Last updated at 16:10, Thursday, 02 June 2011

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REVIEW: Ruby, Dalton Road, Barrow.

MOVING house can be a stressful time. Following a long weekend of packing and unpacking, I pondered a way of building bridges with my new housemates.

After deciding that baking a cake would take too much time and effort, I decided that I was going to order in an oriental banquet to brighten up a quiet Tuesday night in my new surroundings.

My takeaway of choice was the Ruby Chinese and Thai Takeaway which is at the Church Street end of Dalton Road, across from B&M Bargains.

The Ruby opened a few months ago, and is quite a large unit for a takeaway, equipped with a comfy waiting area complete with copies of the Evening Mail to browse whilst the food is cooked.

I opted for an array of starters and main courses from the comprehensive menu in order to ensure that a feast would be had in only my fourth night in the house.

The service seemed friendly and at just under £25 for three starters, mains and rice, it seemed very reasonable for the amount of food I’d opted for.

I was impressed at the speed of the kitchen, with my order ready in just over five minutes. I embarked on the short walk home, unaware that the bag which I was carrying contained a surprise.

When I was unpacking the feast I soon realised that I had completely the wrong order.

After a quick phone call and brisk walk back to the Ruby, I was finally in possession of our mammoth order.

The girl behind the counter was apologetic for giving me the wrong order and thankfully the food was still hot by the time I returned.

For starters we had two mainstream options in the vegetable spring rolls (£2.80) and prawn toast (£4.20), and the slightly less conventional salt and pepper chilli chips (£2).

The prawn toast was probably the highlight of the starters, and was tasty. The salt and pepper chilli chips were pretty moreish but the spring rolls were unexciting.

For mains we all opted for chicken dishes: going for variations of Szechuan, garlic and chilli and the ever popular kung po (all £5.50).

The mains were all extremely generous in size, and unlike many other takeaways, packed with fresh vegetables.

Having had a fair few Chinese carry outs in my time, – varying from the excellent to the completely terrible – I was relatively impressed with the food we had.

The dishes were all very fresh and tasty. The portions were large, and offered very good value for money.

After devouring enough fried rice, chicken and prawn crackers to feed a small army we were all well and truly stuffed.

My first Chinese feast with my new housemates was generally a good experience and overall I would recommend the Ruby. Just be sure to check your order before leaving the shop.

GARETH JONES

VERDICT: out of five

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 2

Value for money: 4

First published at 13:05, Friday, 27 May 2011
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk