The Ivy Asia' new specially priced Taste of Asia menu

The Taste of Asia two-course menu is priced £22.50 and is available all day on Monday and Tuesday, and between 11:30am – 5:30pm Wednesday to Friday.

Obviously times are tough for companies big and small, but it’s good to see a restaurant group which is very much in the former category, coming up up with competitively-priced and accessible menus.

Although diners will find themselves paying for rice, noodles, and veg dishes with the mains, and a extra fiver for a very good value pudding (and there’s more to be said on that tasty little topic).

We visited lateish on a Thursday afternoon and as is seemingly often the case there were a good number of people who’d beaten us to it and were leaning into the evening at the popular Ship Street destination.

A nicely-turned out front of house put us in a cracking spot, two-thirds away along the first floor, not far from the sushi station, and nosing back on all-comers and the wonderfully-lit bar.

The Taste of Asia menu features a selection of Ivy Asia’s signature dishes, including the Prawn Tempura Maki Roll, with avocado and spicy sauce.

On a recent visit your reviewer went positively giddy over the quality and freshness of the Maki Rolls (put together just yards from our plump cushion-heavy blanquettes).

The rolls had been fashioned around the lightly battered crispy tempura, which provided a satisfying crunch and a hand-break turn change in texture from the soft rice and creamy avocado.

They were dressed on the plate with both ends of the tempura proudly sticking out like a mythological Chinese dragon or the Loch Ness Monster. Brilliant stuff.

Our second starter was slightly less bonkers but superbly executed.

The slightly sweet and intensely savoury Szechuan Glazed Chicken Skewers had been drenched in a sticky marinade and retained their tenderness after grilling.

Our photo hopefully captures some of the vivid colour of the coating and the charring. The skewers were also well complemented by a thin pickled mouli (aka daikon or icicle radish) and chives.

These days it seems we want our cake and eat it when it comes to Asian food and we’re keen to see options from all over the continent on the menu.

Unsurprisingly, it’s very pan-Asian at the Ivy A.

So, after Japanese and South Chinese starters, the mains were even more geographically spread, a Japanese-style Robata Grilled Half-Chicken, and a Sri Lankan-inspired Prawn and Tamarind Curry.

Robatayaki means “fireside-cooking” and the hearty-half sized bird had presumably been charcoal-grilled.

It had a light spiced peanut glaze and was all the better for an eminently dippable pot of peanut sauce.

The prawn curry was creamy and tangy, with a little extra heat from a restrained splash or two of chilli oil.

Shards of toasted coconut added texture to the dish, and the prawns were plentiful, podgy and perfectly cooked in the curry sauce.

In addition to bowls of steamed rice and kimchi rice, we chose two additional veg accompaniments which both added a lot to the meal.

The Wok-fried greens with ginger and chilli were very good. There can’t be too many right-thinking people who don’t enjoy a gently wilted Pak Choi leaf soaking in Asian flavours, and we certainly ready to be members of such a misguided club.

A plate of roasted aubergine was even better. A dark, thick miso sauce combined with the natural smokiness of the aubergine for a big umami hit, and Japanese masago arare (small rice crackers) brought some bite to the party.

Pudding proved to be well worth the extra £5. The Sake Barrel was a wonder. There wasn’t quite a much sake as you imagine as first sight (it’s used in the sesame and sake tuile sat atop the barrel).

But any sake sadness is swiftly banished by the lush vanilla crème brûlée which is served in a barrel which is about four times the size of your average pudding ramekin, and whoever said you can have too much of a good thing hadn’t had this huge heavenly pud.

Similarly, my dining chum’s Passion Fruit & Coconut Doughnuts, which were served with a yogurt dipping sauce, aren’t going to become a part of a diet-cookbook anytime soon, but they were very well made and surprisingly light.

As the photo shows they were served with plump berries that had been dusted with something glitzy and golden. Usually you might suggest that would be gliding the lily, but given my chair rested on a backlit bright jade floor, underneath a perpetually pink cherry blossom creation, it was about par for the course.

On the subject of berries...there was more than a hint of them with every taste of Languore Sangrovese Rubicone, a medium full-bodied Northern Italian red which was a good all-rounder and worked well with the wide variety of flavours we enjoyed.

Our appreciation of the Taste of Asia menu was well-illustrated by the fact we stayed for three hours, it’s a glam venue but comfortable too and somewhere you’ll easily lose an afternoon or evening given half the chance.