Tasty Bites at Terracotta Van!

I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate to Terracotta a while back and decided to come try out their food. I'd been there before "just for drinks" and have sampled their dishes at various events where they catered some of the food.

The first thing we ordered was the Szechuan Green Beans. Tossed in a spicy sauce, these were tasty but the presentation left something to be desired. I am used to the traditional serving of veggies in noodle houses, where each stalk/bean is placed uniformly against each other. I get that theses beans were tossed in a wok (instead of boiled or steamed) but I can't ignore the fact some of the beans were literally falling off our plate. Aesthetics aside, these were done nicely, not overcooked and there was a good heat to the dish.

These little deep-fried nuggets of Chicken Knees are common in Taiwanese tea houses, and these were a pretty good version of them. Chicken knees are mostly cartilage, so that batter served to enhance the crunchiness of the dish. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of greasiness here, as is too common with most deep-fried dished.

They also had dim sum on the menu, so we tried their Siu Mai. It's made in house with a combination of pork, prawn and mushroom. Chewy and meaty, I really liked them! Though I probably would have asked for hot sauce instead of the sauce that it came with. I'm not sure why they served this with a mayo/tartar like sauce, but the dumplings themselves were done well. 

As a huge fan of duck, I had to get their Barbeque Duck Wraps. I found this the greasiest of all the dishes we had. Yes, even more so than the deep fried chicken knees. I think they used more of  the fatty duck skin instead of the leaner meat part, and so the whole thing became quite greasy. Served with the obligatory hoi sin sauce, these were also wrapped with green onion and cucumber. However, the wrapper itself seemed a little off, almost as though it wasn't cooked through properly. 
I would return to try other items, but would probably skip the Duck Wraps next time, despite my fondness for duck.  They aren't serving traditional Chinese dishes, they are doing it in a whole new fusion style. I found the prices fair when compared to a regular dinner out. If you want to try traditional dishes with a spin, then you'll find it here at Terracotta.