Another Chinese restaurant I hear you say? Yes the Peking is just that, another establishment throwing its hat into an ever increasing circle of far eastern eateries looking for our hard earned. So with so much competition, how does this one fare? The first thing you should know is that we were a party of two looking for somewhere to eat after the theatre. The Peking is close to the Theatre Royal and so a quick drop in beforehand confirmed that the Peking would accommodate us after the show. So far so good.

At approximately 10:20pm we arrived and were greeted with some recognition and took our table in a well lit and decorated main room along with other diners.

Our drinks order and the menus arrived in a short time and I was intrigued to discover a separate ’eat as much as you like’ menu. Now when doing revues, I am often tempted by this choice not because my editor will be pleased that I haven’t bankrupted the company but more that this menu is often made up of the more common run of the mill dishes and halfway through your selection you can feel ’ I wish I had picked from the full menu’ With this thought in mind, imagine my surprise to find firstly that I would be in the driving seat as to what dishes I could pick and secondly that the menu was well laid out with starters, soups, and a whole array of meat, seafood and side orders to choose from. I checked and double checked this arrangement to make sure that I was looking at the right menu and yes I certainly was and also noted the way it worked. The eminently sensible deal here was that you could order anything from this menu and in whatever quantity you wanted but that you should finish these dishes before ordering again and any dishes left may be charged for at the full price. This arrangement should be applauded, this is not a way of stopping you eating ’as much as you like’ but rather a subtle way of reducing the wastage from people with eyes far bigger than their adequate bellies simply ordering everything off the menu because they can and then leave half of it.

We selected for the starters section including special Hors d’oeuvres and went on to select four other main dishes which all arrived piping hot, well presented, free from a generous coating of glutinous MSG and frankly delicious.

We were encouraged to order more if we could fit it in (which we couldn’t) and I have saved the best for last because this great little dinner package was just £18 per head! But sadly is only available on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

So what was the question. ’how does the Peking fare? If this simple menu is anything of an indication, then the Peking fares very nicely.

Chris Mills
Rating: Recommended

Peking Chinese Restaurant
1-2 New Street, Kingsmead Square, Bath BA1 2AF
You can contact the Peking Restaurant on 01225 466377
or visit our website www.pekingrestaurantbath.co.uk/

24th August 2004