From plymouthherald.co.uk
'For several years now we have been named the best Chinese restaurant in Devon'
Plymouth has several Chinese restaurants but there is one that stands out from the rest. The Imperial Garden only accepts cash, closes on a Wednesday, and has won more awards than the movie Anora did at the Oscars.
It’s famous for its vegan menu - and its meat dishes too. And it’s possibly the only one in the city with a giant dragon wall frieze.
The Imperial Garden's giant dragon frieze (Image: William Telford)
Li Zhuang and her husband Cheng Guo have run the Imperial Garden, in Ebrington Street, since 2007 and have transformed it from a small takeaway into a serial award winning restaurant. The haul includes being named Devon’s best Chinese restaurant four times at the South West England Prestige Awards and receiving plaudits from Tripadvisor and ThreeBestRated.
Animal welfare organisation Peta UK included the Imperial Garden in the top 10 UK Chinese food outlets for vegan meals. It was also a finalist in the Vegetarian and Vegan Awards.
“We have been very lucky,” said Li and Cheng’s daughter Jenny.” For several years now we have been named the best Chinese restaurant in Devon.”
“Yes, we go for quality,” said her mother. “Everything is fresh. We want the customers to come back.”
Their daughter Jenny said: “Vegan food is something my father and I worked on. At that time there were not that many vegan options so we thought it would be a good opportunity to cater for a wider market.
“We launched vegan products and it has gone like a dream, we have had people come here from as far away as Exeter. It shocked us when we found someone had travelled an hour to come here.”
Although the eatery has had success with its vegan products the most popular item on the menu remains roast meat, traditional Chinese duck or belly pork. The restaurant employs two chefs in addition to Cheng, plus another two front-of-house staff in addition to Li.
Cheng makes all the restaurant's sauces himself, starting at the crack of dawn to perfect them to a special recipe. Jenny said: “You can’t get them anywhere else. We want to make authentic Chinese food, a lot of the recipes are from the village where my parents grew up.”
Li and Cheng come from the same village in China and came to the UK more than 25 years ago. Cheng got a job as a chef in London in 1997 and his wife followed two years later.
The couple ran a takeaway business in Newcastle upon Tyne for a couple of years before moving to Plymouth in 2007. Their children Jenny, Darren and Kevin were born in London but grew up in Plymouth going to grammar school in the city before heading off to university.
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