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| - Everything about the place suggests that this is nothing special.
The space itself has been home to three prior restaurants that has all gone out of business, the height of the chairs make you wish you've brought a phone book to sit on so that you have the right chair-to-table elevation, and the decor makes as much sense as the leaders the Liberal Party picks to run their campaign.
Examining the art on the wall left me completely bored. The place is plastered with random Chinese calligraphy drawings that has nothing to do with the Xinjing Muslim theme, and adverts of the restaurant itself, just in case you forgot where you were. Christmas lights dangles by the window, and the centrepiece is a giant landscape painting that's probably commissioned by a grade six class during a field trip.
To make it worse, the two dividers to section off the floor were garnished with neon tinted strips of plastic.
It's as if the interior decorator was educated in the Art School of IKEA, went on a mushroom trip, and went all 'Chinese Austin Powers.'
Tables of all shapes dwell here, parties are 2-12 can all be comfortably accommodated. There's even a semi-private dining area--which from the outside looks unfinished.
One can really marvel at the tackiness that is spread throughout, but all those failures are immediately forgotten when your food arrives. Because I'll tell you right now, it's damn good.
My friend and I were hungry dogs when we arrived. We ordered: Braised OX Tail, Braised Eggplant, Fried Beef Pancakes, Melaeuca Lamb, Fried Lamb Dumplings, Fried Chicken Wings, Lamb Kabobs and two bowls of steam rice.
The OX Tail was a bit chewy, and the chicken wings were a bit dry, but you can request them to be flavored. Everything else was bloody superb (especially the braised eggplant). These guys do lamb well. Usually at Chinese halal restaurants, there is a large selection of bread, this was not so at this particular establishment. No matter!
The service was alright, most of the wait staff appear to be part time students, but with that said, they perform above what you'd expect them to. They may forget your drink order sometimes, and things could get a bit awkward.
The lady sitting next to us complained about her dish being too spicy, where she was met by the waitress with an unexpected heartfelt response of: "Um, I'm SORRY..."
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