Dragon's Nest serves up a true flavour of the Orient

SOMETIMES when you're looking to eat out, only a Chinese will do, so Secret Service headed into Ashbourne to sample what Market Place restaurant and takeaway, Dragon's Nest, had on offer.

For a Wednesday night, the restaurant was busy with both families and couples, and your spy was ushered to a quiet table at the back of the restaurant.

The service was attentive, with drinks and a portion of prawn crackers brought swiftly while your spy and companion perused the extensive menu.

The set menus were a good deal but, as my companion is not a fan of prawns and they featured in each selection, we chose from the main menu instead, sharing seaweed and vegetarian spring rolls to start.

The seaweed was plentiful, crisp and salty and a good accompaniment to the six hot, crisp spring rolls which had lots of the flavour often missing in the vegetable version.

For main course, your spy was delighted to see a supreme of meats and vegetables served in a bird's nest as an option, while my companion went for sweet and sour chicken. My companion was a little disappointed as she asked if the dish was battered balls of meat, preferring the meat without batter, and was told no, only for it to arrive as battered strips in the sauce. However, it was agreed that perhaps the question could have been phrased better.

We ordered a large egg fried rice and were impressed to be told that a small rice to share would be ample.

The bird's nest dish was delightful, with lots of pork, chicken and beef in sauce with plenty of varieties of vegetable from carrots, baby corn, celery and beanshoots to water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. The nest was crisp and extremely moreish and my companion, who'd never had a bird's nest dish before, couldn't resist dipping in to snap a bit off several times.

Despite the disappointment over the batter, the sweet and sour chicken was just as it should be with juicy chunks of pineapple and a hot, fruity sauce, while we had been advised correctly that a small rice would be enough, and actually ended up leaving some of it.

We were both tempted by the desserts, opting for a banana fritter and a pineapple fritter, which were very reasonably priced and a real hang-the-calories way to end the meal.

As we were not in any rush, we enjoyed a cup of filter coffee with cream and, despite being the last diners in the restaurant, were not made to feel in any hurry.

As a nice touch, our waiter passed by our table before he left for the evening just to check if everything had been up to standard.

The Dragon's Nest provided an excellent Chinese meal in comfortable surroundings with good service and can be recommended for anyone looking for a taste of the Orient.

DRAGON'S NEST

WHERE: 41 Market Place, Ashbourne.

MEAL FOR TWO: Seaweed £4.30, spring rolls £3.60, Dragon's nest supreme £7.50, Sweet and sour chicken £6.50, egg fried rice £2.20, pineapple fritter £1.80, banana fritter £1.80. Drinks: Two coffees at £1.40 each, two glasses of wine at £2.80 each.

TOTAL: £36.10

CALL: 01335 418046.