Great Times Chinese restaurant, Lancastria House, 77-79 Lancaster Road, Preston PR1 2QJ

This is a Chinese restaurant that has existed in Preston for 30 years.  It has recently set up a website  at http://www.greattimes-restaurantpreston.co.uk/

and it has also recently started accepting credit and debit cards.

 

I visited this restaurant as part of a group out for a meal to celebrate a friend's birthday.  There is an  A La Carte menu  and a fixed price 2 courses for £11.95 menu.  Both can be viewed on the website and they are both accessible.  On this particular day we  chose the 2 courses for £11.95 option.

 

I had the duck spring rolls for a starter which tasted of the aromatic duck generally offered with pancakes.  they were well filled with duck and some of the best I have ever had.  Other people in the group had the Lucky Lettuce, the salt and pepper pork chop and the pork spring rolls and everyone seemed happy with their starter.

 

For main I had beef  sirloin in hot and spicy sauce.  Beef Sirloin with various other sauces was offered on the 2 course menu but they only offered chicken in hot and spicy sauce.   Still, they were happy to cook the beef in this  way when I asked.  The beef was of high quality, they were prepared to spice it up a bit and there was plenty of it.  It's always nice when staff are prepared to adapt food slightly to the wants of the customer.  Others tried beef in garlic sauce and  Szechuan pork.  Everyone seemed happy with their food.  there was a big bowl of fried rice in the middle of the table to share and there was plenty to go round.

 

There is the usual range of bottled beers and wines, with some lager available on draft.  Nothing amazing that stands out here, but it's good to have a range of drinks to go with your meal.

 

Great Times may not be the most amazing exciting and varied Chinese restaurant I have visited but the food generally  consists of high quality ingredients and staff are very helpful.  I found that staff generally spoke a reasonable amount of English and they were happy to help explain any parts of the menu required.  they are also happy to accept guide dogs.

 

In general then, this is a good restaurant for an enjoyable hassle free meal out with friends  I give it an over all score of 8 out of 10.

 

Graham Page

 

Mobile: 07753 607980

 

Fax:  0870 706 2773

 

Email: gpage@useit.plus.com

 

Skype: gabriel_mcbird

Twitter: @gabrielmcbird

 

Anima D'italia, 114 mile End Road, Stepney E1 4UN

This is a restaurant that claims to be Halal  in Stepney Green.  I'm not sure who runs this but it's not the most authentic Italian restaurant and, unless you choose to limit yourself to Halal food, this restaurant is not worth travelling to.

 

I have visited this restaurant twice and I must admit I was happier with the food second time than I was with the first time.

 

I first visited this restaurant in late December and I had Risotto rice balls with bolognaise sauce and cheese as a starter and a main dish of Italian sausage and prawns with roast potatoes.  The Risotto rice balls were made with basmati rice rather than risotto rice.  other than that they were tasty enough but using the wrong kind of rice made a mess of the texture.

 

On the main course, the prawns were fine but the Italian sausage turned out to be a cheap beef breakfast sausage and I refused to eat it.  to be fair to the staff they did agree a £5 discount because of this.  I was left feeling very disappointed but, as I usually do where convenient, I did go back to the restaurant last Sunday to give it a second try 2 months later.  A group of students I passed on the way told me the restaurant was very nice and friendly.  I was disappointed to find that I was not even allowed to bring in my own wine.  It's meant to be Italian after all!

 

This time round I had Brochette as a starter.  It had tomatoes and onions with it on bread that was rather lacking in garlic but it was not bad.  The main was A dish of Penne pasta with minced beef, beef slices, mushrooms and cream.  this turned out to be a very pleasant rich dish that did have an Italian vibe to it at least.  there was also plenty of it.  for pudding I had a Panna Cotta which was actually pretty good, though I don't know whether it was bought in or made on the premises. the person serving did not know.

 

I asked for black pepper and parmesan cheese.  it turned out that the pepper grinder was broken and I was told no one had asked for it.  Very odd!  I've never visited an italian restaurant and not been offered black pepper.

 

Given that there is a strong possibility  that this is local bangladeshis playing at being Italian, this restaurant is not bad.  I paid £17 for 3 courses and 2 glasses of lemonade which is not a bad price.  Saying this, it's very very far from authentic and I wouldn't go there for a special occasion.  if you insist on Halal food though, it may be worth a try if you want something different.

 

Staff were friendly enough, so I'd give this restaurant 5 out of 10.