Well, I have to tell you about this place!

The Dragon Castle is a huge Chinese restaurant in Elephant & Castle, South London, complete with glittering fountain and tasteful lighting, serving a wide choice of vegetarian food also. Very easy to find - park in Larcom Street, nearby.

Concentrating on the vegetarian menu, the food was extremely good, great-tasting and imaginative. We like their plentiful portions. I would also like to add that I have had cashews a thousand times but never as good as in this place, they literally melted in the mouth. They even serve the rice in whatchamacall-it stacks that keep it warm. We used their expensive chopsticks and found it all very manageable to pick up, except the aubergine. If you want a fork, ask for it at the beginning because this place gets really busy.

We enjoyed just sitting there in that huge dining hall, with its elegant high ceilings. The waitresses were authentically dressed. Plates, service, ambience were all really positive but you know me, it has to taste good for me to write about it.

The food in this restaurant is excellent. We’ll be taking lots of friends there, especially business contacts from out of London as its impressive dining at roughly £20 per head for a la carte, which includes 3 courses, no dessert. There are 2 vegetarian menus, we chose the more expensive, as it was only about £4.00 more, with masses more variety.

Food does not have to expensive to be enjoyed, sometimes the simplest ingredients can make all the difference to a dish. At the Dragon Castle the head chef Felix Yu has perfected this art to such an extent that it has become one of the best eating houses in Elephant&Castle.

Other than the food, the service is really good because the waiters are knowledgeable and will happily guide you througha vast menus which is full of surprises.

We started of with a cold platter of jellyfish done in sesame seeds and garnished with raw garlic. This was followed by crispy pork with golden crushed garlic which was meaty but not overpowering;the squid was soft and not soggy;the steamed corn-fed chicken in ginger stock was intense accompanied by a sauce containing whitepepper and star-anise.

For lovers of authentic chinese cuisines a trek across London is certainly worth it,but be prepared to look for the DragonCastle amidst some council estates.