It is always particularly galling when you finally pitch up at a restaurant, (one that you have been meaning to visit for a year or more), only to find that it is good. It's worse when it is very good indeed. So many wasted meals. Such a gap in the repertoire. So many smug and knowing nods from other foodists.  With the next edition of my restaurant guide book due out in September, the final copy is due in during the summer months. That means I am fully employed scampering round a few contenders checking them out. The Dragon Castle was just such a contender and it's a surprise just how good this restaurant is.

The media keeps banging on about the regeneration of the Elephant & Castle but such a rebirth is a long drawn out and pretty laborious process, and until you spot a squadron of Large Blacks barrel-rolling over the vast roundabout it's best to step off the Walworth Road into the Dragon Castle as quickly as possible. When you finally get round to trying this restaurant you will know that it is good from the moment you walk in. Even early evening, and early in the week, it is heaving. Large tables of happy people are having birthday parties (big cakes presented with a flourish and an American rendition of Happy Birthday at max volume), small tables are occupied by couples stopping off for a single course on their way home from work.

The room is huge, there is an imposing staircase, there is a stag's head over the bar, service is slicker than the Chinatown norm. All the steady old favourites are listed and done well, but it is much better to stray off the beaten track: a starter of eel strips stir-fried with chilli is very good; crispy salt and pepper squid is freshly cooked and tender. A dish of pork hock cooked in a pot with preserved plums is A). enormous B). delicious and C). has a fabulous texture. It's also worth looking out for the steamed chicken with ginger sauce. The best dish is from the Chef's Specials menu and is a whole crab braised in a pot with beer and cellophane noodles - you'll wait while it is cooked but that is time well spent - this dish is a classic and may be qualify as "best-ever" crab.  The only other essential is to cast your eye over the mix'n'match vegetables - water spinach with chilli and preserved bean curd is splendid. Really good food…even if it has taken me a little while to follow up on all those rave opening reviews.

Charles Campion

Dragon Castle, 114 Walworth Road, SE17 (020 7277 3388)