Stephen Lewis finds his tastebuds being tickled by the mysterious la yu.

WE HAD just placed our orders and were settling down with our drinks in pleased anticipation of the feast to come when our waitress came over. "Excuse me. Do you speak Chinese?" she asked my (obviously Chinese) wife Lily timidly.

A conversation followed in mandarin. We had ordered the sea bass (£12 for a small one) but the restaurant had another fish in that day which was even better, our waitress said. The la yu would only cost the same as the bass - and it must be good because the boss had just had one. Would we like to change our order?

After a moment of reflection, intrigued, we agreed.

No one in the restaurant knew what the fish's English name was. It was a deep-bellied freshwater fish that looked a little like a bream; but not being an angler, I couldn't say for sure.

One thing was certain though: it was delicious.

The fish arrived on a large plate. It had been steamed in a sauce made with shreds of ginger and chopped spring onion. The tender, moist white flesh fell away from the bone as we applied the chopsticks, and the taste - especially when the fish was dipped in the thin, slightly salty sauce that it came in - was excellent, with that wonderfully clean, freshwater taste you get from the best river fish.

The Royal Dragon Hotel is an odd-looking place. From the outside, despite the Chinese lettering, it looks more like a town pub - not surprising, since in a previous incarnation it was one.

The pub theme has been maintained inside. The restaurant's main room has an ornate bar along one side, and even the decor is town pub; green carpet, solid round tables with red and green tablecloths. Apart from the staff and the food there is very little Chinese about it. Comfortable and reassuringly familiar in fact, if not particularly sophisticated.

Already, by 7.45pm on a Friday evening, the restaurant was reasonably busy, and more diners continued to arrive during the evening. We were shown to a window table (with a view across Barbican Road to the bar walls) by one of three Chinese waitresses, ordered drinks - apple juice for Lily, Kronenbourg for me - and tucked into a plate of complementary prawn crackers while we studied the menu.

It was a fairly standard menu for a restaurant of this type - a few soups as starters, and a selection of fish, seafood, pork, beef and chicken dishes as well as vegetarian options for main courses. There were also chow meins and chop sueys, and boiled or fried rice or fried noodles as accompaniments.

We were both starving, so decided to push the boat out.

We ordered a quarter crispy aromatic duck with pancakes (£9) to share for starters; and then, in true Chinese style, an assortment of four dishes to share for our main meal. The sea bass; fried squid with seasonal vegetables in oyster sauce (£6); deep-fried beancurd with assorted meat (£6.50); and pak choi (Chinese cabbage, £4.50).

To accompany the meal I chose boiled rice (£1.50) and Lily fried rice (£2). We had barely finished ordering before out waitress came back and invited us to change our sea bass for the la yu.

Our meal got off to a very good start. The duck arrived crispy, piping hot and ready chopped on a large white plate. A wooden steaming dish held six large white pancakes, and there was also a plate of chopped cucumber and radish.

The idea is to heap the meat and chopped vegetables on to a pancake, drizzle with gooey plum sauce, roll and eat. Excellent, was our verdict; the duck meat tender and moist, the crispy skin delicious, the pancakes each big enough to make a decent, meaty roll.

We polished the lot off and sat back with pleased expressions to wait for our main courses.

We were not disappointed. The la yu, as already reported, was excellent. If anything, however, I preferred the beancurd. Fresh beancurd had been lightly fried before being braised in a salty sauce with tasty chunks of pork, beef, chicken, mange tout and baby sweetcorn. Delicious.

Lily also pronounced herself highly satisfied with her squid, which came in steaming chunks accompanied by assorted vegetables including mange tout, carrots, crunchy broccoli and baby sweetcorn. The pak choi was also good; piping hot, tender and tasty.

We ate everything, surprising even ourselves. Afterwards, feeling comfortably full but not bloated, we passed on dessert and I finished off with an excellent cup of coffee, which was refilled by one of our three friendly waitresses without me having to ask.

The bill came to just under £50, including drinks. That's expensive for a Chinese meal, even though we had pushed the boat out: but we did have a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The Royal Dragon Hotel, 16 Barbican Road, York. Tel 01904 623134

Steve and Lily visited on June 11.

Updated: 08:43 Saturday, June 19, 2004