The China Room in Westhoughton's Pavillion Square is a Cantonese restaurant, which on the outside…read moreboasts things such as air conditioning, various discounts, and winner of the 'biggest spring roll'. These sorts of things you'd expect on the outside of a cheap Chinese restaurant or a take-away, but The China Room is a good few rungs above the common herd.
A few years ago when this place was called The Pavillion, it was a proper old-fashioned English-Chinese restaurant, complete with waiters in black waistcoats and bowties, plinky-plonky music, and finger bowls. Now it's become modern and fresh, whilst still retaining a few traditional touches, such as the Chinese design chairs. The staff wear t-shirts, and are more relaxed, whilst still being very friendly and professional, which is pleasant.
We were a group of four, and decided to go for 'Set Menu E' which was the 'Banquet Menu', and good god they weren't kidding! At several points we forgot what else was coming out after each course, it was an Oriental magical mystery tour!
Set Menu E was £23.50 per person and included a choice of two soups: chicken and sweetcorn or (as seen above) the classic hot and sour soup. We all agreed the soups were delicious, and the hot and sour soup left your nose running and your throat warm, despite tons of flavour... that's the sign of a good hot and sour soup!
My favourite part was the above platter, which had some of the tastiest ribs I've ever tasted, deliciously crisp chicken spring rolls, some curried samosas (which were nice, but an unusual choice), and some prawn dumplings as well as good ol' 'seaweed'. This whole platter was delicious, and not a single bit was left at the end, not even a strand of seaweed!
One thing I did like is that between courses, when clearing the table, the waitress would use a little table-top vacuum cleaner thingy... well, not a vacuum, but what looked like a glasses case with rotating brushes in it to brush up the crumbs and detritus on the table. I liked this as I hadn't seen it before.
The next part was a duck, which was beautifully shredded for us by our waitress at the table. We agreed that sometimes a duck can be dry, but this one was delicious and full of flavour, perfectly accented by the delicious hoisin sauce and pancakes, and a lovely generous bowl of excellent quality fried rice, which we thought was akin to a paella, complete with prawns, but still delicious. There's no shame in admitting that this was taken home in a doggy bag!
At this point we were asked if we'd like a five or ten minute break before the next course, which I think is a great idea, and very thoughtful, but we decided to try and be heroes, and carried on regardless!
Also at this point a musician came into the restaurant and started playing instrumental versions of various 80s and 90s songs. He was good, and it was pleasant, if not a little bit loud as he used an amp. We did however find ourselves playing "name that tune" amongst ourselves, but it was nice to have live music with dinner.
Carrying on, this was the part where we were trying to remember what the next dishes coming out was, followed by "oh yes, I forgot that part!" as we were presented with four plates containing more deliciousness, this time a very juicy beef in garlic with spring onions, some pork, some very tasty vegetables with a unique flavouring, and a delicious sweet and sour chicken, which stood out for me as sometimes Chinese sweet and sour chicken can be quite soggy, but this was succulent with a lovely crisp outer, which was superb!
Service was friendly and attentive, and we never had to wait long to have our plates cleared or to be kept updated with drinks by the friendly and helpful team.
The China Room is a great place for a nice dinner out whether on a budget, or for a special occasion, as you always get that good service and the excellent quality food. The nice thing about it being in Pavillion Square is that you have an abundance of free parking right outside, making it easier to waddle back to your car after being filled up with delicious food!
