Tong Palace

I’ve eaten here twice, most recently with some other Unilocalers as part of the Supper Club trip.
The main thing to say about Tong Palace is that it is absolutely, 100% standard. The food is fine, the prices are reasonable, and the service pleasant and competent. You’re not going to be blown away by anything, but neither will you be disappointed if you want a no-​nonsene Chinese restaurant.
There are better places to go for more ‘authentic’ Asian quisine, but if you want the classic British Chinese restaurant experience, this hits all the marks.

I decided to pop along to Tong Palace with the Unilocal supper club. I’m a big fan of Chinese food and, having recently moved to Leeds, I still don’t know much about which local restaurants are the best. There were quite a few of us, but we managed to get a table just fine and started the task of trying to work out the best way to order for so many. There were a few set meals, but they all had many courses and the cheapest was £18, so we decided on choosing a few dishes ourselves to share instead.
For the starters, we got the thai platter and the house platter, then aromatic duck pancakes, mango salad, salt & chilli squid and chicken in lettuce. The platters were tiny tasters of different starters — a safe bet if you’re indecisive (like me) and often suffer from food envy (where no matter what you order, you want what the person next to you has when it arrives… like me) but the platter wasn’t too much that it would fill you up before your main course.
For our mains, we got a variety of dishes with different meats and sauces, including frogs legs. We ordered two rice portions and two noodle portions between six of us and it was more than enough. The food was decent but, well, a little lacklustre. I thought the sauces were all very similar and the quality of meat could have been much better. In conclusion, I don’t think I’d hurry back here. This was one of those times where nothing was particularly bad about the experience, but also nothing was particularly noteworthy in a positive way either. The staff did their job, the food filled a spot, but… it was a little bit meh. As a fellow Unilocaler pointed out, thank goodness for the exquisite company to make the night a memorable one.

As Jade put, we came here for the Unilocal Leeds fam’s Supper Club, and I was really keen to try them out. I’d read some delicious detail about the place before, and hardly ever get to eat Chinese outside of a take away setting, so was set for a good noshing. With a few extra folk attending at the last minute, we managed to get a table for 7 at about 8.30pm — looked like it was touch and go, as the restaurant was full before, but just as we arrived a coach load of people left and got on, er, a coach. Perfect! The strange singing was intriguing — was it karaōke? Was it someone’s living space? Either way, I love a bit of quirky detail, and enjoyed trying to work it out.
The chap who seemed to run the joint was lovely, and happily accommodated us without a booking. The waitress with the dotty top was also really sweet and friendly, happily taking our drink orders, and such. I was rather excited about the ‘lazy Susan’ (is this a thing everyone knows about but me?!) and so we ordered various starters and mains so as to fully utlilise it — which really makes for a sociable eating environment! I totally recommend it, tons of fun.
Of the starters, the Salt and Chilli Squid was stand out to me — just spicy enough without killing your tastebuds, and perfectly cooked. The chicken lettuce wraps were a new thing for me, and our best way to describe those was akin to porridge, or savoury rice pudding, in texture — the chicken pieces were chopped small with veg, and a savoury thick sauce. Even so, they were really tasty to eat all wrapped up in lettuce. I also loved the Thai Mango Salad, although it was so sweet I couldn’t manage more than a taster.
Of the mains, I enjoyed the fillet steak dish and pork with OK sauce, but wasn’t quite so keen on the lamb and frogs legs. I’ve had frogs legs before, and preferred them then, but perhaps in this style (ginger and spring onion) they just weren’t for me. The lamb and beef didn’t seem to be the best quality (a little chewy) but the sauces were really tasty and more-​ish with the delicious rice and noodles — I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the noodles considering they were just a side! It’s possible that we chose a few too many ‘same-​y’ things to experience the true variety this restaurant offers, but at £15 a head roughly before drinks you get a TON of food for your money.
Some of the staff were a little brusque, and some of the dishes didn’t quite hit the spot, but the main chap in charge was really friendly. The noodles and squid were really fantastic, but the drink options are limited to lager and a few spirit mixers — there was no cider and just J20 for soft drinks, alongside coke etc. The décor is a little dated, music a little cheesy, but the ambiance of the whole restaurant is very relaxed and enjoyable — I’m sure our table was pretty rowdy and that seemed fine! So all in all, I was torn as realistically it’d be 3.5. I’d certainly recommend giving them a go, as it’s a solid spot and one that’s been here for quite some time. Give ‘em a whirl and bring your spare stomach — portions are feastly!
Bring on the next Supper Club!

