STEPHEN LEWIS checks out a Chinese restaurant in York that's thrown off the spectre of last year's floods

Back in the dark, dank days of early November the Jade Garden Cantonese Restaurant, like a number of other businesses in York's Tower Street, was under several inches of water.

It might have been great for tourists who wanted pictures of Clifford's Tower reflected in the flood waters. But for business it was pretty disastrous.

So it's good to see the Jade back on its feet, completely redecorated and, since May 7, open for business as usual. And what better time to pay it a visit, to see if the food matches its fresh new decor?

Early signs were good. When I rang to book a table for two one Saturday evening, the sound of cheerful voices and the clatter of plates and cutlery filtered through over the phone. Business was obviously doing well.

The restaurant, when we arrived at just gone 7.30pm, was half full - and quickly filled up as we enjoyed our meal. The new decor is cool and pleasant - pale walls, nicely-spaced tables laid with what seems like red damask, rich green carpet with a heraldic design, two fresh peonies on each table. No signs at all of the after-effects of flooding.

The menu is fairly standard for a Cantonese restaurant of this type: a range of starters and Chinese soups, main dishes featuring pork, beef, chicken and duck, and a decent selection of vegetarian dishes. What is worth remembering is that there is a 'Happy Hour Special' menu for diners who arrive before 7.30pm (three course dinner for £9.90 per head) and an Early Bird menu for those arriving before 8.30pm (four course dinner for £12 per head).

We decided to stick to the main menu, and from the tempting list of appetisers I chose the dim sum - here, steamed meat dumplings - at £2.50, while Lili opted for the shredded pork and Chinese mushroom soup, at £2.40.

While we waited for our starters to arrive, I sipped a glass of the house medium white - cool and crisp, neither too dry nor too sweet - while Lili had an apple juice.

The dim sum, when they arrived, were OK. Two plump, juicy pork dumplings, a little like Chinese ravioli bursting out of their skins. There was a hint of Cantonese sweetness and none of the spiciness I prefer in my Chinese dumplings: but this is a Cantonese restaurant, after all. My main criticism was in the quantity: £2.50 seemed a bit steep for just two dumplings. And knowing how glorious and varied dim sum can be, it also seemed a shame that all the Jade had to offer was dumplings, rather than some more exotic treats.

Lili pronounced herself more than satisfied with her soup: a thick, starchy dish filled with shreds of pork and sliced carrots and peas. There was even an egg poached in the soup: authentically Chinese.

For the main courses, we selected a dish of steamed fillet cod (£7), Hong Kong roast duck and roast pork (£6.50) and, from the vegetarian menu, stir-fried selected vegetables (£5.50) and fried beancurd in black bean sauce (£5). Boiled rice for two completed the meal.

The duck, when it arrived, was tender, a little dry, but very tasty. It was accompanied by slices of char sui pork - that pork with purple edges familiar from a thousand Chinese takeaways, slightly sweet and very tasty.

The beancurd was firm, perhaps a little hard, but pleasantly salty in its black bean sauce, and accompanied by a good selection of vegetables. The vegetables in the separate fried vegetable dish were crisp and crunchy, in a light but pleasant sauce.

All these dishes were fine, without being anything really out of the ordinary. Lili favoured the fried vegetables and beancurd, my own favourite was the duck. The really big disappointment, however, was the steamed cod.

Fish cooked the Chinese way - whether it's steamed, fried or braised - can be out of this world. It can raise the enjoyment of food to a whole new level. We expected big things of our steamed cod. What we got was a piece of fish that resembled nothing more than something from your local chippy - minus the batter, of course. It was bland and uninspiring - and, we suspected, possibly cooked from frozen rather than being fresh. At £7 it was far too dear.

To compound matters our otherwise friendly waitress knocked over Lili's cup of Chinese tea as she was clearing up - and neither apologised nor attempted to mop it up. We could only assume she hadn't noticed.

Still, that - and the disappointment over the cod - aside, it was a pleasant enough meal in relaxing surroundings. It just didn't set the taste-buds ablaze as the best Chinese food can do.

The bill - including two glasses of excellent house white and a pot of Chinese tea - came to £39.90. That, for what we got, we felt was perhaps a little on the expensive side.

- The Jade Garden Cantonese Restaurant, 12/13 Tower Street, York. Tel: 01904 636481.

Fact file:

Food: OK

Service: Fine -accidents aside

Value: Average

Ambience: Pleasant

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