The Golden Dragon, Pershore

ANYONE passing through Pershore could not help but notice the arrival of the Golden Dragon Cantonese restaurant, which has transformed a dark, long-empty premises into a bright, smartlooking eatery.

This transformation of such a prominent site in the middle of town has earned the proprietors a hearty portion of goodwill and there seems to be no shortage of customers wanting to try the food for themselves.

Indeed, by the time my friends and I booked a table at the restaurant, we found we were a party of 12. Everyone who heard we were going decided they wanted to come, too.

The first impression of the place was how busy it was and how extra tables had been squeezed in to accommodate the bookings. However, there didn’t seem to be enough staff to serve so many diners, so service was on the slow side.

This was despite the fact there isn’t a drinks service to worry about – the restaurant doesn’t yet have an alcohol licence, so diners are asked to pay a £1 corkage fee and take along their own booze.

Personally, as the lack of a licence is only temporary, I think the management could waive this fee – particularly as staff tried to charge it to two members of our party who ordered soft drinks inhouse.

The food, when it arrived, was hit-and-miss.

Among the successes were a quarter aromatic crispy duck (although a tad expensive at £10), steamed pork and king prawn dumplings (£3.90) and Szechuan roast duck (£10).

The misses included spring rolls (£5), which were dry and came without any sauce (it was available separately for £1.70), Szechuan beef (£9.60), which our party left half-eaten, and chow mein dishes (£7.70) which looked distinctly re-heated.

To start, I had marinated chicken with lemongrass (£5.50), which caused some confusion because the waitress (a local girl) announced it as “chicken skewers”. None of us had knowingly ordered anything on a skewer, so when I asked her what it was called on the menu, she studied it for a few moments and said: “I dunno.”

I was a bit unsure what to make of it, too. Chicken bits on a stick would be a good name for it.

For mains I pushed the boat out and chose fillet steak with onions, fresh chilli and basil (£13.50). This wasn’t bad, the meat was tender, but the whole thing tasted burned – despite the thin strips of steak being rare in the middle.

For the price of the dishes, none of the group was very impressed, particularly when the cost of the extras was added – a small bowl of plain boiled rice was £2.80 and many of the dishes were crying out for a bit of sauce.

However, the restaurant is new, and the staff are obviously finding their feet. Let’s hope they do, and soon, so that Pershore doesn’t end up with another set of empty business premises.

HOW IT RATED
Food: 2
Service: 2
Value for money: 2
Ambience: 2