NELSON is awash with takeaways. It seems that just about everywhere you turn there is a kebab shop, an Indian or a fried chicken franchise.

They are all very good at cluttering up your letterbox with flyers that show how food should look rather than how it actually appears when they serve it.

I’m not normally too picky but I actually fancied something different to the usual kebab, although the suggestion from a colleague that I should take advantage of Salad Awareness Day — seriously, there is such a thing — was naturally laughed off on account of the fact that I know what a salad is (green and leafy) and I am not a rabbit. So I headed off to the Nelson takeaway that is older than about half of the town’s population.

The Dobo is a Chinese with a great reputation but last time I visited, a couple of years ago, I felt that it was on the wane after getting a meal that was well below their very high standards. But the Dobo is still busy — and the people can’t be wrong so I headed in to give them another try.

I wasn’t after anything too fancy, just a special fried rice — and I have to say the Dobo is back. Beef, chicken and big prawns were all fried to perfection with really nice rice. It was top notch and was almost too much even for me to eat. No wonder they are still going strong after so many years.