Taste Garden
28 High St, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, LL41 3AA
The Taste Garden has been serving reliable Chinese food consistently for around a decade (even longer before that under different management). The quality of the dishes is variable – as would be expected from the amount of choice on offer – from (mostly) acceptable to (some) really good, but always fair value. Order by phone on 01766 830347 and give them 20 minutes before collection. Fast and friendly!
Recommended order: Hot & Sour Vegetarian Soup followed by Crispy Aromatic Duck – their ‘signature dish’. The hot and sour soup can be pretty spicy! It has always been very good and its characteristics vary slightly every time, so always interesting. The duck is offered in quarter, half, or full bird portions – shredded off for you (as above) – accompanied by fresh salad, julienned spring onions & cucumber and pancakes to roll it all up in (below)… The Hoi Sin sauce that comes with it has been ‘perfected’ over the years, becoming lighter and more aromatic with overtones of fivespice and a background of liquorice-toffee notes. Always a good dish that feels like a celebration - never been disappointed. 
The Szechuan-style Sweet & Sour Chicken is also a good, hearty alternative: chunks of chicken deep-fried in batter and accompanied by a very bright sauce that is usually more sour than sweet, providing a good edge to cut the heaviness of the batter (use moderately, or it will 'swamp' all other flavour). It will fill you up, as will their noodle-based dishes – the plain fried or prawn chow mein are good and can be a meal in themselves (the pork and chicken noodles tend to be rather highly salted). It is the Taste Garden’s ‘heavier’ dishes, with robust spicy, sharp or salty sauces that play to the chef’s strength (avoid the chips) and this harmonises well with Blaenau’s other Chinese take away, The Golden Mountain, further along the High Street, that favours the lighter Cantonese-style end of the market.
The Taste Garden has been serving reliable Chinese food consistently for around a decade (even longer before that under different management). The quality of the dishes is variable – as would be expected from the amount of choice on offer – from (mostly) acceptable to (some) really good, but always fair value. Order by phone on 01766 830347 and give them 20 minutes before collection. Fast and friendly!
Recommended order: Hot & Sour Vegetarian Soup followed by Crispy Aromatic Duck – their ‘signature dish’. The hot and sour soup can be pretty spicy! It has always been very good and its characteristics vary slightly every time, so always interesting. The duck is offered in quarter, half, or full bird portions – shredded off for you (as above) – accompanied by fresh salad, julienned spring onions & cucumber and pancakes to roll it all up in (below)… The Hoi Sin sauce that comes with it has been ‘perfected’ over the years, becoming lighter and more aromatic with overtones of fivespice and a background of liquorice-toffee notes. Always a good dish that feels like a celebration - never been disappointed. The Szechuan-style Sweet & Sour Chicken is also a good, hearty alternative: chunks of chicken deep-fried in batter and accompanied by a very bright sauce that is usually more sour than sweet, providing a good edge to cut the heaviness of the batter (use moderately, or it will 'swamp' all other flavour). It will fill you up, as will their noodle-based dishes – the plain fried or prawn chow mein are good and can be a meal in themselves (the pork and chicken noodles tend to be rather highly salted). It is the Taste Garden’s ‘heavier’ dishes, with robust spicy, sharp or salty sauces that play to the chef’s strength (avoid the chips) and this harmonises well with Blaenau’s other Chinese take away, The Golden Mountain, further along the High Street, that favours the lighter Cantonese-style end of the market.
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