WHEN it comes to celebrating the Chinese New Year in style, you would be hard pushed to beat the banquet staged by students at Bournemouth and Poole College restaurant every year.

Like most of the themed events held at The Escoffier, it's fun, flamboyant and there is always plenty of fine food served with oodles of creative flair.

But the Chinese New Year banquet is by far the most popular. There is already a waiting list for next year.

After several years we finally managed to secure a table for the 2016 Year of the Fire Monkey last week.

As we arrived, we were given a warm welcome from award-winning lecturer, Jo Pearce, who is always the perfect hostess and, like the rest of her team, looked the part in traditional Oriental costume.

We were presented with our welcome cocktail, Fortune in a Cup, which was a warm fusion of Cameron Highlands tea infused with ginger wine and cherry brandy as we settled at our table.

A sudden clash of symbols a few minutes later was the cue for a traditional toast which involved everyone standing and raising their glasses, shouting a word in Chinese and then holding the note for as long as possible!

The highlight of the evening was the Chinese dragon dance which dipped and weaved with incredible athleticism around the restaurant in time to the music, eyes flashing and spewing fortune cookies from its mouth over diners.

And the food was just as exotic as the entertainment. For starters we had dim sum, duck spring rolls, Beijing dumplings, tofu prawn balls and a spare rib artfully presented in a bamboo boat.

Next up was a bowl of both called Soothe the Fire Monkey, with chicken, mushroom. noodles, green beans and carrots followed by Sea of Life, deep fried fillet of seabass served with a spicy kung po sauce with peppers, tomatoes, pine nuts and a touch of chilli.

Our next course, The Joy of Spring, was a rack of lamb served with yellow bean sauce, garlic pak choi, accompanied with fried rice and noodles.

Course five was entitled Yin and Yang Sweet Sensations; almond parfait; Szechuan and banana sponge with lemongrass and kumquat posset.

To round off the evening in spectacular style, our coffee was accompanied with mini toffee apples and choc ices served on dry ice which looked truly spectacular. Heston Blumenthal eat your heart out!

Price £32.50 (drinks extra). For more information about themed evenings at The Escoffier, or courses at the catering college, visit thecollege.co.uk or call 01202 205874.