I am pleased to report that there was no disappointment in the Dorfman clan following our recent Sunday lunchtime visit to the Pagoda Restaurant in north Manchester, which specialises in Chinese food and is under the supervision of the Manchester Beth Din.

The food was delicious and although individual a la carte courses are not cheap, the lunchtime menu is excellent value - a choice of (almost any) appetiser plus starter plus main course plus soft drink for just £15.

A few of the items carry a small supplement, but if you want to treat the family to a big lunch, the Pagoda is the place to go.

The staff are Chinese and I appreciate it can't be easy dealing with a Jewish clientele.

How they must long for some "ordinary" customers (ie less demanding) like the ones they normally get in Manchester's Chinatown.

I wouldn't normally have expected Chinese diners to venture out of the city centre to try some kosher Szechuan beef, so imagine my surprise when I spotted my old friend Xiou Bang Wu sitting at an adjoining table.

Regular readers of this column may remember an earlier encounter with Mr Wu some time ago when he outlined his plans to set up in Manchester a state-aided Chinese school that would combine Chinese ethics and Confucian teaching with the National Curriculum.

For years now there have been several private Chinese schools in Britain. Concerns have been expressed, however, on a number of fronts.

First, the admissions criteria are unusually strict: Only Mandarin-speaking Chinese from the big cities, no country bumpkins and definitely no Cantonese-speakers, no Thais, Koreans or Japanese.

Second, Chinese private schools, though exempt from teaching the National Curriculum, are still subject to government inspections.

The inspectors are not happy. While some schools manage to teach secular subjects to a high standard, others do not.

Inspectors found that too many hours were spent watching Bruce Lee films and not enough time devoted to English, maths and science. Pupils who could recite the entire script from Enter the Dragon appeared not to know any Shakespeare.

Yet Mr Wu remains unworried. His state-aided school has been up and running for three years now. This summer's GCSEs were the best yet, with more than 50 per cent of the pupils gaining 10 or more A* passes.

Government inspectors too are delighted with the school's teaching standards - "an exemplary school of which the entire Chinese community can feel justly proud" was the verdict of last year's inspection.

And yet there have been rumblings of discontent, not only from Westminster but within the Chinese community as well.

A group of rebels led by the notorious Taiwanese dissident Ho Li Fung have formed a coalition dedicated to the abolition of all state-aided ethnic and faith-based schools in Britain. They say that Chinese people are too insular, and object to Chinese schools as further "ghettoisation".

At this point Mr Wu gets rather animated. "It is disgraceful to give Fung a platform, as he and his supporters do not speak for 99 per cent of the community."

But even if Fung speaks for just one per cent of the Chinese community with Wu representing the remaining 99 per cent, shouldn't he be allowed to make his case?

Mr Wu is undeterred. "The policy that has underpinned education in this country for the past 60 years has been one of choice," he says. "We choose to have our children educated in a Chinese school."

What about the vast majority of people who are neither Chinese nor wealthy enough to afford private education. What choice do they have?

But Mr Wu is on a roll now. "Our children need to learn about Chinese and Confucian philosophy and religion," he says. "It's vital if they are to preserve their identity and stay within the community."

Can't they do that at home? Shouldn't school be an opportunity for Chinese and non-Chinese to mix together, understand differences and eliminate prejudice?

It's time for Mr Wu to play his ace. "Look at our results! The school came top of the nationwide league tables, beating even the Jewish schools into second and third place."

So what did you expect? Chinese children always out-perform other British kids regardless of which school they are in?

Take any bunch of highly motivated youngsters with pushy parents, put them all together and, hey presto, you've got a top-performing school.

It's obvious Mr Wu and I aren't going to agree on this one, but our friendly banter continues well past closing time.

The funny thing, we soon discover, is that neither of us went to a religious/ethnic school and neither did our parents. Even more curious, many of our respective religious leaders also went to mainstream schools!

We both roar with laughter, relieved to have found something in common. But I still tremble at the prospect of a multicultural Britain where people like Mr Wu are in charge, with separate schools for Jews, Catholics, Chinese, Bangladeshis, Hindus, Arabs, Greek Cypriots - the list is endless.

Only last week, Ken Livingstone's former adviser, Lee Jasper, argued that Afro-Caribbeans should have their own schools to address problems in that community.

It's a depressing thought so I lighten the mood. "What do you think of kosher food?" I ask Mr Wu. "Is it good enough for your school canteen?"

"It's great, but all our school food has to be sanctioned by the Confucian religious authorities," he explains.

"Otherwise it would open the floodgates and people would start bringing in non-Chinese sandwiches, thereby undermining everything we have been doing in the classroom."

It doesn't bear thinking about, so we finish our China tea in silence.

E-MAIL: sdorfman@jewishtelegraph.com