Dragon and Phoenix

16-18 High Street
Newton-Le-Willows
Merseyside
WA12 9SN

01925 224037, Fax. 01925 292762

6th January 2000

My son, Lee, is due to return to his house in Rusholme for the new term at University. He's been staying at home over Christmas and New Year, but was trying hard to "blag" a meal out courtesy of Ma and Pa. We gave in and decided to go to the Dragon and Phoenix.

The Dragon and Phoenix is a local (to us) Chinese Restaurant which we've enjoyed many times. Our eating companions, Karl and Rayanne, know the owner quite well. Unfortunately, Rayanne was otherwise engaged, but Karl joined us for the "early evening special" - a set meal with just a couple of choices, limited to 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

From past experience, we knew that we would enjoy this, and we really weren't out for a "big" meal.

The Dragon and Phoenix is always fairly busy, and it's evident that many of the clientelle are frequent visitors.

Start off with a choice of Pork & Vegetable, or Spicy Chicken soup - we all went for the Chicken - and, even though we didn't want to stuff ourselves too soon, we all had second helpings!

This was followed by dish of Salt 'n Chilli Chicken Wings - these are so good that both Marg and Rayanne have tried to emulate them at home, without managing to achieve the distinctive flavour the D&P deliver (but they were still very good, girls!). Marg just couldn't resist asking Sue the recipe and method. We won't divulge it here - if you want to know, you'll have to ask for yourselves!

Next came Crispy Lamb and Pancakes (minimum 2 people), and 2 sets of Dim Sum. Lovely.

We each chose a different one of the four main dishes on offer: Egg Fu Yung, A Vegetable Dish, a Pork dish, and Beef in a Black Pepper Sauce. Served with a generous helping of fried rice (and we couldn't resist a platefull of chips to share between us).

The only things left on the table were the chopsticks and about a handful of rice which we just couldn't manage. This was quite satisfying, as we often end a Chinese meal with vast amounts of food left over, which makes us feel very wasteful.

A pint and a half of Lager, a bottle of the house Red, Ice Cream and Coffee brought the bill to £53.00

Heartily Recommended

Sandro and Marg.