Mister Li: Crown Terrace, Aberdeen

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I’M PARAPHRASING, but an old Chinese proverb says: On the coldest night of the year, it’s probably best not to misread the address and end up trekking round Aberdeen looking for Mister Li’s.

Chilled to the bone (both from the actual cold and from the icy stares of my wife and mother-in-law) I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached Mister Li’s on Crown Terrace (not, repeat NOT, on Bon Accord Terrace).

The warm welcome from our waiter, despite the fact we were 15 minutes late, was much appreciated.

We ordered a mixture of starters to kick off the night, including king prawns with garlic and butter (£6.50), spring rolls (£3.80) and steamed meatballs (£5.80).

The prawns were as addictive as you’d expect and the spring rolls were some of the best I’ve tasted.

Sometimes spring rolls can taste as though they’ve been pre-made days before, but these were full of fresh flavours and the golden casing was satisfyingly crispy.

Unfortunately, I got lumbered with the steamed pork and beef meatballs after my wife and mother-in-law both screwed their faces up at the “rubbery” texture.

I could see what they meant, although the spicy dip (made from chilli oil, soya sauce and sesame oil) delivered a wallop of flavour.

If they didn’t like what I was eating for a starter, they’d changed their tune when my main course of char sui pork (£8) arrived.

The pork, which had a pink tinge to the edges, was slathered in sticky, sweet glaze, which tasted like a less cloying barbecue sauce.

It tasted even better once the sauce had sunk into my bed of bean sprout chow mein (£3.50). I’ve never had char sui pork before, but this won’t be the last time.

My wife had honey chilli king prawns (£9.80) and was pleased when it arrived extra spicy, as she’d requested but wished the batter on the prawns could have been slightly thinner.

The only thing I need to say about my mother-in-law’s homemade roasted duck (£8.50) was that it was tender enough to break apart using chopsticks. Perfect.

The final bill came to £69 – excellent value for three starters, three mains, plus noodles, rice, a Coke and a bottle of wine.

With prices like this, I’ll definitely be back – and won’t get lost next time.