IT’S Mother’s Day and with restaurants and cafes closed in the midst of the Coronavirus nightmare, my husband phones one of our favourite takeaways for a family meal celebration.

Our three kids – a 12-year-old daughter and boy/girl twins of eight – all plump for sweet and sour chicken (in batter). Two portions is enough between them.

The girls also go for a shared accompaniment of egg fried rice and my son, who has an egg allergy, opts for plain fried rice instead.

Hubby likes his food hot and spicy so orders beef and garlic with a sweet chilli sauce, while I decide on a special chow mein.

All the preparation I’ve got to do is put the plates in the oven to warm up and stick a bottle of dry white wine in the coolest spot in the fridge.

Within 20 minutes the food’s been delivered and we tuck in. Excellent.

We mix and match (within limits). The kids and I aren’t too keen on the spicy beef and garlic, which has come with lots of red chillis. But it suits my husband’s taste buds perfectly.

The beef is finely cut in long thin strips and the vegetables crisp and crunchy.

The children love the sweet and sour chicken. They reluctantly hand over a couple of pieces for me to sample. The batter is very light and inside the chicken is hot and tender.

My chow mein is tasty too. It’s packed with chunky pieces of chicken, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. We each heap the noodles on our plates. We’ve ordered one portion but there’s definitely enough for the children too.

There’s loads on the menu to try another day, the thai curries – king prawn, chicken and vegetable – all sound tempting, while the kids are very keen on trying a portion or two of the banana and pineapple fritters.

I have no doubt we’ll be ordering from the Golden Phoenix again.