There are not that many places I have found in Bournemouth and Dorset region that does authentic Chinese dim sum. Through growing up, Chinese dim sum has always been a Sunday afternoon affair with the family driving through to Newcastle, a quick hour eating steamers full of the little delights and plates of noodles and rich dishes.

In Bournemouth it is, or at least was, a different affair. When we first moved down in '96 it was all the run of the mill Chinese restaurants and their Westernised menus. It wasn't until Oriental Express opened that dim sum, such as fresh Har Gau, Sui Mai or Cheung Fun became readily available as a sit down restaurant. Oriental Express was more of a cafe but had a makeover and became a bigger restaurant, called Oriental Garden, albeit only slightly bigger.

Jump forward to 2007. On my drives to and from work I had seen a hotel on Christchurch Road being renovated and it had a sign saying that a new Chinese restaurant and hotel would be opening soon. A strange combination I thought. It was even more interesting to hear that it would be doing dim sum.

The place is called Ocean City Restaurant. 

Meg and Rich said they had been, once it had opened, and said they enjoyed it. I thought I would give it the efnic.co.uk test and see whether it wins our seal of approval.

I actually went two days on the trot. Please note that they only do the full dim sum menu up till 5pm. I went they during lunchtime on Friday and then on Saturday. The weekend is probably the best time to fir it in.

The real test is whether on Sunday afternoon it is full of Chinese families. Not been on Sunday yet, but it is always a good sign if that is the case. 

This is a review of As You Like It  from my cousin, Mary Leung, who went their with her parents and my parents for a birthday meal:

I just got a new Onkyo 515 stereo from Currys . It had a excellent review in What Hi-Fi and also the Currys web site had a £5 discount, but you can still pick it up in-store.

On testing it, it all sounded pretty good. Well, better that the big portable thing that was being used in the dining room.

The equipment aside, I quickly found a station that I liked and could leave on all night long whilst milling around cooking, eating and sitting out in the garden. The radio station is Chill and is only on DAB. 

Click for Chill Official Website. 

I was walking around Marks and Spencer in Newcastle yesterday with my parents just to kill time before going for dim sum at Happiness Inn and was milling around the fruit section. It is more eye-watering than mouth-watering. £9 for a basic fruit salad. It was a fairly large plastic container but it didn't contain nothing more exotic than some apples, grapes and melon. Now if it had guava, dragon fruit, mango, rose apples, mangosteen or lychees then I might think differently.

Now Lidl, they do fruit and veg at fantastic value and quality. Don't let those large M&S American strawberries fool you, you know they are just all glamour and no taste.

I don't know what it is about this film but it is very, very watchable time after time. Maybe it is Samuel L Jackson's performance back by Kevin Spacey. Maybe it is the plot and guessing who is involved, which I keep forgetting by the time the repeated showing comes around.

Maybe it is his usual MF cursing that cracks me up. 

Prague is renowned for its great beer and great prices. What does drive me nuts is the places that start to take the p*ss when it comes to prices creeping up to the ridiculous.

Anything less than 30kc for a half litre beer is a bargain and probably a traditional local bar.

Up to about 50kc is still OK, especially if you have come from the UK, but those prices will reflect a more upmarket establishment and probably something closer to the town centre.

Around 90kc and you are definitely in a tourist trap or a modern hotel. 

At 133kc, bloody hell, you must be at the airport! How ridiculous. When I was there a couple of years back it was 90kc.

My friend actually found a student place that was selling at 19kc in town.