AFORMER temperance hotel is hardly the setting you would imagine for a Chinese restaurant, but luckily none of the austerity of the building's early origins are reflected today at the Golden Palace.

The building's beginnings are revealed through the words Lane End Temperance Hotel 1899, carved in the masonry high up on the front wall. Beneath this, the restaurant's bright awning provides an amusing juxtaposition.

Inside, the restaurant is decorated in creams and greens. It's not lavish, but is comfortable. We settled down and ordered our Chinese beers, which have become one of the trademarks of this series of reviews. We were told this beer is a new addition and is proving a popular option, rather than Carlsberg and Becks.

Golden Palace offers a choice of set menus. We began with Imperial hors d'oeuvres: crispy seaweed, which I adore, tiny prawn-filled pancake rolls, succulent prawn toasts, very meaty satay and unusual (but tasty) flat wantons filled, again, with prawns. No complaints whatsoever. It was all very good.

We moved on to the ubiquitous aromatic crispy duck. Again this wasn't shredded at our table. it was more chopped than shredded but the taste was fine. The pancakes were a bit thicker than most, but were fit for the purpose.

Then came the main courses. We started with king prawns Kung Po style. The prawns were in a crisp batter and served in a spicy sauce. This was a new dish to me and one I would have again. We also had chicken and cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce, beef in black bean sauce with chilli, Chinese mixed vegetables and fried rice.

It provided a good mix of flavours and textures and the quality was very good. The only possible complaint, if one had to make one, is that this was a mountain of food for just two people. I hate to see food go to waste, but we simply couldn't eat it all. Be sure to fast all day if you are going here.

We hadn't even finished at that. Ice cream and fresh fruit salad followed. Menu

Set meal for two: £16 per person

Two Chinese beers: £1.20 each

Total: £34.40 Restaurant rating Quality of food: Very good

Quantity of food: You need a mega appetite

Value for money: Excellent

Staff: Polite, efficient and attentive

Complaints: None really

Would you recommend it: Yes

Dynasty: The terracotta warriors at Xian wouldn't go hungry here

Marks out of ten: Eight and a half

n This is an independent review % Golden Palace Restaurant, Church Road, Lane End Telephone: (01494) 881335

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.