OKAY I admit it ... I’m an unashamed food snob. I have always thought that people who order set menus in Chinese restaurants are lightweights.

They would be better off sticking to chow mein Pot Noodle if they can’t work their own way around a menu of infinite oriental delight and variety.

Besides, one of my main aversions to set menus is that while there’s lots you might like in the one-size-fits-all deal, there’s always something you don’t.

And I’ve never quite got over the sneaking suspicion that set meal dishes aren’t piled quite as high as a la carte.

I was wrong and I have the Royal China to thank for putting me right in simply spectacular style.

Well, them and Mrs B ... she was the one who, as I was studying the extensive menu, piped up: “Have you checked out Menu A?”

I was sceptical, until I started reading it. Prawn crackers, spare ribs, crispy seaweed, satay skewers, spring rolls ... and that was just the starters.

There was a second course of Peking crispy duck before the sweet and sour chicken, lemon chicken, Szechuan beef, noodles and special fried rice.

All of this for £17 per head.

So when the smiling waiter asked for our order I simply said: “Menu A, please.”

What followed was one of the finest Chinese feasts Mrs B and I have had in many a long year.

The ribs came in a gooey, spicy sweetish sauce that lifted the fall-off-the-bone pork to another league – up there with the tender satay and its zingy peanut sauce.

The spring rolls were packed with veg and beansprouts, grease-free and more-ish, and the seaweed was as crisp, salty and gingery as you could wish.

We actually had to leave some to make sure we could cope with the rest of the meal.

The duck meat was sublime, a blend of crispy and tender. Once wrapped in a pancake with cool “cuke” and tasty spring onions, married together with a Marmite-thick Hoison sauce, this was heaven on a plate.

By now, Mrs B and I were already negotiating who would get the inevitable leftovers in a doggy-bag for lunch.

Mind you, we made a good dent in the mains. No wonder, given the sweet and sour came with nearly-there batter round the finest pieces of chicken breast, bound in a sauce that perfectly balanced tang and sweetness.

The lemon chicken was faultless, in a sauce that was more just than the usual Fairy Lemon gloop some places offer.

The special fried rice, full of pork, prawns, peas and eggs was a meal on its own.

The star of the show though was the beef. Mahogany dark, flake-off-the-fork-tender and a chilli kick like a mule.

So I think its safe to say I’m set for set menus for life – at the Royal China at any rate.