Uncle Chang's

Uncle Chang's
72 Courtenay Place
T: (04)-801 9568

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Uncle Chang's was recommended by a friend, and we decided to go there for our weekly Friday flat dinner.

The patrons of this restaurant were all "white", so my first impression of this place wasn't all that great. It just tells me that the food will be an anglo-cised version of chinese food, eg: sweet & sour pork, black pepper beef, etc etc.

Items ordered: (they all came very quick, probably within 10 minutes of ordering)
(1) Lemon chicken: very standard dish; chicken had a nice crispy coating; sauce was ok; batter was too thick
(2) Hot & Spicy Beef: an interesting dish I have not encountered before. Tasted "sichuan" in origin because the sauce tasted like chilli-oil. The lettuce underneath the meat got soaked with red oil with time, and it got all yukky. Rather spicy dish; I'd understand why some people won't like it, but to me, it was very eatable.
(3) Tofu & Vegetable: a very standard vege dish. Veges were crisp, but tofu skin was harder than usual....maybe because the tofu is a few days old (but it tasted fine). The sauce it was in was standard MSG + chicken powder type flavour.

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Overall Experience:
An anglo-cised chinese experience, fit for the whites (especially those from little rural towns visiting Welly for some exotic cuisine). The food was fine/normal, but it's not exactly very chinese; and it certainly did not impress me.

Conclusion:
Food: 6/10
Service: 6.5/10
Value for Money: 5.5/10 (expensive for chinese food)
Probability of Returning: 25%