This used to be a reassuringly expensive style bar, but then Wetherspoons appeared and people no longer felt the need to walk further. That's my take on it at least. Well anyhoo now it's Yuwu, a contemporary Chinese restaurant. It's comfortable inside, it looks and feels the part, and we got ushered quickly to a table when we chanced our arm without a booking, it's new and so it wasn't particularly busy for a Saturday night.
The menu is a fairly typical Chinese menu, the unusual items being scallop - well it is Oban after all - and fillet steak dishes. I opted for Chicken Satay Skewers followed by Fillet Steak with Ginger and Black Bean and a side of Egg Fried Rice. The skewers came and I was shocked, they were enormous, by far the biggest chicken satay skewers I've ever had. The sauce was mild and subtle, it could have been a bit more textured and spicy, but it was pleasant and the chicken was moist...and it was huge!
I was pretty impressed so far and set about my Sun Lik lager, not one that I can remember coming across before, it's a bit like Tennents. Next thing I know we were being apologised to because the mains order had been missed due to the new handheld technology, so I got another Sun Lik for free. Yayyy! I suppose for Chinese food it was taking a while.
Suddenly the passageway was filled by a dense fog rushing towards us. Helpppp! It was like a scene out of a John Carpenter film and was more than a little disconcerting. I leaned back as this spitting, sizzling volcano was presented on the table and literally couldn't see as I was engulfed by the falling column of smoke. And no I am not exaggerating. Seriously. People at the other end of the restaurant started coughing, and the staff opened every door they could, even the kitchen door, to disperse the smoke. The eruption had abated and I started moving the sauce around to stop it and the meat sticking, I was mostly successful in this. They'd obviously overheated it to get it out quickly to us.
This was really the only problem with the dish, it had a rich and flavoursome sauce with plenty of ginger, and the steak was soft and easily eaten with chopsticks. A star off for the wait, the coughing and the sticking main. read more