Wonderland takeaway review: Bringing in the Chinese New Year is better late than never

Where I used to live, the chances of getting a Chinese takeaway to celebrate Chinese New Year were virtually nil.
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All my local Far Eastern eating houses shut-up shop for weeks on the grounds that the owners would be celebrating.

On a positive note, it did console me that our local eateries were as authentic as can be and not just a kung fu phoney full of not-so-lucky cats waving maniacally and sarcastically at me as I parted with my hard-earned cash for some spurious spring rolls.

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Equally reassuringly, I was convinced that on their owner’s return we’d be getting the cat’s whiskers and not the cat’s Whiskas.

So I’ve learned to leave the festivities for a week or so to let the fuss die down, and here we are in February, ready to celebrate, albeit belatedly.

So just after Christmas has died down, we decided on a winter wonderland of a different kind entirely.

Wonderland Chinese in Communications House in Leyland is a big restaurant which you can’t help but spot whenever you’re doing the big shop at big Tesco, with its bold, brass signage and chinese lanterns.

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But luckily, delivery is available via at least three websites, as far as I can tell.

A full food hygiene rating of 5 is welcome news, as is some of their reviews on Tripadvisor.

“Still the best Chinese in town, the staff are always friendly and helpful, great food with reasonable price, always my first choice for nights out”.

Sounds impressive, but I’ve learned to steer clear of anonymous diners damning with faint praise, and a heartfelt review is what I’m here for.

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An extensive haul of the usual suspects is here; popular apparently is spicy salt and pepper chicken wings and sweet and sour.

No less than six soups try to tempt you into a starter, along with duck, crab, squid, prawn and Mongolian lamb.

Into the mains, and all tastes are catered for, so we eventually plumbed for crispy shredded chicken with chilli in fruity sauce and a Szechuan style chicken, with sides of egg fried rice and salt and pepper chips.

Once ordered online, an immediate address query phoned in from the restaurant showed they were on the ball, and a prompt delivery followed.

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My Szechuan style chicken was advertised as a medium hot and spicy, and was packed with onions and straw mushrooms.

A fair description, but if anything the ‘medium’ heat began to build throughout, and on finishing I was left needing some urgent liquid refreshment, which suits me just fine.

The chicken dish was one of the crispiest we’d crunched through, and the generous sauce was suitably spicy, and not simply a sticky orange or red substance as can sometimes be the case.

The only slight let-down was the ‘salt and pepper’ chips, which weren’t exactly plentiful for £3.00, and had little evidence of being anything other than plain chips.

Apart than that, a good all round performance, and we can finally say we’ve welcomed the new year in, Chinese style.