SOUTHAMPTON'S newest Chinese restaurant is an unusual mix of pseudo-Habitat modern meets palatial grandiose.

Located in Canute Road, Pilgrim's House is in the heart of Southampton's dining district.

The first thing you notice on entering is the large and intimidating glass chandelier set against dark purple walls, which oddly does not look too much out of place.

The main restaurant hall is divided by pillars and after being shown to your comfortable and very smart table there is one overriding observation.

The place is such a hive of activity that, was it not for the fact you are sitting in a Chinese restaurant, you half expect frantic cockney Jamie Oliver to poke his head around the kitchen door at any moment.

It took a full 15 minutes for the two of us to make our choices from the 300-plus dishes on offer, all of which sounded enticing.

Eventually for starter we decided to have the chicken noodle soup, shredded chicken wrap and seaweed to share. It was enough to pass as a main course. Extremely tasty and perhaps the best seaweed I've eaten, not too salty as it often can be.

For our main course we landed on the sweet and sour pork in an edible basket, king prawns with bamboo shoots in a satay sauce accompanied by pineapple rice and king prawn rice.

All the dishes were delicious and extremely filling. The option of an edible basket with any of your meals is a nice touch of authenticity not always available at many Chinese restaurants.

So what do you do when you are full? You order a dessert. Who could resist the tantalising selection on offer here. Certainly not us. We chose the orange and mango sorbet, which was served in the frozen fruit skin.

All in all a very enjoyable experience complemented by very efficient service which is no mean feat when you consider the size of the restaurant.

Reservations: 023 8033 8008.