“That was a bit rushed,” said The Moll as we left our table just 45 minutes after we had sat down.

I had been on night time stakeouts all week and had been looking forward to a nice relaxing evening with Toots in a sophisticated new restaurant.

Dollface had been in the mood for an evening of fine wining and dining in the city centre with a new fur coat wrapped around a silky evening gown.

We left Tec Towers in the Buick and rolled up at the bustling Lychee Oriental at Mitchell Street in Glasgow. 

Glasgow Times:

We were excited to try out some of the cuisine in a venue which has been awarded the title of the best Asian restaurant in Scotland.

When we pulled up to to the joint at 6pm it was only half full. We informed the staff we hadn’t booked a table.

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Panic seemed to take over. We were then told by one member, in an unfriendly tone, that they would need the table back by 7.30pm.

This didn’t seem like an issue for us as we thought an hour-and-a-half would give us time to enjoy our meal and a couple of drinks.

Toots and I had barely sat down, let alone have a chance to look at the wine list, when a flustered waitress appeared to take our drinks order.

I was quickly informed that the only two beers on draft were Asahi, which I chose, and a type of IPA. Poor Toots barely got a chance to look through the wine list and was rushed into choosing a standard Sauvignon Blanc.

Not five minutes later the drinks appeared and the waitress ready to take our food order.

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We, however, were not quite ready to choose and wouldn’t have minded a few minutes longer to browse the wide range of options.

For starters we opted for the spare ribs in Peking sauce and mushrooms with garlic and wine sauce.

This was followed by Chinese shiitake mushrooms with tofu and honey chilli chicken. Toots ordered a portion chilli ‘n’ salt fries to share and we both settled for a portion of egg fried rice each.

When we went to order prawn crackers the waitress said they were on the house which is what we would expected anyway.

Our complementary prawn crackers were brought to the table, which were very quickly followed by the delicious starters.

When we had finished the plates from our first course, they were cleared and almost immediately our main courses were placed in front of us. Again, the food was very enjoyable, but I couldn’t help but wonder just how fresh it really was especially because we had arrived just 25 minutes ago.

I also felt that the main courses could have been a bit more reasonably priced, or included egg fried rice.

Despite the tasty dishes we didn’t feel encouraged to stay behind for another drink. When we left it almost seemed as though the staff were relieved to see us go.

Feeling a bit disheartened we headed home to Tec Towers to enjoy the rest of our Saturday night in a more relaxing environment.

Although the food was good, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to return to Lychee Oriental – or would make sure I had booked a table far in advance.

Menu

Starters

Crispy spare ribs in

peking sauce £5.90

Mushrooms with garlic

and wine sauce £4.50

Main Courses

Honey chilli chicken £13.50

Chinese shitake

tofu with mushrooms £11.50

Sides

2 x egg fried rice £6

1 x chilli ‘n’ salt fries £3.80

Drinks

1 x white wine £6.50

1 x lager £4.90

Total £56.60

REVIEW

FOOD - ⭐⭐⭐

ATMOSPHERE - ⭐⭐⭐

SERVICE - ⭐⭐