Sun Dragon Restaurant and Takeaway

The Sun Dragon is a large-ish, family run Chinese restaurant in the Rossendale Valley. I have been before and it had been full. This time, I went with my family and in-laws, the latter having been several times before and confirmed that it had always been full. However, on this occasion, we were the only customers there – on a Saturday evening! It turned out it was the night of the Strictly Come Dancing Finals and all the restuarant's usual clientèle were at home watching it! Thus, the somewhat quiet atmosphere didn't bode well for a fun night out. How wrong I was. While we were waiting for our food, the young son (about 7?) of the family came down from the living accommodation above the restaurant for his supper (fish fingers and chips!) and while he was waiting for that, he entertained us royally with sparkling conversation (even though he had just lost his front teeth!) that had us memorised. Then the daughter of the family, who was the waitress, served us the food cooked by her father. The starter dish (a variety of items) was plentiful, fresh and tasty. Whilst the dish was supposed to be for 4, it was enough for all 7 of us. Then the mains came. I had Chicken Saday. It came on a sizzling platter and was absolutely delicious. And there was a lot of it. The rice for the group I thought could have been a bit more generous as I could have eaten more of it. To be fair, though, the waitress had said we only had to ask and we could have had more. But by the time I was in need of more rice everyone else had finished and they did not want more. As I could not have managed another whole portion of rice for myself, I left it. But this is hardly a criticism of the restaurant. I also sampled the shredded chile beef (quite a kick!) and Beef Gio Tar of two of my companions and they were equally good. In fact, my companion eating the Gio Tar said it was one of the best Chinese meals he had ever had and I think my Saday was too (and I have eaten in China). The food was clearly cooked to suit Western tastes and I'm sure there are more authentic Chinese Restaurants for the purist, but for me the meal was exceptionally enjoyable. What really capped the evening was that at the end of it, the mother of the family came and asked us if we had enjoyed the meal and this developed into 15 minutes of lively and interesting conversation, including what it is like to eat in Chinese villages. The son had clearly been a chip off the old block! All-in-all, what at first seemed likely to be a rather quiet evening turned out to be anything but! Thoroughly recommended.