Mandarin Palace
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By Des Houghton

June 09, 2007 12:00am

YOU may or may not care to know that it is bad feng shui to put a business such as a restaurant on a sloping street.

My authority for this is Eddie Liu, the father of Chinatown. Money, like water, runs downhill, Liu explained over a bowl of spicy chicken at the Enjoy Inn on Wickham Street in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. This is why, he said, restaurants around the corner in Duncan St are not as successful as the Enjoy Inn, which is at the bottom of the hill. I suggested another reason might be that the food and service are not as good, but the venerable Mr Liu, 85, frowned and told me to eat my noodles.

While the Enjoy Inn has been the big kahuna of Chinese restaurants for 25 years, after recent visits I have concluded it is looking rather drab and the menu is tired and in need of an overhaul.

So on a recent Chinatown outing to celebrate a birthday, we elected to try a newish place, the Mandarin Palace, which happens to be next door in Duncan St. It also happens to be on a slope, so it provided a good opportunity to put Liu's feng shui theory to the test.

I am happy to report that the Mandarin Palace was a winner on all fronts. The service was friendly and efficient, the menu expansive and the cooking first-rate. There was a good selection of wine from the Penfolds and Rosemount stables and no fewer than 11 soups to choose from, including the trusty sweet corn and chicken ($5.20) through to the shark's fin and crab meat soup ($23.90). We devoured mouth-watering entrees including mini Peking duck, homemade dim sim and perfectly fried quail served with a piquant dipping sauce.

A shared main of spicy calamari - baby squid marinated in egg yolk and seasoning - was perhaps the best we've eaten in Chinatown.

Birthday boy ordered deep-fried honey chicken and special fried rice and described both as pretty damn good. The lazy susan was soon spinning like a top as the gang devoured diced fillet steak with honey and black pepper sauce, and stir-fried prawns and scallops with lychees in sweet chilli sauce, unmistakably Thai. One of eight chef's recommendations, it was the highlight of a meal I can best describe as a banquet.

Those with deeper pockets might go for braised giant abalone ($100) or steamed coral trout or lobster in ginger sauce (seasonal prices).

I fed five for a little over $120, and that's not bad in any language. With the bill came fortune cookies. Mine read, "May the golden egg of opportunity fall into your lap". The golden egg has certainly arrived at the Mandarin Palace, and I think the Enjoy Inn has a serious new rival.

ADDRESS: 11 Duncan St, Fortitude Valley
PH: 3252 3636
HOURS: Lunch 11am-3pm, dinner 5pm-midnight, seven days.
LIQUOR STATUS: Licensed
PRICES: Entrees $5.20 to $23.90; mains $14$-100; desserts from $10. Seasonal prices for luxury seafood.
Set banquets and takeaway available.
NEED TO KNOW: Carpark next to restaurant, all major credit cards, disability access.
FOOD 16
WINE 14
AMBIENCE 15
SERVICE 16
THE SCORE 15
SCORES 1-9 STAY HOME 10-11 NEEDS HELP 12 OK 13 BIT OF ALRIGHT 14 GOOD 15 VERY GOOD 16 CAPABLE OF GREATNESS 17 RUSHING BACK 18 VERY FLASH 19 UNIQUE AND MEMORABLE 20 AS GOOD AS IT GETS

QWEEKEND VISITED THIS RESTAURANT ANONYMOUSLY