MARTIN LACY takes a trip full of Eastern promise

They say that anything you really like in this life, you'll have to pay for. So, you may well love the experience of dining at York's newest Chinese restaurant - but you'll certainly have to pay for the privilege.

We thoroughly enjoyed a trip to Maxi's Restaurant in the dying days of the last Millennium - until we got the bill. For what was a fairly standard order - mixed starters, three main dishes, rice, sweets and a couple of lagers - set us back more than £50!

Now that's serious money and you have to ask yourself whether or not the meal is worth it. Well, before I tell you, let me first point out that the massive new restaurant, which can seat around 250 diners, was busy throughout the night and all the customers seemed to go home happy. And what about us?

Maxi's is situated in that little but thriving corner on the York outer ring road near the Boroughbridge Road roundabout (and close to Millfield Lane), an area that also houses the Millfield pub, the Wetherby Whaler and the splendid new Bengal Brasserie. It is in an imposing purpose-built, one-storey building guarded by a brace of lion dogs and a massive Oriental gateway.

Inside is a sea of gold, tinged with red and black, acres of eastern decorations, Chinese lanterns and wall reliefs. The large, single room is cleverly broken up into small sections by folding screens and even the chairs have carved backs featuring Chinese scenes.

The menu is equally impressive, with yards of different dishes, embracing all the old favourites you'd expect plus a few more unusual treats, including a list of dim sum (snacks) comprising such exotic delights as chicken feet, lotus paste buns and turnip paste.

We were tempted to order a meal made up entirely of starters but as the dim sum are only served until 6pm, we turned to the more conventional menu, selecting a dish of mixed starters for two and three courses to represent the Chinese 'harmony' of land, sea and sky. For land we chose fried lamb in satay sauce; for sea fried squid in black bean sauce; for sky chicken in honey sweet and sour sauce.

I have to say that the food ranged from good to outstanding. Our starters (prawn toast, spring rolls, won ton and spare ribs) were very tasty although the portions were small.

Our lamb was also tasty but I have to vote our other two courses amongst the best Chinese food we've ever eaten.

The honeycomb squid was easily the tender side of rubbery, tasty and in a superb black bean sauce; the chicken crisp yet tender and the sauce deliciously rather than sickeningly sweet. Outstanding.

We finished off with a sticky toffee bomb for Carol, which she wolfed down with glee, and a toffee banana for me, which I attacked with equal gusto. All this was polished off with a pot of refreshing china tea.

Now for the one complaint - our drinks. Maxi's possesses a large and well-chosen wine list, but there's only really one wine to drink with Chinese food and that's Alsatian gewrztraminer. The wine list had one bottle listed - £18, and that's an awful lot of money to wash down fried rice! We settled for lager - and got the most insipid, tasteless liquid I've swallowed in a long time. Let's hope it's just a temporary blip in a smooth operation.

Now, here's the rub: our meal plus two pints and two halves of lager set us back a whopping £50.90p.

Was it worth it? On balance, and given the high standard of those two main courses, I have to say 'just about'. Certainly I want to go back and try those dim sum but a full-blown meal at Maxi's is going to be a special treat for most people - ourselves included.

Maxi's Restaurant, Ings Lane, York Business Park, Nether Poppleton, York YO26 6RA. Tel: (01904) 783898/784898

FACT FILE

FOOD: ****

SERVICE: ****

VALUE:**

AMBIENCE: ****

DISABLED ACCESS: YES