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Chan's Chinese Restaurant Review
© September 2005 issue
Chan's Chinese Restaurant, The Anchorage, Bettystown
041 9886804
Some years ago I watched Chan’s Restaurant being built. Over the
years, we have visited it on special occasions such as a child’s birthday. I was
18 before I first stepped through the rare and exotic doors of a Chinese
Restaurant so our one-year old has beaten me in this, as no doubt in many other
things to come, by a wide margin.
We had phoned ahead, to reserve a table on a Monday night at 6pm for two adults,
two children and a baby. As we entered the empty restaurant we were warmly
greeted and led straight to our table, where the baby chair for the birthday boy
awaited us. On the already set table were warm Chinese crackers, paper napkins
for the children and beautiful linen napkins for the adults. It felt a little
like visiting expectant relatives.
There are some questions about restaurant reviews that I’ve been asked recently.
Is the restaurant warned to expect a review? Does the restaurant pay for the
review? The answer to both is no. The reviews are impartial. So this reception
at Chan’s immediately tilted the balance in their favour. The baby liked his
warm crackers and everyone else liked a happy baby. Menus arrived very fast, and
after we’d got used to the darkened lighting of the interior, we spotted the
only other guest who, already half way through his meal, joked with the
waitresses.
 The
menu offered a four course “Happy Hour” set dinner between 5:30pm and 8pm for
€21.95. It had a wide choice of dishes so that was my option. Crispy Won Ton to
start, followed by Chicken and Sweetcorn soup, then Chicken Chow Mein as the
main. Coffee to finish. Madame ordered Spare Ribs to start. The elder son opted
for Chicken Chow Mein as well while Mademoiselle chose chicken balls with chips
and the birthday baby opted to look around.
He soon spotted another similar aged baby arriving with his parents. They were
directed to another side of the restaurant. Drinks included Chinese beer, Tsing
Tao was given a taste, and it tasted like many European lagers. No surprise
there as European beer was introduced to the major port city of Tsing Tao over
15 decades ago. Everyone was also given a glass of water which was never allowed
to empty throughout the meal.
As we waited for the food to arrive. The children looked around. The eldest son
spotted vases exactly like those in Spyro, a playstation game. The vases were
inset in the red-brown wood panelled walls behind glass. They looked authentic
and the eldest was impressed. The windows were covered with gold coloured
curtains which gave the dark cosy feel to the place. The restaurant was split in
two so that on a quiet night, only half the tables would be in use, making it
more pleasant for both guests and staff. But before the children could explore
too much, their food arrived, followed shortly after by the adult’s starters.
Both starters were garnished with sculptured radish that had been expertly cut.
The Won Ton was lovely, light and crispy with a sweet and sour sauce in a
separate bowl. They soon disappeared. Madame offered some of her Spare Ribs
which met with approval, very succulent, meat falling off the bone. Meanwhile
the children had launched with gusto into their Chow Mein. Luckily they didn’t
get chopsticks. That didn’t stop them trying to make chop sticks out of the two
drinking straws they’d each obtained with their orange juice.
All this time, there had been a constant stream of people into the restaurant.
The quiet
Monday night was turning into a busy one. There were young couples, small and
large families, ladies together and a fair number of people temporarily sitting
near the door in a special area reserved for picking up take-away meals.
Despite the increased activity, no sooner were the starter plates finished than
they were swept away by several waitresses. It might even be true to say that
Madame’s plate was swept away, on my watch, while she brought her daughter to
the toilet. But us men were busy. Anyway my soup arrived. It was comfort food;
sweet, creamy, a little syrupy. It was drained to the last drop. The sweet and
sour sauce from the Won Tons had been confiscated by the children to add extra
flavour to the chicken in their Chow Meins. It was proving a big hit.
Then the black and white attired waitresses lit the plate warmers in the centre
of the table and brought over the main courses. Instead of serving dishes
individually as in Western countries - where everyone relishes his or her own
portion of food on a single plate - Chinese people like to share food from a
number of dishes spread in the centre of the table. Soon the middle of our table
was full of food.
Our waitress must have been new as a more experienced colleague behind her
discretely instructed her what to do. There were no mistakes. Madame’s crispy
duck sizzled on its plate while the adult Chow Mein, complete with bamboo
shoots, broccoli and carrots, was ladled out. The elder son was delighted to be
eating what his father had chosen. In truth the Chow Mein wasn’t so great but I
couldn’t say that to him. The duck was much better. The baby was more impressed
with a chip and a tiny piece of chicken. He was also delighted when the
waitresses constantly made a fuss over him.
There is a Chinese custom that a guest should not leave the table hungry so the
portions for everyone were huge. But of course we did our best to empty the
plates and by now, over 40 other Irish people around us were bent on the same
endeavour. The waitresses seemed to get happier smiles as the restaurant got
busier.
Despite the portion size of their now depleted main courses, the children
somehow still had room for ice-cream. These arrived. Two adult size bowls
overflowing with sprinkles and chocolate sauce covered vanilla ice-cream. Now at
this stage, if you’d asked these impartial dinners to award marks to Chan’s
Restaurant, the scores would have matched any toy-bribing fast food chain. The
adult coffee had a wonderful strong aroma.
Eventually even the ice-cream was finished. The birthday baby even tried some
but by now it was getting past his slumber time. He started to express a louder
opinion. We had been given a gift voucher for Chan’s Restaurant as a thank you
from another friend. We used this to cover some of the €87 cost of the meal for
four.
Outside we blinked in the bright evening sunshine for a few moments as we got
accustomed to natural light again. Chan’s will continue to do good business for
many years to come. Oh, I almost forgot, the old Chinese proverb; there are many
paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same. §
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The
Meath Coaster
