Peninsular Cantonese Restaurant, Streetly

You'll have to ditch the knives and forks for this enjoyable dining experience,

.

The food might be a bit pricey but the quality is worth the cost at this Cantonese restaurant.

Suitably decorated for the festive season, two gold coloured Christmas trees greeted us as we walked in and were a welcome sight coming in from the cold.

Tinsel was draped around the room and disco balls even hung from the ceiling over the bar, yet it wasn't instantly easy to tell it was a Cantonese restaurant by how it was decorated.

The restaurant area in Peninsular was fairly plain, with few pictures hung on the walls.

In one corner of the room, a large goldfish bowl sat balanced on the bar, which had wine bottles stacked in racks surrounding it.

The giveaway, however, might have been the chopsticks on the table - with no other cutlery in sight.

Arriving on a cold Thursday evening, there was already a fair amount of people sat around the large circular tables and tables for two.

We were led to a table which was already occupied by a hot plate, powered by tea lights, a plate of prawn crackers and fanned napkins.

It didn't take long for the waiter to take our drinks order and, after browsing through an extensive wine list, we settled for a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for £14.

To start, we decided the dim sum combo would allow us to try bite-sized portions of a fair few of the starters the restaurant had to offer. It included chicken satay skewers and spring rolls along with seaweed, which came in a little pot of its own.

The sesame prawn toast stole the show for me and the sauce covering the spare ribs was tangy and delicious.

The menu had a nice variety of dishes to choose for main, from chicken and vegetarian dishes to various meat and seafood meals.

Whilst there was a large range of dishes, it did seem that there was a bit too much choice in parts of the menu. It certainly made choosing your meal a lengthy process.

A specials board at the front door was another addition to the already lengthy menu, and it was good to see the chefs were experimenting with new dishes.

I opted for the sizzling fillet steak with wine and chilli, which came in a spicy sauce. The pieces of steak were quite large to manage with chopsticks, as were the slippery pieces of carrot and pepper– well, for a novice anyway.

The dishes were placed on top of the hot plates, along with a small bowl of rice, while small soup-type bowls were put in front of us to eat from.

My partner had the Szechuan fillet steak which promised to be hot and spicy but instead was quite sweet.

Nevertheless, the meals were undeniably tasty.

The food was quick to arrive and we were never waiting longer than 10 minutes between courses.

The restaurant had a good atmosphere, with music playing in the background and people chatting away.

The tables were nicely spaced apart and were separated in areas by wooden panels, which also added a bit of privacy.

The flower on the table and after dinner mints were also nice little touches.

Staff were not over-friendly but they were polite enough.

The restaurant also boasts an ample sized car park.

The bill came to a total of £49.60 for two starters, two mains and a bottle of white wine.

If you can handle your chopsticks, then this place is definitely worth a visit as long as you're after quality and not quantity.

ADDRESS

Peninsular Cantonese Restaurant, 336 Chester Road, Streetly, Walsall WS9 0PP

Tel: 0121 353 9754