stands up without the help of window dressing, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Spring is within comfortable walking distance from town, and on a bus route, so a perfect spot for dinner or lunch after a morning's shopping.

Our food arrived speedily. You can hear the wok sizzling in the kitchen, and our sesame prawn toast was so straight-from-the-wok that it was too hot to handle! While it cooled, we nibbled on moreish chicken wings in chilli and salt. Unlike some Chinese restaurants, nothing at Spring was too salty, but our friendly waitress nonetheless kept our glasses topped up with free water all evening. The drinks menu is brief and excludes spirits, but there are four beers to choose from, house red and white wine, and a number of soft drinks on offer including green tea and Chinese herbal juice.

Each dish arrives on an individual plate, and with small bowls for each diner to fill with as much or as little as they like. It's a nice traditional Chinese touch, and ideal for groups who want to try a little of their friend's dishes.

Spring is also one of the few places to offer traditional Chinese Hot Pot, an old custom in which food is cooked at your table in a heated pot, much like a DIY casserole. We'll definitely be trying it next time. We had fun grappling with the chopsticks (British reserve prevented us from asking for cutlery) and swiftly forgot the lack of décor as our main courses arrived.

The portions are generous - we watched steaming mountains of noodles go by for other diners (Spring offers four different kinds of noodle) and wondered where they'd find the room to put them! Our choice of chicken in Satay sauce was peanutty, creamy, and pleasantly rich, and the accompanying strips of green pepper were fresh and perfectly done - nothing was limp or reheated. We then got stuck in to duck with ginger and spring onions. The duck was a little fatty, as duck tends to be, but the sauce gave it a lovely, gingery tang that was more than welcome on that crisp November afternoon.

The cosmopolitan atmosphere of Mill Road means there is always something new and exotic to catch a pedestrian's eye, so the Spring restaurant may need to work on their appearance before they get the attention they deserve. Overall, we were delighted with our food and would visit again.