L J Chinese Cuisine Ltd

Jo Jo and Lawrence, the LJ of the Chinese Cuisine on Fareham's diverse West Street, are the owners of this friendly, attractive restaurant, the effervescent Jo Jo in charge of front of house while Lawrence mans the kitchen.

Open for three years, with etched windows, white high-backed chairs, white linen and tall flower arrangements, LJ's offers the type of Chinese menu known throughout the western world. No surprises here.

The list is the usual lengthy one with no less than 125 dishes plus various feasts, the Mongolian one at £35 for two offering four starters and mains plus its centrepiece, crispy Mongolian lamb.

The LJ feast at £13.50 is a rather more prosaic one, chicken and corn soup kicking off the meal, followed by sweet and sour chicken, sizzling beef with a black bean sauce, roast pork with cashew nuts and egg-fried rice. Quite the spread, albeit more pocket-friendly.

Or go a la carte. Chilli king prawns, crab meat with straw mushrooms diced roast pork with yellow bean sauce, chicken curry or a noodle dish are all around the £5-£6 mark. Naturally, that all-time favourite, crispy duck with pancakes - Lawrence would have been lynched if he'd left it off the menu - is present too.

Better still, come for lunch and have no less than soup, spring rolls, ribs, chicken satay, sesame prawn canapes and a crispy wonton for starters then follow this up with sweet and sour pork, chicken curry, sizzling beef with mushrooms, noodles with bean shoots and egg-fried rice. Now this is a feast - and all for a mere £7.95. Here we have bargain food, but just how good is it?

Well, it gets my vote for excellent value for money. The spring roll was tip-top, as were the pint-sized glistening ribs, the sesame toast one of the better versions to be found, the satay deliciously saturated with that moreish peanut sauce.

Pause to digest this. I think I'll join you. As I look around the restaurant I spot a small wedding party tucking into one of those feasts and several sulky half-term kids being taken out for a treat, one with a skateboard tucked defiantly under an arm while making the most of a rib or two. The place is jumping, the calm staff serving with solicitude and grace.

The pause is over as my main dish has just hoved into view. More like a meal for four, the five dishes are ranged in china dishes on a lazy susan (swivel dish to some). The chicken curry, in a spicy medium-hot sauce, was a simple, well-prepared dish, the sizzling beef just rampant with flavour thanks to the meaty mushrooms and soya. My favourite, the noodles and bean shoots, far eclipsed the pork. And the rice? Faultless.

I did this meal justice. But staff still ask you if you'd like a top-up. A top-up! As if anyone could manage any more than the kitchen generously offers in the first place. But I bet some do.

I couldn't have managed a dessert even if golden gossamer saffron-scented larks' tongues dipped in sugar had been offered to me. But it's largely over to an ice-cream company to persuade you to force another mouthful down.

Just leave the memory of a good LJ experience after the savoury dishes. You'll thank me for it. My bill came to £10.60 including a glass of French dry white wine from Carcassonne.

Chinese is my absolute favourite type of food and I am always looking for new restaurants to try. So when I noticed a new restaurant had opened in Fareham, I just had to give it a go.

We dropped in to LJ Chinese Cuisine on a mid-week night and were surprised to see the dining area full and buzzing. This is always a good sign - especially on a rainy Wednesday evening.

We were seated at a table towards the back of the restaurant and noticed straight away that we were surrounded by smokers. So without making too much of a fuss us two non-smokers politely asked to be moved. The waitress couldn't have been more attentive and re-located us to a prime seat in the window.

I am usually fairly predictable in my choices and crispy duck is always a must. But the helpful waitress suggested I should try the crispy Mongolian lamb for a change.

One of the reasons I particularly enjoy Chinese food is because there are so many mix and match side dishes - pancakes, hoi sing sauce, cucember, spring onions, iceberg lettuce - and this was just to accompany the lamb dish, which was mouth-wateringly delicious and a first class recommendation.

For our next course, we selected Kung Po chilli king prawn, beef with green pepper and black bean sauce and a potion of egg fried rice. My friend was hesitant over which dish to choose to accompany her prawns. Again, the keen waitress stepped in and suggested we try a helping of mushroom crispy noodles.

The beef arrived in a sizzling skillet and you could almost taste the distinctive black bean sauce in the air. The meat was tender and not a rubbery consistency like similar dishes I have had in the past. The rice was very light. The crispy noodles made an excellent accompaniment to the spicy praawn dish. The dish included six huge mushrooms, the size of golf balls, which were extremely tasty.

I think the only downside to Chinese cuisine is that I can never eat a whole portion. I begin with good intentions but falter towards the end of the meal as the rice has usually filled me up by then. So I have never yet made it to the dessert stage.

Idon't think I have ever eaten in a Chinese restaurant that has such a wide choice for vegetarians and the description of the non-meat dishes bought interesting images to mind - mock pork, mock abalone and even aromatic mock duck.

The bill for two of us including a couple of beers was £31.60. Takeaway food is also available. Call 01329 236262 to book a table. I can honestly say that LJ Cuisine is one of the best Chinese restaurants I have ever eaten in, both the food and service were top-notch, and that's a pretty good recommendation from a Chinese connoisseur.