The Oriental Star was once a must when you fancied a Chinese meal but, as happens with so many other places, it reached a fairly low point last year— and that was a cause of great disappointment to me.

But I am not easily put off and takeaways can get anything between two and five strikes before they are out on my varying scale.

Encouraged by positive comments about the Oriental Star from a pal, I decided to give it another go and hit the telephone to place an order.

That really is the best option as Whalley Banks isn’t a place you want to be, especially after dark, and after ordering what is described on the menu as a Stir Fried Three Delicious I sat back at home and waited for the food to arrive. And waited.

It took a good 20 minutes longer than the promised 20 minutes for the food to turn up but when it did there was plenty and the Stir Fried Three Delicious, a meal of stir fried shredded chicken, duck, roast pork and bean sprouts, with fried rice, was decent enough to almost warrant its ‘delicious’ tag.

The Oriental Star is not quite back into my top three list — but if it is on its way.