Inn Dragon, Stafford

Just two doors from the Apollo Cinema, in Bailey Street, the restaurant and take-away cannot be missed thanks to its bright pink signage.

The premises, which in recent years has been home to an Asian fusion eaterie and before that a Mexican, is now a light airy Chinese and Thai restaurant with a clean, modern decor.

Being a big fan of Chinese food and having never eaten at the restaurant before, I was full of anticipation as the menu was placed in front of me.

My dining companion Louise and I were delighted by what seemed like page after page of delicious sounding dishes.

In the end we were so stumped for choice that we ordered our starters and asked if we could decide on our main courses later.

Again, having been spoilt for choice we ended up ordering a feast that would have probably been enough for four people.

We ordered spring rolls costing £3.50, sesame prawn toast at £4 and chicken yuk shung, which I had asked for and assume must be listed as shredded smoked chicken on the menu, which is priced £4.

We also ordered a bottle of sauvignon blanc which for £10.50 was very pleasing to the palate and continually poured for us throughout the evening by a very attentive waiter.

We indulged in two fully heaped lettuce leaves and remarked that it was very tasty - if slightly too salty.

Our other two starters were soon brought out and we felt slightly embarrassed as the restaurant owner and waiter had to move our wine bottle and glasses to fit it all on the table.

The four spring rolls were larger than we had anticipated and were nicely crunchy and tasty.

There were at least five pieces of prawn toast which were cooked to perfection and again, unlike I've had in the past, not too greasy.

After eating as much as we could, which was surprisingly almost all of it considering our pledges at the start of the new year to eat more healthily - we had another look at the menu to finally choose our mains.

We were feeling so full that we weren't sure we could fit anything else in - however obviously for the purpose of this review - we forced ourselves to indulge further.

Louise, who is a big fan of seafood, chose fried monk fish with asparagus in crab meat sauce at £9 as she had never tried it before.

She was slightly put off by the dish's appearance but as soon as she tucked in, she remarked how tasty it was and that she would most likely have it again.

I opted for the sizzling chicken with green peppers and black bean sauce, priced £7.50.

Again the amount of tender chicken was impressive - in fact there was so much that despite my efforts I couldn't finish it. The overall dish was delicious, with nicely al-dente peppers and a not too over-powering sauce.

We could not even consider desserts, but saw that they included banana and pineapple fritters and ice-cream.

The only gripe I would have with the experience - other than that I felt so full and guilty about eating so much - would be the choice of music played throughout the evening - but that's just because I'm not a fan of Westlife.

Quietly played Chinese music would have probably added more to the ambience rather than the boy band's entire back catalogue - but you can't have everything.

Overall it was a delicious, high-quality meal in lovely surroundings served by very attentive staff.

I would definitely recommend it and will be going back in the near future.

ADDRESS

Inn Dragon, 14 Bailey Street, Stafford

Tel: 01785 600900

Jo Mason