STEPHEN LEWIS discovers a jewel of a restaurant in Clifton Moor in York

Clifton MOOR on a damp Friday evening isn't perhaps the most romantic of places. Handy for Tesco, certainly. The Warner Village Cinema right on your doorstep. But with the best will in the world, Kettlestring Lane is hardly Minster Yard or Shambles.

Don't let that fool you. Tucked away off Oakdale Road is one of the best little Chinese restaurants you'll find.

We'd heard good things about the Oriental Pearl, but never visited. Having been once and discovered the delights of the lettuce parcel, they will have difficulty keeping me away in future.

The Pearl is nothing much to look at from the outside. Walk in, however, and you're in a world of warmth and welcome. A huge oriental mural takes up most of the back wall, Chinese lamps hang from the ceiling. The tables are nicely spaced, a fish tank burbles away happily near the centre and, when we arrived at 7.30pm, the restaurant was filling up nicely and suffused with the hum of contented conversation.

The menu is extensive, offering a variety of unusual dishes not found on your standard Chinese menu. Deep fried mashed prawn on toast? Where else have you seen that for a starter?

We scanned the menu hungrily over our drinks - a pint of Chinese lager for me, an orange juice for Lily - then I plumped for the shredded duck soup (£2.50) to start, while Lily went for the wan tun soup (£3.00).

Both were excellent. My soup was thick and glutinous, and filled with exquisitely tasty shreds of tender duck and button mushrooms, the whole topped off with fine, crispy noodles. I savoured each mouthful, wondering how anybody could make duck taste this good. Lily was equally pleased with her wan tun soup - small pastry parcels filled with minced pork and prawn in a clear soup.

We were ready for our main courses. Being hungry, we'd decided to push the boat out, ordering four main dishes: stir-fried chicken with mushroom and oyster sauce (£6.20); stir-fried squid with green pepper in barbecue sauce (£7.20); deep-fried fish with ginger and spring onions (£6.80); and mixed vegetables (£5.80). To help this down we ordered plain boiled rice for two.

Before this feast arrived, however, we had another dish to contend with - an apres starter, if you like. While studying the menu, Lily's eyes had lit upon something called Sheng Cai baozi (£6.50). Now, as anyone who has visited China will know, baozi are a kind of fluffy steamed bread roll stuffed with a delicious, gloopy filling of fried minced pork and chopped spring onion and other vegetables. They have always been one of my favourite foods - and almost impossible to find in this country.

My heart leaped, and we ordered. What arrived, however, didn't remotely resemble a baozi. It was a steaming pile of moist, chopped vegetables and shredded chicken on one plate, accompanied by crisp, fresh, whole iceberg lettuce leaves on another. Sheng Cai baozi, our friendly waiter explained: lettuce parcels.

My initial disappointment didn't last long. The way to eat them, the waiter explained, was to wrap the filling in the lettuce leaves. I tried: and in doing so discovered one of the world's great foods.

It is hard to describe the sheer physical joy of biting into those parcels. The crisp, cool, outer layer of lettuce; the warm, moist, savoury filling containing everything from shredded chicken and carrot to green peppers, chopped peanut and sliced water chestnut. It had everything; taste, texture and contrast, yet without being heavy on the stomach. I could have eaten nothing but that and gone away a happy man.

We still had our main courses, however. Without quite rising to the divine heights of the lettuce parcel, they were fine. The chicken came in large, tender pieces in a rich oyster sauce; the fried mixed vegetables were tasty and satisfying. Lily vouched for the squid, though being allergic to seafood I had to take her word for it. Least good was the fish; tender chunks of cod in crispy batter that came in a tasty sauce with lashings of spring onion. Pleasant and satisfying; but the taste of the cod was rather bland after the delights of the other dishes.

We were replete before we finished, and asked our waiter to pack up the remains of the chicken and mixed vegetable for us to take home; which he was more than happy to do. It made a tasty meal the following evening.

At just over £40 for so much food (and of such quality) as well as drinks, the price, while not the cheapest, is more than reasonable. If you're on a budget and not quite as greedy as we were you could certainly enjoy a good meal for two here for around the £30 mark. Just remember, if you do: you have to try the lettuce parcel.

Oriental Pearl Cantonese Restaurant, Unit 2, Tower Court, Clifton Moorgate, York. Tel 01904 693737.

Steve and Lily visited the Oriental Pearl on Friday March 28.

Fact file:

Food: excellent

Service: friendly

Value: reasonable

Ambience: welcoming

Disabled facilities: No

Updated: 08:53 Saturday, April 26, 2003