It’s not much from the outside - but inside the food is faultless

This restaurant doesn’t look much from the outside - in fact, you could be forgiven for passing by and not even noticing it. But Yeung Sing Restaurant in Bingham , which incorporates the House of Eve Cocktail Lounge, is a taste and visual sensation inside. The unassuming brick built building has a small sign hidden in the entrance hallway and a banner above the door but the foyer is fit for every Instagrammer’s feed with a ‘Beauty’ and ‘Beast’ neon sign above thrones decorated with florals.

Through the doors into the cocktail lounge, you’ll also find a pond filled with fish and sumptuous booths. When I visited on a Friday night with two friends, the cocktail lounge was buzzing with throngs of people enjoying cocktails topped with umbrellas. Walking past the bar, we were led into the dining area, complete with a man playing piano, and opulent gold touches in keeping with a Chinese theme.



The dining area was also busy but you could hold a conversation without having to shout above the din. On our table was a cocktail menu and a food menu, and both were extensive. I opted for a Punchless Passion Fruit from the mocktails menu and Emma chose a Hugo Spritz cocktail, and Samantha a Garden of Eden cocktail.

When it came to presentation, it didn’t make a difference that I’d ordered a mocktail, as it sometimes does. It still looked - and tasted - beautiful. Our waitress also brought a jug of water to the table and kept it, and our water glasses, topped up throughout the evening.

On the food menu, we were absolutely spoilt for choice with a list that went on and on. One thing I particularly appreciated was that there were photographs of some of the dishes in the glossy pages to give you an idea of what to expect — perfect if you fear getting food envy. There was no danger of that for us.

As we were all struggling to choose, we opted for one of the set menus, which came with crispy duck pancakes and three mains, along with rice. As we were feeling particularly hungry, we also added the chef’s mixed special appetisers. The food was served quickly and first out was the crispy duck pancakes, along with a bowl of prawn crackers and sweet chilli sauce.

We were given a plate of beautifully cooked duck, along with pancakes, cucumber and spring onion and Peking sauce. Samantha confessed to not being the biggest fan of duck but even she was taken in and we all enjoyed the dish. The waitress had advised we could have more pancakes should we require them — but the number we were given was the perfect amount.

I should also mention the prawn crackers — it feels expected to have them when you go for a Chinese but these were full of flavour and the sauce had a kick to it too. Next out were the mixed appetisers, which included Peking spare ribs, duck spring rolls , breaded king prawns, curry samosas and crispy seaweed. Again, no complaints here.

Of the dishes, the curry samosas were my least favourite but really it was all delicious and we polished it off happily. Read more Eat My Words reviews here The waitress brought warm cloths to the table for our fingers — a nice touch — and we ordered another round of cocktails. Having eaten, I opted to have a Tiki Blinder - effectively an alcoholic version of my earlier mocktail, and you could definitely taste the rum! By the time the mains came, I have to confess we were quite full - our eyes were definitely bigger than our bellies and we really shouldn’t have ordered those appetisers (although they were delicious - so I have no regrets!).

The dishes we chose onon the set menu we chose was sizzling chicken with green pepper and black bean sauce, sautéed king prawns in a sweet and sour sauce and stir-fried mangetout, bean sprouts and broccoli with garlic. It all came served with a larger-than-necessary bowl of egg fried rice. I would never normally choose to order a black bean sauce-based dish but the chicken was succulent and the sauce was unlike anything I’d had before.

It was by far and away my favourite of the three dishes and despite how full we all were, we were determined to finish our dishes. The one odd thing was that we were asked if we wanted bowls or plates for our main courses and opted for bowls - but they were tiny. You could barely fit more than a couple of tablespoons into them.

We were defeated by the huge bowl of rice but having been all brought up in households were the rule was “eat your meat first”, we were happy to have finished the dishes - and more than full. We were offered ice cream for dessert as part of the set menu but we were ready to quite literally roll out of the restaurant at that point so we politely declined. I would heartily recommend this restaurant to anyone - it’s definitely the best Chinese restaurant I’ve been to in a very long time and it won’t be long until I’m back again.

Out of five: Food: Every dish was lovely and we ate a lot! ***** Drinks: A great range of cocktails if that’s your thing and there’s an extensive range of beers, liquor, soft drinks and mocktails **** Decor: Stylish cocktail bar with a traditionally decorated restaurant *** Staff: Friendly and attentive but not overbearing **** Price: The set menu, including appetisers, worked out at £35 per person, and alcoholic cocktails were around £9 each. I thought it was excellent value considering how much food we got and I’d happily pay it again **** Have you had a great meal? Share your own Eat My Words reviews or tell us where to try by emailing: [email protected].

uk.