Chinese Takeaways

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
18,354
Location
Finchley, London
I usually get egg fried rice, beef chow mein and sweet and sour chicken or prawn balls. But the price at my local is £19 just for those three. I remember the days I could get those three things plus a pancake roll and even some hong kong style sweet and sour chicken for way less than £19. I really fancied Chinese this week but didn't bother. There's a place I sometimes go to in central london which is eat all you can for about £11. Will probably go there again this weekend. Anyone here do regular Chinese takeaway regularly at extortionate prices?
 
The price has definitely shot up quite a bit over the past 2 or 3 years. Still reasonable around here though, my local place is £12.70 for a chicken curry, large fried rice and portion of chips which is enough for two people, that's excluding delivery and fees though which is like another £4.
 
Yea we have a local one which isn't too bad, the quality of the food is average for Chinese takeaway, but I don't mind it because the prices are good.

But I agree a lot of Chinese takeaways got REALLY expensive.

But I've got to the point where I have just stopped buying stuff like that.
 
One near us here does a ‘box’ of rice, a half size normal meal (e.g. kung po, shredded chili beef etc.), 4 chicken balls and sweet and sour sauce for £9.90 each. That’s the best value I’ve seen in a while. Main meals alone are getting onto £8-10 here in the South East quite commonly. It’s a lot more of a ‘treat’ than it used to be!
 
Beansprout chow mein
Chicken fried rice
Chicken curry
Sweet and sour chicken balls
Satay chicken

Comes to £32, but it could easily feed 2-3 people. The noodle, rice and curry containers are huge and crammed to within an inch of their life
 
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Pre covid we use to get 1 weekly. It was a set meal, type deal. 3 meals you pick what you want but if you got fried rice it was an extra 20p or something. Use mix up one of the three weekly to try something new but the usual order was a kung po and a sweet and sour chicken hong kong style. We’d also get 2 portions of chicken and sweetcorn soup, you’d get change from £20 which i’d just get them to keep.

Now same order is just shy of £40.
 
It's fallen out of my rotation for takeouts and is now only an occasional treat when i crave it. Usually order something like:

Chicken chow mein
Shredded crispy beef
Kung Pao Chicken
Salt and pepper squid
Spring Rolls

Majority of places around me want north of £45 for just that which is beyond extortionate. There's a few cheaper places but the quality is poor, not that the £40+ places are that great.

Theres a few spots that do a mix of 'real' Chinese food and British takeout style food but they're asking for £7-9 for a regular fried rice. It's a once in a while treat and the quality makes you quickly forget the price.

Nowadays if im craving some east asian food I opt for Thai/Malaysian/Indonesian/Korean/Japanese which doesn't seem to have been hit with massive price hikes. I can get a similar amount of food for circa £30 or less and the quality is consistently higher.

Similar story with fish and chips, used to get sent to the local chippy with £20 on a friday after school and that would comfortably feed 4 of us, now that's standard for 2 with some change.
 
explicit4u said:
It's fallen out of my rotation for takeouts and is now only an occasional treat when i crave it. Usually order something like:

Chicken chow mein
Shredded crispy beef
Kung Pao Chicken
Salt and pepper squid
Spring Rolls

Majority of places around me want north of £45 for just that which is beyond extortionate. There's a few cheaper places but the quality is poor, not that the £40+ places are that great.

Theres a few spots that do a mix of 'real' Chinese food and British takeout style food but they're asking for £7-9 for a regular fried rice. It's a once in a while treat and the quality makes you quickly forget the price.

Nowadays if im craving some east asian food I opt for Thai/Malaysian/Indonesian/Korean/Japanese which doesn't seem to have been hit with massive price hikes. I can get a similar amount of food for circa £30 or less and the quality is consistently higher.

Similar story with fish and chips, used to get sent to the local chippy with £20 on a friday after school and that would comfortably feed 4 of us, now that's standard for 2 with some change.
Click to expand...
Standard for 2 in London?

Cod and chips twice at my local chippy is £27.

Cod - £10
Chips - £3.50
 
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The Chinese I had last night was £29 odd, but did 4 meals for us.
That said it has now become silly expensive compared to my usual Indian meals, which would also just do 4 meals, with a big difference in the price being an average £19

And still only taking cash at the Chinese, unlike the Indian ;)
 
aVdub said:
The Chinese I had last night was £29 odd, but did 4 meals for us.
That said it has now become silly expensive compared to my usual Indian meals, which would also just do 4 meals, with a big difference in the price being an average £19

And still only taking cash at the Chinese, unlike the Indian ;)
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Looks expensive, but if you break it down per person, it’s still only £7.50 for a succulent Chinese meal
 
robfosters said:
Looks expensive, but if you break it down per person, it’s still only £7.50 for a succulent Chinese meal
Click to expand...

-Enjoying a nice succulent Chinese meal...

Yes it is not a lot of money, but a similar amount of food from the Indian comes in at around £4 odd and doesn't contain half the amount of sugar or MSG ;)
 
Salted chilli chicken, chicken fried rice, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style with fried rice and a portion of duck spring rolls was 24 quid odds in the Golden Palace in Meols outside Hoylake when I was over working earlier in the month, I found that to be pretty well priced for tasty quality grub.
 
aVdub said:
-Enjoying a nice succulent Chinese meal...
Click to expand...

What is the charge?! About £17 for a Singapore Chow Mein, Chicken Balls, one portion of fried rice and a bag of Prawn Crackers around here.

I am transitioning towards Pizza these days, cos round here it seems it hasn't gone up as much as all the other take away options, £8.50 for a 12" House Special, and that will usually last for two days. Special Curry and Fried Rice is what I usually go for at a Chinese, I am mildly addicted to this to be honest, and so it will be interesting to see at what price I eventually break.
 
My local does a one container "special fried rice" which is loads of rice, then mixed meats (chicken, pork, king prawn, char sui pork) and veg, with a sauce for £6.70. Absolutely stuffs me full. There is also a noodle version. Tend to get it once a week usually, as I think that's good value for what I get.
 
Bubo said:
What is the charge?! About £17 for a Singapore Chow Mein, Chicken Balls, one portion of fried rice and a bag of Prawn Crackers around here.

I am transitioning towards Pizza these days, cos round here it seems it hasn't gone up as much as all the other take away options, £8.50 for a 12" House Special, and that will usually last for two days. Special Curry and Fried Rice is what I usually go for at a Chinese, I am mildly addicted to this to be honest, and so it will be interesting to see at what price I eventually break.
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This is democracy manifest- 6 Sweet and sour pork balls, Hong Kong style sweat and sour pork, 2 small pancake rolls, Singapore noodles and chicken chow mein which was a few pennies short of £30
My usual Indian is around £23 + I get a 15% discount = sub £20
Chinese is just £30
 
Bubo said:
What is the charge?! About £17 for a Singapore Chow Mein, Chicken Balls, one portion of fried rice and a bag of Prawn Crackers around here.

I am transitioning towards Pizza these days, cos round here it seems it hasn't gone up as much as all the other take away options, £8.50 for a 12" House Special, and that will usually last for two days. Special Curry and Fried Rice is what I usually go for at a Chinese, I am mildly addicted to this to be honest, and so it will be interesting to see at what price I eventually break.
Click to expand...
A local place does a really nice family kebab.
Donner meat, lamb shish, chicken shish, chicken shawarma, 2 portions of chips, 2 breads, bottle of pop, salad. £19 feeds 4 of us twice. Fantastic value.
 
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