweet and sour pork, ordered as a single item, is R102 vs R109 for the full set menu.  Simply as a reference point. For an individual portion that is quite pricey.

So if you are inclined towards Chinese food, and you are not a regular here, you need to put Tai Ping on your "to do" list - it is very much worth it. 

till soon
K xx



Tai Ping
Cnr Wilkinson & Dean Streets
Newlands, Cape Town

Telephone 021 686 6312

Trading Hours

Sundays Closed
Monday – Saturday
Restaurant
Lunch: 11:30 – 14:30
Dinner: 17:30 – 22:00
Take – Aways
Lunch: 10:30 – 14:30
Dinner: 16:30 – 21:30