WALK into a Chinese restaurant on a cold Monday night, and see it packed to the rafters with families, plates piled high with food, and you know you’re on the right track.
The Lee Palace has an old-style dining room with red and black walls, and a cute jade cutting growing in a glass on every table.
It’s a no-fuss environment, with friendly staff who encouraged my friend and I to grab a soft drink from the fridge at one end.
We got ginger beers and tucked into a chilli pepper fried squid entree with a dressing of garlic, shallots, fresh red chilli, vermicelli and spring onion.
We also had Fremantle scallop fritters, which were fat and tender in their light batter.
My friend’s main dish of fried duck arrived on a hot plate with its sauce sizzled over it before her by the waitress.
My sweet and sour fish came in a rich dark sauce with chunks of glazed pineapple, onion, and carrot.
The special fried rice was packed full of every imaginable treat, and we had to have the broccoli with mushroom sauce after seeing it on someone else’s table.
It was that perfectly bright green that comes with careful steaming, piled high with huge slices of mushroom.
This tasted as good as it looked and as usual, I filled up on mains without thinking of dessert.
I regretted this when I discovered Lee Palace offers the Italian fruit-inspired, handpainted azzura gelati, which I’ve been dying to try for years.
I’ll be back, not only to try the gelati but the rest of this long and tempting menu.
LEE PALACE RESTAURANT
ADDRESS: 381 Canning Highway, Palmyra
TEL: 9339 2288
DETAILS: BYO alcohol, no corkage fee.