Fond Memories refuse to fade

This review was first published in December 2001

There is a subtle link between the cuisines of China and Italy. Mr Chow , one of the great gastronomic innovators of the 20th century, made a point of hiring Italian waiters to work in his eponymous Knightsbridge restaurant; Claudio Pulze likes Chinese food so much that he has just opened a Chinese restaurant on the site of the old Zaika ( Shi Hon Mei ).

However, it's at Memories of China in Belgravia, created by the late Ken Lo, that the Sino-Italian connection is at its strongest.

Just listen to what Giorgio Locatelli, who until recently was cooking at Cecconi's , had to say about the place: 'My first introduction to really good Chinese food was, of course, through Mr But [the head chef at Memories of China]. It was also there that I had the somewhat daunting task of asking my (now) father-in-law for the hand of his daughter. I still think it was the soft-shell crab that swung it for me.'

Another Italian, Signor Giuliano 'Toto' Lotto, liked the place so much he bought it. And I got my first introduction to Memories of China one Sunday lunch at another Italian restaurant when I was introduced to Milan. Milan is a mysterious Yugoslav who runs Memories of China. He used to work at Mr Chow in the Seventies or Eighties and speaks of his time there with the same fondness and reverence as fashion designers do of their studies at St Martins.

Milan is an intriguing character, a citizen of the world if you like. He runs Memories of China as part restaurant, part de facto consular section of the Yugoslav Embassy. If ever I wanted a Yugoslav holiday home I like to think Milan would be able to find me one.

He is what people of my grandfather's generation would have called a bit of a card. He runs Memories of China with a suavity that has made him, and the restaurant, a Belgravia institution. Most evenings the place is packed and the night we turned up was no exception - having booked a table for 9.30pm we did not get seated until almost an hour later.

I half think that Milan delayed us so that we could examine the alleged recent refurbishment and expansion of the restaurant: a new private dining room here, a relocated bar there, a ramped-up kitchen out back.

Then again, it might have been because Signor 'Toto' Lotto had turned up and, it being his restaurant, he had snaffled a huge circular table that could easily have accommodated King Arthur and his knights. (It would also have suited me nicely.)

By the time we sat down, even Milan's charm was beginning to wear a little thin and, to compensate for keeping us waiting, two dishes were rushed out of the kitchen to placate us. In his desire to please, I sense that Mr But might have forgotten to cook our first two dishes for entirely long enough.

The quick-fried courgettes stuffed with minced prawns were so quick-fried as to be rather more al dente than was perhaps entirely desirable, while the fresh steamed scallops with spicy black bean sauce were so fresh that they really did not want to detach themselves from their shells.

However, these inconsistencies were rectified by the courses that followed - the salt and pepper lobster was delicious and tangy, the duck crispy, the noodles... well, I have never really got the hang of Chinese noodles but these were good. And as for the steamed sea bass, I can think of no higher praise than to say that it was almost of a standard that could have been served in Mr Chow.