Eat My Words: We review China Palace in Bourne

Burghley House near Stamford and Belton House in Grantham are the closest Lincolnshire comes to having a palace.

But in Bourne, there is a palace where it seems no-one wants to stay - and that’s China Palace in South Street.

My husband and I had walked into town for an afternoon drink in a sunny beer garden - yes, it was a rare weekend of warm weather - and having decided we couldn’t be bothered to cook, we went to, quite literally, the nearest restaurant.

Much like a palace, this Chinese restaurant has a huge frontage onto the street — but it could do with a lick of paint to make it shine at its very best.

Inside, the bar area has an oriental-style roof and there are plenty of tables but, on the Saturday evening we made our visit, it certainly didn’t have the hordes of people you’d expect to see at most palaces.

In fact, the place was empty except for one other table - and it stayed that way for the entire time we were there. But it was busy with a fast-flowing stream of people coming in, staying for about 30 seconds, and leaving with a bag full of delicious food.

There are no delivery drivers here - if you want your food, you must come and collect and, if you’ve got that far, why not stay?

We were quickly given a bowl of prawn crackers while we sampled the extensive menu. We briefly considered the set menu options — after all I’d enjoyed one at another Chinese restaurant — but decided to choose a selection of dishes from the main menu instead to share.

No sooner had we ordered, than the waitress placed a few tealight food warmers on the table in our booth.

We opted for a Szechuan special, chicken in black bean sauce, crispy shredded chilli beef and some plain rice. Having foregone starters - often my favourite part of a meal at a Chinese - I also asked for some mini vegetarian spring rolls to accompany our mains.

Every dish was superb and, as I write this review, my tummy is rumbling and I’m ready to enjoy it all again.

After we’d asked for the bill, too full to consider a dessert, it arrived with a treat that you definitely don’t get with a takeaway - a fortune cookie. Mine read: Rely on your instincts and they will soon bring you fortune. I’m still waiting for that to come true and although I find the cookie itself a little like cardboard, I do enjoy the novelty of cracking it open to see what it says inside.

China Palace is our go-to for a Chinese takeaway but stepping inside the door to sit down is not something we have done all that often, and it seemed from our visit, like most of the town is the same.

But that is something we’ll be rectifying in the future - the staff were kind and attentive and the food was speedy. There was a varied drinks menu that was sufficient to be able to could continue our somewhat boozy afternoon and the food was everything we enjoy at home without the need to wash the pots afterwards. I also eyed up a Sunday all you can eat buffet between midday and 2pm and I’ll definitely be heading back to sample some of the dishes I wouldn’t normally choose.

Out of five:

Food: Every dish was fantastic. ****

Drinks: A good range of drinks. On this occasion, my husband Richard chose a Tiger beer and I had a Diet Coke, having had maybe one too many at the pub next door ****

Decor: It could do with a lick of paint outside and it’s perhaps a little dated inside but we had our choice of tables! ***

Staff: Friendly and attentive ****

Price:Our entire bill for the three main courses, a side, a starter and two drinks came to £47.20 which I thought was good value and I’ll definitely be back ****

Have you had a great meal? Share your own Eat My Words reviews or tell us where to try by emailing: news@lincsonline.co.uk