Neptune Court Chinese Restaurant

This is not your standard Cantonese Chinese restaurant. They specialise in main land Chinese food which is significantly different. But this is only known to the Chinese community.
If you don’t speak Chinese you’ll need to go with some who does. The restaurant has two menus. One for westerners which is your standard Chinese restaurant food (Cantonese). The other is in Chinese and this is the menu you should ask for if you want to taste mainland Chinese food. Which is a lot more spicy and hot that Cantonese food.
Pigs ear is my particular favourite it’s very hot with lots of chilli.
Service can sometimes be slow and the size of portions vary on each visit along with the flavour of the food. The obviously have more than one chef who each have their own style of cooking.

If I was to tell you that Neptune Court was a takeaway and asked you to guess what kind of takeaway it was, I bet you any money that your first instinct would be to say that it’s a fish and chip shop. Well, you’d be wrong, because it’s actually a Chinese. Quite why they’ve picked such a potentially misleading name I’m not sure, and their cause isn’t aided at all by their decidedly anonymous interior that does nothing to enrich a sit in meal or inspire thoughts of the Orient. Thankfully, the food more than makes up for these shortcomings. Mains range from £3.50 to £5, but the best value can be found in the set menus, costing as little as £9 per person, and giving you (a minimum of) Yuk Sung, sweet and sour pork, chicken in black bean sauce, beef with ginger and spring onions, and egg fried rice, which I’m sure you’ll agree is an excellent deal. Highly recommended, particularly as the nearby Sum Ye has recently closed.

It’s always a pleasant surprise when you find a high quality restaurant which produces your favourite type of food in your local area so I was delighted to come across Neptune Court. They do fantastic sweet and sour dishes be it pork or chicken and of course the rest of their varied menu contains all the Chinese classics you would hope for. You can eat in or takeaway but I would advise staying inside the restaurant to enjoy the relaxed ambience and good service. Chinese is my favourite type of food so therefore I have high standards when I visit a place I have never frequented before and it is safe to say that Neptune Court met my high standards and then some!

This is a fantastic little chinese! When I first visited the outside of the restaurant seemed quite strange, I couldn’t see in as there were closed blinds covering the windows giving the place an office-​like appearance. However, once I ventured in I knew it was a great place as it was absolutely packed with people, mainly Chinese people, which immediately is a positive sign. I ordered food to take away (and usually always do from there as it is quite a walk from home), but it seems really cosy and has a lovely warm atmosphere inside. The interior is simplistic, nothing over the top or fancy, but I quite like it that. I suppose it doesn’t distract you from the food, which is absolutely amazing! The sweet and sour pork (Cantonese style) is delicious and the special fried rice is also brilliant. They are probably my favourite dishes there, but everything else I have tried is really good. I have had food delivered from there too and the delivery person has always been so lovely and it does’t take too long to arrive. Once, one of them brought his son aloog with him, who was adorable! I really like this place as it seems like a hidden gem and never fails to please. I have recommended it to quite a few people and I recommend it to you too.

Neptune Court is the new name for ‘The Great Wall’ Chinese/​Cantonese restaurant in Selly Oak, Birmingham, opposite Sainsbury’s on Bristol Road.
Basic, pleasant interior. Lots of Chinese customers (seems to always be a good indicator of a good Chinese restaurant?)
Reasonable prices for food, good selection. The food is tasty. Friendly service.