Oriental Aroma, Wootton Bassett

I moved to the town six months ago and despite my great love of Chinese food I hadn't gone further than my local takeaway.

We weren't going to book ahead but fortunately, with just one hour's notice, we did.

When we reached the High Street restaurant at 7.30pm the place was packed but we were quickly shown to our table where we munched prawn crackers while we poured over the menu.

The dimly lit restaurant was decorated with Chinese lettering and murals and had an illuminated fountain in the roof garden outside which would have been lovely to eat our meal by if it had been warmer.

We ignored the "eat as much as you like for only £13 per person." You can choose three dishes, and eat as much of them as you like.

But we didn't go for it because we thought it would be cheaper with the ordinary menu.

Needless to say, it didn't quite work out like that (maths was never my strong point and we ate more than we had intended anyway) and we ended up paying £42.24 including drinks.

We picked the special hors d'oeuvres to start, including pancake rolls, crispy seaweed, spare ribs, satay chicken and prawn toast.

Tid opted for honey roast pork with mushrooms as his main meal and I chose Mongolian crispy lamb.

We had heard that Oriental Aroma served generous portions so decided to share a Yung Chow rice between us.

My lamb came with shredded spring onion and cucumber, plum sauce and floury pancakes and was plenty for one.

As someone who normally orders the same old dish this was a welcome change and the lamb was cooked to perfection.

Tid's roast pork was delicious and sweet and both dishes were put in the middle of the table so we could easily share them.

The restaurant staff were really attentive and we were never without a topped-up drink.

With just a little room to spare Tid chose a lemon sorbet which was brought to the table in a chilled hollowed out lemon, a nice touch and it looked very tempting.

I chose a coconut sorbet with chocolate sauce but, for diners with a more conventional taste, there was vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream on offer.

Just one slight grouse. Under normal circumstances I like to think Tid and I are generous when it comes to tipping but we were slightly put out that a sizeable service charge had been added to our bill.

We didn't notice the service charge on the menu because we were too busy narrowing down our order from the extensive list of mouth-watering meals.

All in all, a good evening out and, if you're looking for a decent meal and are willing to over-look the compulsory tip, then Oriental Aroma is the restaurant for you.

By Hayley Court

Oriental Aroma

50 High Street

Wootton Bassett

SN15 1EG

(01793) 840600

• Telephone orders welcome
• All you can eat menus
• Cheques accepted
• Open seven days a week
• No disabled access