Situated on a quiet side street in the heart of Benalmádena is the Water Margin, an unassuming Chinese restaurant. From the outside it may look like any other Chinese restaurant with its traditional red Chinese lantern hanging outside, but sample the delights of chef Si Wah and you will soon discover that the Water Margin is a little bit special.

The Water Margin's décor is as you would expect in a Chinese restaurant, water colours depicting rural Chinese scenes adorn the walls, a fish tank complete with mini pagoda separates dining areas and rows of Chinese liquor bottles line the shelves behind the bar.

It is the food, however that people come from far and wide for; "the best Sechuan I've ever tasted" the friend who recommended the Water Garden told me, and a diner on another table on noticing my camera and notepad said as he left "make sure you give this place four Michelin stars" - praise indeed. Co-owner Si Wah heralds from Kowloon, part of Hong Kong but emigrated back in 1978 to London where he worked in a Chinese restaurant in Golder's Green. Swapping the streets of London for the beaches of the Costa del Sol and opening the Water Garden in 1984, Si Wah later married in Hong Kong and returned with his bride. The couple now have three daughters who study and help in the restaurant during school holidays. Si Wah is a friendly and popular patron and this combined with the food has made the Water Garden a firm favourite amongst visitors and residents alike.

The menu at the Water Garden reads like many other Chinese menus but there are a few surprises; Aromatic Mongolian Lamb for example, the three different spare ribs on offer, Salty Pepper Ribs and Capital Spare Ribs in addition to the regular Barbeque Spare Ribs, there is even Shark's Fin Soup.

We started our culinary journey with Crispy Aromatic Duck. The duck was as it should be; shredded off the bone and served with light pancakes, cucumber, spring onion and a thick plum sauce. The meat was cooked to perfection and the combination of flavours once rolled into the pancakes was superb.

Next, we sampled the Crisp Fried King Prawns. Large prawns dipped in spicy batter and then deep-fried were served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. The light crispy batter simply melted in the mouth to allow the taste buds to discover the succulent prawns underneath. If you're not parfait with chopsticks and fear that your prawns may be flying in every direction, don't worry, the Water Margin also provides regular Western cutlery!

For our main course, we sampled a mixed dish of sizzling beef, chicken and pork. Once on the hot plate, the waitress drenched the plate in hot pepin sauce which immediately sent up a cloud of aromatic steam whilst the meat sizzled away on its platter. Mixed with vegetables, the meat was tasty and the sauce spicy. To accompany the meat, we were served Singapore Rice Noodles tossed with Chinese vegetables, ham, roast pork and topped with prawns. Delicious.

During our meal we drank Tsing Tao, the traditional Chinese beer and a perfect accompaniment to Chinese food I feel, as it is light and refreshing. There are also several Chinese wines on the menu if you dare!

The food at the Water Margin is undoubtedly some of the best Chinese on offer on the Coast and the atmosphere is fantastic with Si Wah often emerging from his steamy kitchen to greet his guests personally. Set menus for two, three or four people are available so that you can sample a variety of dishes and the restaurant can also cater for parties.