Matt and Cat\'s Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide
In the flat-iron building that once housed the Strand Hotel, Ryde now boasts the China Garden Chinese takeaway. Set back behind the imposing Ryde...

In the flat-iron building that once housed the Strand Hotel, Ryde now boasts the China Garden Chinese takeaway. Set back behind the imposing Ryde Castle, this modest takeaway is off the beaten track but a popular location for locals.

Matt and junior reviewers Bill and Jack strolled into the China Garden to seek out an evening meal. The gleaming new interior was sparkling, as was the smile of the charming Chinese lady who greeted them and took their order. Bill and Jack could not help but gawp at the intricate characters that she wrote on the order-pad, as well as listening with rapt attention to the jolly chefs in the back room who were obviously having some sort of joke at the time, shouting and laughing at each other and even at one point singing. It might not seem like much, but to Island-raised nippers such direct experiences of other cultures are far from routine. It made for a very enjoyable wait for the meal, and as it turned out, the Chinese chefs were obviously capable of yelling and cooking at the same time and the food arrived very promptly indeed, piping hot.

Once taken home the meals were distributed. The portions were generous, with a particularly large bag of prawn crackers to start the diners off. Matt chose fried crispy chilli beef with fried rice, which was a piquant and enjoyably crunchy dish. Crispy beef is sometimes a little soggy, but the China Garden managed to avoid this entirely. A side order of mixed vegetables had fresh mange-tout as well as the more traditional veg such as Chinese leaves and onion – all with just the right degree of crunch to them. Bill and Jack both opted for duck chow mein, and were not disappointed by the generous allowance of succulent duck strips which supplemented the tasty noodles.

A good, modern takeaway that produced highly satisfactory food very quickly: China Garden is recommended.

  • Rosco says:

    Worst Chinese meal I have ever eaten.Slops is the only word I can use but then again grease would also suffice .Never again

  • Paul says:

    Had a takeaway on friday night and being a lover of chines food was realy looking forward to it, However we were not impressed everything looked good but was too greasy and very bland apart from the crispy chilli beef which was better than average, It may well have just been an off night but for the price payed you cant afford to have off nights.

  • Neil (local) says:

    The problem with here is that they don’t include rice with their curry dishes. Thus I normally order a chicken or duck fried rice with curry sauce which saves me over a pound than by ordering the equivalent curry dish and paying over £2 for rice! Also their spare ribs are very pricey.

  • Curry Fan says:

    As we’re on a 2 week holiday, we had takeaway from here again this week… Simply brilliant Chinese! Not cheap, but very very tasty.

    Had £40 quids worth (8 people), and was surprised not to get any free prawn crackers – had to pay nearly £2 for them.

  • Curry Fan says:

    Had a meal here this evening – we’re staying on the Strand at Ryde, so the closest Chinese – and recommended by Matt and Cat, can’t be bad!

    We had Prawn crackers, chips for the kids, egg fried rice, plain chow mein, sweet and sour chicken (HK style) and crispy beef. We enjoyed it all, but the beef was the stand-out excellent dish…

    Highly recommended, quick, good quality and huge portions…. But not cheap compared to our local takeaway back home.

  • David says:

    The parentals frequently use the China Garden as they feel it gives more meat and a faster service than H-K-E. Although I must say I prefer Monsoon.

  • Neil (local) says:

    Tried a few times… no where as good as Hong kong Express for quality and value for money.

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