The Summer Palace offers exactly what you expect from a local Chinese restaurant, and does very well as a result.

The Venue
The Summer Palace sits on top of Carlton Hill, among all the shops and takeaways this little shopping centre has to offer.

A lot of Chinese restaurants never seem to update their decor, choosing to live a little in the past when glittery wallpaper and cheesy lampshades were all the rage.

The Summer Palace is perfectly in keeping with this trend, but there is something quite cute and nostalgic about it.

The People
As the restaurant is not that big it doesn’t take much to fill up and create a lively ambience. The staff scurry about catering to every whim of the sometimes too rowdy customers, and are efficient in their manner of service.

This is very much a local Chinese and therefore you will nearly always find it filled with Carlton folk, which produces a range of colourful characters, sometimes a bit on the loud side and sometimes not.

The Food
The meals served here are pretty good and on Thursdays you can eat as much as you like for £11, which is a bargain. They do some cracking Cantonese spare ribs and the mussels with garlic are an awesome size and incredibly tasty.

Everything else you expect to see on a Chinese menu is present, but if the amount of choice sends you into a spin then it may be best to get someone else to do the ordering for you.

The Drink
There are a couple of Oriental beers on offer (Chang, etc) and a few other drinking delights to keep you satisfied. However, as this is a Chinese restaurant, the rule of thumb seems to be to not to pay too much attention to the quality of booze.

The Last Word
The Summer Palace offers a good feed for a local meal out. It's possibly not somewhere to go for a special night, but is good enough for a casual meal.

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