Charlotte and I love Chinese or Chinese inspired food. For this reason we did our best to sample as many local delights in both Macau and Hong Kong as possible when we went last year, with some interesting authentic results!

Sadly, though, Leeds is not exactly bursting at the seams when it comes to Chinese restaurants and the Chinatown area in town seems to be shrinking rather than growing in size.

That said, we had been keen to try out Ho’s for some time and so, before seeing a show last week at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, we decided to go for it.

Unassuming from the outside but a hidden gem inside!

After consulting the menu for a fair while, we settled upon some beef dumplings with ginger and spring onion and some spring rolls to start with, before roast duck Cantonese style, beef in chilli sauce, egg fried rice and noodles with bean sprouts.

We settled back in our comfortable seats with a pot of jasmine tea and waited for the food to arrive, looking on with food envy whenever dishes for other tables were taken past us!

The view from our table

When our starters arrived, we could tell straightaway from the smell of the dumplings that we were in for a treat. The aroma of ginger was delicious, and the texture of the beef delicate and moreish. The spring rolls didn’t exactly revolutionise the world of spring rolls but they were crisp on the outside and satisfying in terms of the filling.

Spring rolls and dumplings

Happy with our starters, we were left feeling excited for our main courses and, when they arrived at our table, we were even more excited!

Without a doubt, the duck was the highlight of the entire evening. It was exactly how you want roast duck Cantonese style to be; the skin was crispy, there was a very small layer of decadent fat, and the meat was tender and full of flavour.

Mmmmm duck!

The juices running off the duck went fantastically with the rice and noodles. Sometimes roast duck can be 75% fat and not a lot else, but this was a different story completely.

The beef with chili was delicious as well. The only criticism would be that it wasn’t too spicy and we do love our food to have a kick to it. The sauce was, however, full of flavour and the beef was really well cooked as you’d expect.

There’s not a lot you can say about egg fried rice and noodles but they were pretty good as well!

Noodley goodness!

Tong Palace over the road from Ho’s used to be our favourite Chinese restaurant in Leeds before it was shut down (something we’re still outraged about!) but Ho’s has definitely stepped up to the mark to fill its boots, becoming our go-to Chinese restaurant for a naughty midweek dining treat or a decadent Sunday dim sum lunch experience.