"You Choose" — Chung Ying Central

Venue: Chung Ying Central, 126 Colmore Row, B3 3AP; website
Choice: Crispy duck with pancakes Chooser: Us

You don't win friends with salad, chimed the Simpsons as they conga-ed effortlessly across their living room. Well, the same goes with turkey, folks. Even at Christmas. This year suggest to the boss that dried bird and limp spuds at some paint-by-numbers restaurant chain won't cut it for your work Chrimbo knees up. We've done a test run for you and everything. Substitute gravy drowned nothingness with lip-smacking hoisin duck gyoza, slippery little salt and chilli ribs, and a stir-fried venison with ginger and spring onion, which feels way lighter and fresher than any take on venison we've previously gobbled. The Chrimbo menu at Chung Ying Central is £30 for a minimum of four people and includes all that, plus eight other plates, rice and veggie Singapore noodles. There's also a platinum sort of add-on option — it's known as the deluxe package and being as you're not paying (hopefully), then upgrading is wiser than an owl that's just been appointed Professor of Wisdom at Oxford University. For an extra £10 each they'll add the crispiest of aromatic duck with all the cucumbery, hoisin, pancake-shaped extras you'd expect. You do win friends with aromatic crispy duck, guys. You really do. Full menu