Nanking Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in New Delhi

After a long time I went to Nanking Vasant Kunj for lunch with my friend, yesterday, Sunday 8th July. From my last visit I remember it to be a classy fine dining restaurant. But yesterday, right from the entrance to the dining room, the dining experience and exit, there was a definite change. We ordered the fixed meal deal and when we saw it was a lot of food, we asked them if they would kindly pack part of it for us, which they agreed. I categorically requested them that no egg should be used in the preparation of the food as I am allergic to eggs. Of course, they wouldn't know what allergy means and the consequences for one who eats the food with the item. I had requested them to pack my main course, fried rice and manchurian chicken. I didn't check all the packed items as the rest had been taken from the table itself. This afternoon, when I sat down to have my lunch after heating the main course, I saw there was a lot of egg pieces in the food. The egg being cracked into the rice when being fried, obviously contaminated the whole dish and so I had to feed the food to the strays in order not to waste food. I was sorely disappointed with this lack of responsibility on the part of the staff. The restaurant lacks the class and ambience it once had and does not stand out as being a fine dining restaurant any more. The food is average and common fare. I believe this must be in order to make it more affordable and keep the place full. As a friend said, the place has a stale smell which puts one in doubt about the hygiene. The staff too were not so attentive and we had to call them a number of times before they took our order and served us. I hope the management takes note of this as being a highly priced restaurant, they need to pull up their socks if they want to survive. In the meantime, I am having an allergic reaction from the two mouthfuls I ate before realising there was...

Situated in a quiet building away from the busy malls on Nelson Mandela Marg (which it predates), Nanking has long been one of the more popular Chinese restaurants in this part of town. It spreads over several floors (and has an elevator, besides the stairs) with all the more stereotypical elements of décor expected of Chinese restaurants: red and gold, bamboo, koi swimming in a pool. The predictability is carried through into the menu, which has all the standard dishes one might expect: Hakka noodles, drums of heaven, etc.

We had booked a table for six, including two elderly people, so the fact that they gave us a private dining room was very appreciated. The order-taker helped us out with ordering the dishes, giving mostly good suggestions. With one exception: we had repeatedly mentioned that we wanted low-spice food, but even then, we were recommended Buddha’s delight, which turned out to be very fiery and was unpalatable not just for the senior citizens in our party, but everybody else too.

The rest of the food (drums of heaven, fried corn curd, baby corn and mushroom Mongolian, vegetable fried rice, vegetable Hakka noodles and chicken Mongolian) were average.

A pity, because Nanking used to be good. Now, I’d recommend going to one of the nearby malls and eating at a place like Mamagoto or Yum Yum Cha: for around the same price, you’d get much better...

I’m quite generous in giving ratings to restaurants- we typically eat 5-6 times a week. We had heard some great reviews about Nanking. However, it was one of the WORST experiences. The food was STALE - I had Wonton soup. Soup had no vegetables and wontons were mere blobs of dough. My husband ordered Manchow soup. The chicken soup had few STRANDS of chicken in it with TASTELESS vegetables. Noodles were okay (not the standard that I expect in an upmarket restaurant). However Kung Pao Tofu tasted a few cheap sauces mixed up. Tofu was stale and chewy (not the fried Tofu chewy, but stale one). When we complained to the staff, we were given a pretty rude shoulder with no response.

But the worst experience was when the final bill arrived given in @American Express folder, my Platinum American Express card was not accepted.

An absolute waste of...