Lee-On Chinese, Leven St, Edinburgh

Finally. A fabulous, cheap, tasty Chinese in Edinburgh!

After last week's hideous experience at Tippoo Sahib's, I needed a break from the spicy stuff. I decided to tuck into my other favourite cuisine, Chinese. By chance, I found myself in a funky part of Edinburgh,slightly tucked away from the centre and home to the fabulous Cameo cinema and King's Theatre. This area is restaurant heaven.

I found myself drawn to the interesting-looking Lee-On, an old Chinese with round windows like a ship. The menu looked both interesting and appetising; however, peeking into the restaurant, it was stone empty. Not to worry, the actual restaurant is in the basement and was full. It was a bit like a wartime bunker,the seating areas like sparsely decorated rooms. The 'bunker' was a hive of activity and reassuringly there were a large amount of Chinese people eating there. I ordered a delicious mushroom noodle soup to start, only 2.20-bargain. For my main, I went for mixed veg and bean curd in black bean sauce, accompanied with fluffy egg fried rice. Another dish worth sampling is the salt and chili beancurd, a dry tofu-based dish spiced up with chillies, garlic and spring onions. The portions were huge, but I meanaged to squeeze in dessert from the 1970s throwback style menu with delicacies like 'banana boat'! This is a pimped banana split which is packed with fruit cocktail between the bananas and has lashings of strawberry sauce. I digested the feast with some Chinese jasmine tea which was on the house!

The staff here were really cheerful, making it an all-round good dining experience. If you want plentiful Chinese food with no pretentions, I'll see you soon at Lee-On!