Rating the Dragon:
We review Double Dragon Chinese takeaway
By Steven Short
We moved to Hastings in the middle of Lockdown. Not knowing anyone here meant that we couldn’t ask for recommendations of where and what to eat, and there’s only so much you can glean by staring forlornly through the windows of temporarily closed restaurants, cafes and bars. So we threw ourselves into the world of Just Eat, keying in our new postcode and seeing what restaurants came up, then doing a quick google for reviews (an entire evening’s entertainment by itself).
I don’t eat meat or fish so don’t tend to think about Chinese when it comes
to takeaways/deliveries – memories of fatty crispy pork balls and gloopy sweet and sour sauce from my childhood combined, I guess, with a prejudice ‘well, you don’t really get much vegetarian Chinese food’. But Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant, in St Helen’s Crescent, got good reviews and also had not just a vegetables section on its menu but, thrillingly, one for bean curd dishes too, so we gave it a go.
Our vegetarian spring rolls were crispy and not at all greasy but came without dipping sauce – fortunately we had some Siracha in the (pretty bare) cupboard. My other half and I then shared two main courses, one being Mapo Tofu which is a Sichuan dish with a bit of a kick thanks to chilli bean paste. Traditionally and despite its name, the dish usually has minced pork or beef in it, but Double Dragon’s tofu (aka bean curd) version was a good alternative.
We also tried the Salt and Pepper bean curd, which was also good. Bean curd, it has to be said, is not an exciting ingredient so relies on strong flavours, which the people at Double Dragon clearly understand. We had our mains with mushroom fried rice and a side of broccoli stir fried in oyster sauce. Portion sizes were generous. We also overordered, so I used a tub of steamed rice for lunch the next day.
• You can find them online at: doubledragononline.co.uk
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