Tong is a great little restaurant just off the beaten track. I visited earlier tonight with the Unilocal family and it started off a little strange… as we sat in the entrance and waited for a table to become available, we could hear some sort of karaōke coming from the back room — which had a sign on the door saying «caution, mind the children».
We were soon seated, but I needed a drink and went over to the bar. «Take a seat, I’ll bring it over to you.» The lovely blonde bartender smiled as she began to pour my drink. I was surprised, but happy at the nice service. We spent around half an hour chatting and looking at the menu before ordering, the staff were quite attentive with making sure our drinks were plentiful.
The food took rather a while to arrive, but was great quality. When the mains came, I tried frogs’ legs (!) and a little of each dish as we decided to share tapas style. I would recommend the chicken but didn’t really rate the lamb. The noodles and rice were cooked to perfection, and the atmosphere was chilled, although the choice of music was a little funky.
I am giving them 4 stars for the length of time it took for the food to come out (I know there was seven of us but come on!) and also that the place seemed to need a little touch-​up with paint as there were black marks on the walls and in the bathroom the wood had expanded leaving gaps in the white paint. Would recommend, if you have a lot of time to eat.

The food here is nice ! They offer a variety of dishes I love their dimsum and the pekking duck here is lovely. I would have given this 5 stars if not for the service. There’s one time I overheard the staff argueing with the customer and she was saying ‘you can get lawyer to sue me.’ I thought this was so inappropriate they should really improve on that. The other time me and my friends were just chilling out having deserts there when the staff came over and ask are we nearly done because they need the table for other customers. I’m like ermmm… they have no right to say that at all we’re also a customer here and hell yeah we’re also paying im not dining in for free. So yes the food is good but they need big change in their service !
ps. the chinese tea is free for chinese people but they charge it for foreigners.

Once a fortnight my beloved and I have a two hour slot in which we often go for a meal while our son is out with People in Action.
We fancied a Chinese because we hadn’t had one for a while and the service is usually very quick. Last time we went to Tong Palace it was still Jumbo’s and was really really good.
Unfortunately I can’t really say what the food is like nowadays as after waiting 45 minutes for our starter, we had to cancel the main courses due to lack of time.
We had ordered the aromatic lamb, the cucumber and spring onions arrived together with a nice warm plate each fairly quickly. After 30 minutes I caught the waitress’s eye and she motioned that it would be soon.
It did arrive 15 minutes later; don’t understand why it took so long as the lamb and the pancakes were all cold.
To be fair other people didn’t seem to be having the same problems; two tables who came in after us ate and left before us, possibly because they skipped the starter.
Next time it’ll be back to Akbar’s.

Visited here a few weeks back and had the special which is available Sun– Thurs Night. Really fabulous wide range of choices and a free drink with it.
Worked out we saved around £15.00 in all.
Lovely food and friendly, efficient staff, really glad to have tried this really authentic roomy place, so glad we didn’t go into the one we nearly chose.
Would rec to all and will certainly be back)

Tong Palace is a traditional Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant in town. It is bright red on the outside, and on the inside looks like a mixture between a big granny’s dining room (the room is the big bit not the granny, necessarily) and a traditional oriental restaurant. With neat table cloths and mini Chinese bowls with the blue pattern round the top.
They serve the usual you would expect at a Chinese restaurant with a few unusual extras such as Shark Fin and Crab Meat Soup for £9.50. All the other soups are much lower in price at around £2.50 but I guess the shark meat bumps it way up. Also on the menu I have rarely seen in Chinese restaurants are Casserole dishes and Iron Griddle Sizzlers. They also do a good range of seafood and vegetarian dishes.
I was very pleased to discover that the prawn toast was made with real prawns, and the sliced pork with ginger and spring onions was very very good. China Jade, I’m afraid you have a little competition, but they are more expensive and further away so I think you are safe for now.

Open until very late and on the way back into town from the datacentre — I’ve been here a few times on business trips. Good tasty food off a very long and varied menu.
Portions are enormous; it would probably be best to go with a bunch of people and share dishes, otherwise it will either be hell deciding what to order, or you’ll end up leaving loads.