The pickled salad at the Lian Chinese restaurant in Witham, Essex is not, on the face of it, a £10 million dish. The plate of leeks and beansprouts loved by Golda Bechal is one of the more modest options on the menu at £3.70.

The Lian is no downmarket Chinese takeaway. Its more extravagant clientele can accompany their £165 roasted whole suckling pig with a £3,200 magnum of 1985 Chateau Le Pin, Pomerol. If their appetite stretches to pudding, they may choose to wash it down with a £147 botle of Chateau d’Yquem Premier Cru Classe Sauternes dessert wine.

Diners need not be multimillionaires, however. The Times, having failed to give the kitchen the necessary 24-hour notice for the suckling pig, was able to enjoy a three-course meal for £30.

The discreet restaurant, adorned with hanging baskets and a colonnaded portico, is housed in an old brick two-storey house. It relies on its reputation to attract customers, who must pass through a pair of unmarked doors to enter the restaurant.

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