Sha Tin 18 is one of those new places you just have to make it to - as a foodie, tycoon or just a casual diner, this is one place that will not bust your wallet.

Majestic Chinese doors open to the unique Oriental experience, as developed on the Beijing open kitchen model. The kitchen itself is split into four parts: noodles, barbecue, dumplings and dim sum. Where you sit determines how much of the action you see, or you can dine outside on the patio with its pretty view of the trees beyond. 

Various Cuisines

The restaurant serves a variety of Chinese cuisines and each ‘kitchen' has a chef with a regional speciality: hand-pulled noodles with a Shaanxi influence, the awesome roast Peking duck, and home-style Dongguan dishes and Cantonese at the Wok kitchen. The waiters are proud of the creations and will guide you through a culinary journey with a good sampling of appetisers leading to the main event.

Each table is set with four sauces, including mustard oil. I must caution the timid: the mustard oil is an instant hit of heat and kind of a blast to the senses, something even a die-hard chilli fan may find overwhelming. For those that like spice three additional sauces are brought to the table that pack varying degrees of heat: home-made XO sauce, spicy black bean sauce, and a Chiu Chow style chilli sauce.

A Ham Man

We started with a selection of the excellent dim-sum appetisers along with the superb Jasmine tea, and the stronger Puer. The Steamed Shrimp Dumplings, Barbecue Pork Buns, Crispy Fried Spring Rolls with plum sauce, and dumplings of Dongguan Preserved Ham, were expertly prepared and fun to eat, as we got to sample different regional cuisines. 

Then it was on to the Dongguan specials as prepared by chef Nelson Chow, himself a native of the province. The Steamed Egg Custard, Roe Crab and Minced Pork offered great contrast in flavours and textures, with the crab really standing out and the pork imported from the Yunnan region adding a salty tang, but I wondered if it was worth $298. I'm a bit of a ham man and I guess you get what you pay for. For half that price you can have the Simmered Seafood, Rice Vermicelli and Pak Choy, which tasted almost the same thanks to the similar sauce, or the Steamed Mandarin Fish with Shrimps and Soya Bean Paste, also at half the price. 

Food Theatre

The Xian noodles and dumplings are amazingly cheap, with the signature Pan-fried Xian Pork Belly Dumplings just $68 and were fantastic with a little dollop of the XO sauce. To watch them prepare to order your Northern Pork Noodles (because they are so thin, served in a pork broth) with preserved soy bean is great theatre, with great taste to match. You really start to believe the myth that Marco Polo brought noodles to Italy when you see these guys whip out batch after batch to perfection; thing is, that's all they have done their entire cooking career. You couldn't just sub the noodle guy for the Peking duck master.

Which leads us to the main dish. In full view of the dining public your Traditional Peking Duck is served in two parts: first, the chef selects a prime candidate from the hanging rack and chops it in either half or leaves it whole, then comes to your table for the slicing ceremony, leaving you with crispy, caramelised skin and tender meat. Served as usual with a pancake, cucumber, leek, plum sauce, garlic and sugar mix, it was clearly the reason many had come ‘all this way'. Was it better than in Beijing? No, it was the same, because the chef comes direct from the Motherland and has been a master for over 30 years. 

Worth the Trip

Of course seafood is one of the other stars to any great Chinese restaurant and one of the best we tried was the Poached Mandarin Fish Fillet liberally dosed with Sichuan pepper oil. Tender and delicate, it doesn't strike you as ‘hot' at first; more of a creeper buzz, as we used to say in University days. Slowly but surely the flowers of Sichuan tickle your throat, but by that point you're too far into the fish to care. A good fish seems easy, but it's the craft of masters, and once again Sha Tin 18 delivers. All the chefs are old hands with decades of experience, and that is evidenced in the cooking and presentation. 

Almost full, we were obliged to try dessert. I'm not personally a big fan but for only $128 you can get a platter fit for two-three people, which gives you a selection of such faves as Candied Longan Peanut Brownie, Sesame Ice Cream (delicious, even if you're not a Chinese dessert fan), the Red Date Calfouti with Jasmine Milk Tea Ice Cream - lovely if you like dates, and of course the Coconut, Purple Glutinous Rice Pudding, great if you're a coconut person, not so much if you're deadly allergic as I am. But my guests said it was delicious and authentic, and both being Hongkongers I believed them. 

In sum, dim sum or dinner it is well worth the journey. 

Ambience, Service, Price

The mood is lively as diners are usually there for a show and expect such; casual or indifferent tables are rare. The patio is great for those seeking a bit of solace and there are private rooms with forest view for seating from six to 16. 

For a pleasant change, the servers seem to know everything about every dish and are happy to explain origin and taste, and if their English is not quite up to descriptive power, the manager's certainly is. 

Possibly the strangest thing is that the price point is no greater than any good Chinese restaurant. Dim Sum ranges in price from $38-48; BBQ and appetisers are $48-98, Peking duck is $398 whole and $218 half, and mains begin at $98. Tea is the drink of choice but many diners were trying some white wines, which actually go well with most dishes.