This little gem; Ocean Treasure is located in the heart of the Great Northern entertainment complex, and situated in the same building as casino hot spot Machester 235, the restaurant could not be better placed to cater for discerning diners. It may be located away from China town but the food and the ambience definitely brings out the Chinese culture and is definitely worth a visit. This is the place for those who would like to enjoy a Chinese meal at a not so shabby looking restaurant and the menu is full of western favourites as well as traditional but unique Chinese classics.
So for this special evening I sampled the Autumn Winter menu; yes imagine all things fried, slow cooked and sizzling.
Lets talk food!!
Starters:
Snowflake paper wrapped Prawns - minced king prawn wrapped in featherlite rice paper dusted with 'snowflakes' then deep fried.
I love everything with prawns so I just had to try this and the 'snowflakes' intrigued me a little bit more. The rice paper was crisp, fried to perfect golden brown and the prawns were chunky and the water chestnut gave it that extra crunch. (Yummy!)
Quails Egg Steamed Siu Mai - quails egg perched on top of the chicken and prawn dumpling then steamed. Siu Mai is one of my favorite dumplings and is traditionally made with pork, prawns and chinese mushrooms. Again I was intrigued with the quails egg combination so I had to give this a try - the dumplings were HUGE which is amazing. The combination was tasty but the quails egg gave it a rubbery texture as it may have been slightly overcooked but very good effort for such a unique creation.
Main Course:
Sizzling Fillet Steak Korean Gangnam style - tender pieces of fillet steak stir fried with onions and peppers in a sweet tangy Korean BBQ sauce served on a sizzling hot plate.
The dish was sizzling all over the place and gave off a sweet, tangy and slightly smokey aroma when it arrived on the hot plate - definitely a good experience. The fillet beef strips were cut to a good portion size, it was soft and literally melted in my mouth and the sauce was to die for! Imagine BBQ sauce with a oriental twist. (mmmmm)
Johnny Ocean's Seafood Casserole - scallops, squid and king prawn stir fried with asparagus in XO sauce served in a clay pot on a bed of glass vermicelli.
Created by the manager himself (John) this was my favorite dish of the night and I thoroughly enjoyed all the different textures and flavours swimming in the clay pot. The scallops and prawns were BIG, the asparagus were fresh and very in season and the vermicelli was not overcooked! The dish overall had a combination of seafood textures and aromas but was not too fishy and the few chilli's gave it that extra kick. Definitely a heart warming winter dish that I may even try to make myself.
All served with some boiled white rice - as they say a Chinese meal cannot be complete without a bowl of rice. Dessert:
Crispy custard spring rolls with chocolate sauce and ice cream. This is definitely worth a try as you can't find this in many restaurants, Chinese custard is different from traditional english custard. Chinese custard is somewhat like a thick paste which is quite eggy in taste and not too sweet. With the combination of a fried spring roll pastry and chocolate sauce it complimented the custard very well and there were no splits in the pastry. 
Deep fried man tou with condensed milk and ice cream. Man tou is basically a traditional Chinese bun which is usually steamed and eaten for breakfast or brunch and is made from the very basic ingredients such as flour and egg. It is not a bun full of flavor so lets say this is the equivalent to bread. Deep fried man tou is a childhood favorite of mine as its deep fried and is dipped in condensed milk so you can control how sweet you want it. I will definitely return just to have this :)
Would I return and recommend Ocean Treasure? Without a doubt yes! The ambience is perfect for big parties as well as couples and the food is just too satisfying :)
Special offers are available throughout the year and can be found on the website www.oceantreasure235.co.uk.
*Disclaimer: I wasn’t under any obligation to write anything, all thoughts are my own.
Hope you enjoyed my post :)
Clarissa xx
