THE Lake View Restaurant at the East Lake Hotel has served Western food for more than10 years. It has remained popular with Western food lovers for several reasons, including its fabulous and pleasant view overlooking the lake of the Shenzhen Reservoir.

The restaurant is built on a slope stretching to a huge water reservation with a drainage area of 47.2 square kilometers and surrounded by green hills. Sitting on the elegant balcony with white furniture and carved iron railings, diners may find themselves refreshed with the brisk breeze from the seemingly boundless water.

Some 20 stairs down from the balcony, there are two swimming pools for adults and children, like two pieces of blue crystals. A few steps lower to the left side of the swimming pools, there is an outdoor garden ideal for a barbeque party, which can accommodate 200 people at once.

The dining experience can't be considered ordinary or boring: swimming, barbeque, and buffet, all at the lakeside.

"The poolside Western food restaurant near the East Lake is fantastic and unparallel in Shenzhen," said an Indian friend who likes to bring his family there at weekends.

It is more than special to my friend Amy who actually started her romance with her husband there. Now a mother of a 5-year-old boy, Amy always visits there with her son who adores the restaurant just as his father does.

On the Friday evening I visited, a corporate party was held in the outdoor garden. They had a swimming contest, a beer contest and then the barbeque. The joyful and funny activities entertained other diners as well, many of who watched with great interest and smiles.

The food at the restaurant is above average. Its Western dishes are light, creamy and tasteful, such as the baked oyster with cheese and the baked potato with meat paste.

To Chinese, the dishes taste more "Western" than that of other ordinary Western restaurants or caf¨¦s on the streets. The Western food chef is from Hong Kong and has worked there for more than seven years, as I was told by the restaurant manager, Fanny Liu, who herself has been with the restaurant for 12 years.

The main course French Burgundy snail, at the price of 50 yuan, is absolutely worth a try. Baked with garlic butter, herbs and wine, the dish is very fragrant and has a full taste.

The restaurant also has the unconventional dishes like the roasted chicken with pitaya, or the red dragon fruit. The chicken is tender and pleasingly sweet. Liu said the restaurant would use other seasonal fresh fruits, such as longan, to cook more such dishes.

Its dinner buffet is an array of international cuisines. It offers Chinese appetizers, Korean and Japanese snacks, and soups and main dishes of Chinese and Western style. There are also ice creams, a favorite item of children that is not always served in every buffet in the city's Western restaurants.

It is definitely worth the money as the buffet only charges 128 yuan for the adult and 68 yuan for the child, subject to a 10 percent service charge. During this month, the restaurant offers a special promotion - any two paying adult visitors may invite one friend to come free of charge.

For the coming Mid-autumn Festival, it may be a good idea to join in the festival party held by the restaurant. Besides moon cakes, there will be a barbeque buffet, live performance of a Filipino band, acrobatics, folk dance, clowns and other activities. The prices are 188 yuan for the adult and 98 for the child before service charge. After all, the lakeside garden may be one of the best places in town to enjoy the full moon that day.

 
Editor: Wings