Chop Sticks

Chop Sticks or Chopsticks House or whatever it’s called these days is super. I loved getting takeaway food out of here when I lived in Stranmillis years ago and still visit today. Offers Chinese, Cantonese and Peking menus. There’s some limited seating inside, though I mainly think of this place as a takeaway. I’m particularly partial to the mixed vegetables in black bean or satay sauce and there’s also vegetarian oyster sauce and deep fried tofu on the menu. A great spot which I’ve never been disappointed with. It’s not fancy, it’s not pretentious but Chopstick House is reliable and the food is very, very good.

This is my nearest Chinese restaurant and for the prices it is the best I’ve been too in the area. Arguably there are too many Chinese restaurants in Belfast. The décor could be improved a bit (I kinda like the kitsch of it though). I’m not sure if it is BYO, call before and check. It is also sit-​in by the way, more like a Chinese café though so don’t be expecting it to be really nice. The food is not the best Chinese food in Belfast but it is good value and the staff are always nice. Their food is consistent which is always a good thing in my opinion.

For many’s a year this was my local Chinese restaurant and still to this day I do find myself getting the odd takeaway from it too.
The restaurant has seen several name changes since I’ve lived in Stranmillis, Chop Stick House being the current incarnation of this popular sit-​in/​takeaway.
They have the usual fare on offer, this isn’t going to bowl you over with something strange, fresh or different, but the food is usually top notch. The ribs are my usual, well seasoned, dense and meaty they pair well with the typically accompaniment of fried rice.
There are a few things you won’t see on every other Chinese menu but I’ve yet to try much more than half a dozen things off this typically huge menu.
The staff are always very chatty and friendly. I do remember this was the place I stood in when it was announced that ghost faced baby-​sitter Michael Jackson had died. It doesn’t really help you get a sense of what the food is like but it certainly adds some colour.

Chop Sticks is the third incarnation of a Chinese Take Away I’ve seen on the same spot on the Stranmillis Road. Belfast has more Chinese takeaways per square mile than any other city in Europe (what a claim to fame!), so it is hard for them to become established and survive.
But this is Stranmillis. An area populated by young professionals and students galore, an area where people rarely use their cooker for anything other than a resting place for their carry outs. So there must be something wrong.
The inside is pretty much the exact same as all other previous Takeaways on this spot except they have decided to remove the menus and replace them with pictures of the food, which I’m not sure was such a wise choice, they look like I took them with my phone.
Unlike most Chinese takeaways there is the option to sit in, on the booths of a previous restaurant I presume, although this option is seems to be rarely used.
The portion sizes are enormous! The two meals we picked from the ominous pictures above the counter each comprised of ²⁄₃ separate containers. Quality appears to weaver in comparison to quality. The sauces were overly sweet and almost jelly like. The rice tasted and looked like it was cooked a little after my 9^th birthday. Generally not the yummy mass of food I was salivating over on the walk back home!