The Taste of Asia two-course menu is priced £22.50 and is available all day on Monday and Tuesday, and between 11:30am – 5:30pm Wednesday to Friday.
Obviously times are tough for companies big and small, but it’s good to see a restaurant group which is very much in the former category, coming up up with competitively-priced and accessible menus.
Although diners will find themselves paying for rice, noodles, and veg dishes with the mains, and a extra fiver for a very good value pudding (and there’s more to be said on that tasty little topic).
We visited lateish on a Thursday afternoon and as is seemingly often the case there were a good number of people who’d beaten us to it and were leaning into the evening at the popular Ship Street destination.
A nicely-turned out front of house put us in a cracking spot, two-thirds away along the first floor, not far from the sushi station, and nosing back on all-comers and the wonderfully-lit bar.
The Taste of Asia menu features a selection of Ivy Asia’s signature dishes, including the Prawn Tempura Maki Roll, with avocado and spicy sauce.
On a recent visit your reviewer went positively giddy over the quality and freshness of the Maki Rolls (put together just yards from our plump cushion-heavy blanquettes).
The rolls had been fashioned around the lightly battered crispy tempura, which provided a satisfying crunch and a hand-break turn change in texture from the soft rice and creamy avocado.
They were dressed on the plate with both ends of the tempura proudly sticking out like a mythological Chinese dragon or the Loch Ness Monster. Brilliant stuff.
Our second starter was slightly less bonkers but superbly executed.
The slightly sweet and intensely savoury Szechuan Glazed Chicken Skewers had been drenched in a sticky marinade and retained their tenderness after grilling.