Behind The Red Door
What Red Door doesn’t have in star power it sure does in staying power.
Ten years in and for whatever reason, Red Door seems to have been cast off as the unassuming neighbor of it’s much more heralded Windsor inhabitants. Tucked away down a nondescript lane way it has been described as the hidden gem of the area (which is a completely over used term to describe quaint little food outlets that are actually pretty good). Having got that out the system, that’s exactly what Red Door is, a quaint Asian eatery that pushes out great food.
At one time or another this restaurant was part eatery and part furniture shop, those days seems to have gone but the antique oriental furniture remains which is now scattered throughout the venue providing a very unique interior design style that only adds to the quirkiness and is no doubt the stuff of nightmares for the dim sum eating feng shui experts out there.
Offbeat furniture arrangements aside, the menu is composed of traditional as well new interpretations of Chinese dishes.
Dumplings are a big thing here – hence the Yum Cha moniker. Some of the stand out items include the Prawn Har Gao, Scallop Dumplings as well as the Lobster, Prawn & Scallop Dumplings just to combine all three. In all there are 27 varieties to choose from (a few are gluten free) each come as a serve of 3 pieces and are priced at around 26 Dirhams a serve and perfectly enjoyable without being out of the ordinary.
Now you could definitely while the night away munching on the vast array of dumplings but there are other things to try out, one such item is The Chairman Mao Hong Shao Rou (AED 65). While not kosher, this little number is amazing. The beautifully braised pork belly is expertly cooked in a sweet soy cassis and combines Chinese wine, star anaise & ginger as fall apart tender and lip smacking good. Served with rice and garnished with bok choi and sesame seeds, the Chairman knows what he’s doing.
There are other items on the menu worth exploring and the best way to do it is to gather the troops and make an afternoon or evening of it, sampling as many of the dumplings as possible for starters.
As with all restaurant experiences it about menu choices. There's probably some stuff that we missed here but overall, the Red Door is great little spot and worthy of checking out if you're in the area. It's humble and homely and you can bet we will be back for another go sometime soon.