Han Chinese Restaurant, Market Harborough

...and Market Harborough - the Han is our Chinese of choice. It's located in the small Leicestershire market town of Market Harborough and you can find it on St Mary's Road. For those who know the town, it's the road which runs from the Market Square towards the railway station. With the Square behind you, pass the new Starbucks on the left hand side and it's just a hundred meters or so further along.

From the outside your first instincts ...
...restaurant. This is because the Han is on two levels and you will only be able to see the downstairs reception area. Here there are sofas and coffee tables where people usually wait (with an obligatory basket of prawn crackers of course) for the other members of their party to arrive. Once you have all your family and friends gathered, the waitresses will take you upstairs to the main restaurant.

First instincts may well be that the ... more

I'm sure everyone - well everyone who likes Chinese - probably has a favourite Chinese restaurant that they keep returning to. For the area where we live - between Northampton and Market Harborough - the Han is our Chinese of choice. It's located in the small Leicestershire market town of Market Harborough and you can find it on St Mary's Road. For those who know the town, it's the road which runs from the Market Square towards the railway station. With the Square behind you, pass the new Starbucks on the left hand side and it's just a hundred meters or so further along.

From the outside your first instincts might be that it doesn't look that much like a restaurant. This is because the Han is on two levels and you will only be able to see the downstairs reception area. Here there are sofas and coffee tables where people usually wait (with an obligatory basket of prawn crackers of course) for the other members of their party to arrive. Once you have all your family and friends gathered, the waitresses will take you upstairs to the main restaurant.

First instincts may well be that the Han is a bit like a Tardis - much bigger inside than it looks from the outside. This is because the dining room stretches over several of the shops below and, like Jordan (the model/writer/polo player/businesswoman/whatever, not the middle eastern country), it's much bigger on top than below. With big windows all along two sides, you could - if the fancy took you - look out of the windows and watch the world go by, but this is Market Harborough, so don't expect too much excitement. The dining room is big and there are tables of all sizes - from two person minis up to massive tables with their rotating lazy-Susan centrepieces.

The menu is extensive - not just Chinese dishes but a few signature Thai and Malaysian dishes as well and for me nothing beats the Han's Tom Yum soup. I'm no purist when it comes to oriental food so I'm quite happy to dip in and out of the various cuisines, mixing Thai with Chinese and not getting precious about it. Whilst reading the menus the staff will quickly bring you your drinks and when you are ready to order, you may be surprised that they write nothing down. Surprised and perhaps a little nervous - half the people I know can't remember themselves what they ordered, let alone what someone else did. However, the staff are astonishing - they don't forget a single thing and despite going many times, I've never known anyone not get what they ordered. I can only imagine some kind of clever memory games being paid to remember who gets what - the man at table 5 being imagined with a pig nose and chilis in his ears, whilst his wife is pictured as a gasping fish chasing some peppers. That's how I'd do it anyway.

The food delivery is nicely paced and I've never felt that they've rushed a meal - which when you are paying around £50 a couple is quite important. For that sum I'd expect to get soup starters, followed by something like a prawn-toast or fishcakes to share, then three main courses and steamed rice. Throw in a couple of diet cokes each and I don't think that's such bad value. As a fish-but-not-meat eater, I also enjoy knowing that there will be plenty of choice at the Han - I won't be restricted to just a small area of the menu. They have excellent fish and sea food dishes including prawns, squid (my favourite) and scallops and a wide range of tofu choices too.

We generally choose between the Han when we want Chinese and the Thai Garden in nearby Rothwell if the Thai urge comes upon us but whilst the Thai Garden might just have a very slight edge on food quality, the Han is a better value for money, serves bigger sized portions, the restaurant is much more aesthetically pleasing and the pace of the meal is much less hurried. And being a larger venue, it's also a lot easier to get a table although I'd still advise anyone to ring ahead and book.

My visits to the Han have been split roughly 50:50 between going with my husband and friends, and taking clients and work colleagues when I worked in the area. I've not yet ever been embarrassed to take anyone to the Han and have had some lovely experiences when taking guests from the hina who've been very pleasantly surprised by the quality and service - including one lady from Shanghai getting into such an aura of back-home authenticity that she managed to negotiate a 'Chinese-discount' as well as leaving them with instructions to always treat me like a friend.

On the practical side, there's no parking at the Han - they open straight onto the street - but there's a Pay and Display nearby and if you are lucky you could well get free on-road parking, especially in the evenings. If you have anyone in your party with reduced mobility, be aware that there doesn't seem to be any alternative way of getting up to the retaurant other than taking the stairs.

For an evening out in Market Harborough, I dont think you'll find a better choice than the Han 

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