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I HAVE been aware of Ocean Dragon restaurant for some time. But it was when I came across the menu online that I felt compelled to go there.

The range of dishes was really impressive and it had some really interesting-looking options.

As a vegan I was particularly impressed with how much choice I had, and this range was echoed across the menu with a really good range of meat and seafood options.

When my friend and I visited on a Friday night the restaurant was busy and we were grateful we'd booked.

The restaurant is situated on the first floor, above a shop. While this means it probably gets less passing trade than it would if it was at street-level it does make for a much more pleasant dining experience.

It felt like we'd been whisked away from a damp Southampton evening to a holiday destination, thanks to the restaurant's cheerful décor and the fact that we weren't looking out of the window onto a familiar street.

Ocean Dragon offers a good value buffet option which was clearly popular, especially with parties, but we decided to order from the menu as it offered a greater vegetarian/vegan range and there were a couple of dishes I had my eye on that weren't included in the buffet.

One thing that impressed us from the outset was the excellent service.

Not only was everyone very polite and friendly but they were also very helpful in finding out what ingredients were in dishes and adapting them so that I could eat them.

While I realise not that many people are vegan, it's good to know that if you have a food intolerance or you just don't like a particular ingredient a restaurant is willing to adapt dishes for you.

I started my meal with the suitably adapted rainbow bean curd broth soup. This was delicious and, as the name suggests, quite thick, while my friend ordered the vegetarian mini spring rolls which were spot on and very more-ish.

We ordered a selection of main and side dishes to share as there was so much on the menu it was difficult to choose. Although my friend is a meat-eater the selection at Ocean Dragon was so good she was happy to go vegan for the night so that we could both try plenty of dishes.

We had kung po bean curd, fried mushrooms with garlic sauce and mixed vegetables Szechuan style with plain rice.

I'm a massive fan of bean curd and the large, tasty portion didn't disappoint. The mixed vegetables, which were fairly spicy were also good but probably the best dish was the mushrooms. Although this was only a side dish it was large and satisfying enough to be a main.

Unfortunately we'd got a bit carried away and ordered more food than we could eat, though it seemed such a shame to waste it that we did battle on for a while after we were completely full.

The final treat came in the form of the bill - with drinks it came to less than £30. A fantastic meal and a bargain to boot - we'll definitely be going back.

n Ocean Dragon is at 17a Above Bar Street, Southampton. Reservations: 023 8022 6636.

4:51pm Friday 18th April 2008

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Entertainments editor Lorelei Reddin Tel:023 8042 4877 Email: lorelei.reddin@soton-echo.co.uk