Candytown - London Road

[BarryRiley]

Has anyone been? Would you recommend it or should I give it a miss?

[verona]

Candytown is good. Not been for a while but I still hear good things about it. I tend to go to Pho68, Noodle Inn or Hongkong Wok now.

 

I guess if you want that traditional Chinese restaurant feel with table cloths and linen napkins, then go to Candytown. The others I mentioned are less formal and more of a cafe style.

[The_Boy_Hoy]

i went with work at the end of november, wasn't exactly very full on a friday night which worried me..... but.... the service was excellent and the food even better.

[hodgepodge]

We went as a family, also in November. Service great, food plentiful and delicious, we were sat at a round table with a lazy susan which was great for sharing.

[DerbyTup]

I think Candytown has gone downhill a lot tbh.

 

I know we are in a recession and lots of places just aren't as busy as they used to be - but Candytown always used to have a good vibe about it and you were lucky to get a seat between, say, 8.30pm and 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night, you'd certainly have to wait a while. I've even queued on the stairs in the past.

 

I've been in a few times in recent months and it's been ghostly quiet, even at peak times on a saturday night. On my last visit on a saturday night, about 9.30pm, there were 2 or maybe 3 other tables that were occupied, maybe 10 customers in all. Dreadful.

 

I wondered why. And then I was given a clue.

 

I've always thought the food there was decent, if not absolutely top nosh. It was always good value for money. But not so this time. To be served dried up salad and spare ribs with hardly any meat on them, or dried out crispy duck and pancakes like cardboard. Sorry. That's not good enough.

 

When I raised this with them they said they had been trying a new supplier. No excuse at all that, in my book. If things aren't good quality don't serve them - get some that is.

 

It all reeks of trying to cut corners to save money - and that only makes it worse for the punters - which is probably why it is almost empty thesedays. What a terrible shame. If you're reading this Candytown - try putting your prices up instead of reducing your quality. It's a terrible false economy to skimp on the ingredients and it's certainly made us think twice about going back there again.

 

Went to the Wong Ting last week - and even though I wouldn't rate that place as earth shatteringly good - it was a lot better quality than Candytown - and it was full and buzzing with folks - which says a lot doesn't it?

[verona]

I think Candytown has gone downhill a lot tbh.

 

I know we are in a recession and lots of places just aren't as busy as they used to be - but Candytown always used to have a good vibe about it and you were lucky to get a seat between, say, 8.30pm and 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night, you'd certainly have to wait a while. I've even queued on the stairs in the past.

 

I've been in a few times in recent months and it's been ghostly quiet, even at peak times on a saturday night. On my last visit on a saturday night, about 9.30pm, there were 2 or maybe 3 other tables that were occupied, maybe 10 customers in all. Dreadful.

 

I wondered why. And then I was given a clue.

 

I've always thought the food there was decent, if not absolutely top nosh. It was always good value for money. But not so this time. To be served dried up salad and spare ribs with hardly any meat on them, or dried out crispy duck and pancakes like cardboard. Sorry. That's not good enough.

 

When I raised this with them they said they had been trying a new supplier. No excuse at all that, in my book. If things aren't good quality don't serve them - get some that is.

 

It all reeks of trying to cut corners to save money - and that only makes it worse for the punters - which is probably why it is almost empty thesedays. What a terrible shame. If you're reading this Candytown - try putting your prices up instead of reducing your quality. It's a terrible false economy to skimp on the ingredients and it's certainly made us think twice about going back there again.

 

Went to the Wong Ting last week - and even though I wouldn't rate that place as earth shatteringly good - it was a lot better quality than Candytown - and it was full and buzzing with folks - which says a lot doesn't it?

 

I've not been for ages, so it's a shame that because I remember it as you describe. Maybe also something to with the influx if Chinese restaurants on London Road that are far better quality in food and value for money.

[DerbyTup]

I think there's a lot more competition from these "noodle bar" places now Verona - that maybe has something to do with it. I think with the popularity of national chain restaurants like "Wagamama" the humble noodle has achieved cult status and any eatery that vaguely offers something noodly is very appealing to many. (It is only pasta but don't tell anyone or you'll spoil it for them).

 

I've not tried Noodle Inn, or Noodle Love, or Pho 69, or Can Noodle or any of them on London Road - but that's because I'm a snob and don't want to sit in something that looks like a run down school canteen when I go out of an evening. I'd probably do it for lunch, but I don't eat much for lunch usually, so...

 

tbh - I'll probably give Candytown another go at some point in the future because we did used to enjoy the food there - but I think we can safely assume the atmosphere has upped and left and gone somewhere else.

 

If you do go to Wong Ting btw, be aware that there is a tradtional Chinese menu which doesn't usually get offered to Westerners. It has dishes on there that are really more like authentic Chinese food and it is really worth a try if you want something a bit different. I had some beef stew with chillies the other day and it was great - very spicy, but I like that.

 

 

Another suggestion - the "China Red" on Matilda street is under the same ownership as Wong Ting but specialises in the more spicy Szechuan Chinese food. I haven't tried it myself but now I know this I may be tempted.

 

If you want more opulent surroundings you could splash out a bit and go to the Canton Orchard at Fulwood. Set in a beautiful old house, it is quite a change from your London Road tacky eatery scene. It is very good if you like nice wine as well and the owner really does know his wines - including a really interesting range of sake and rice wines. However - I don't think the food lives up to the surroundings myself.

[samuk1000]

China Red is a top class Chinese restaurant which serves real mainland Chinese food (not Westernized or Hong Kong style) and has a Szechuan province chef with an excellent reputation. It is one the most expensive restaurants in Sheffield (still cheap surprise surprise!). They probably have a few that you've heard of, but mostly they serve the wealthy Chinese students whose parents have made their millions over the last 5-10 years in the massive boom that's happened in China. These parents bank-roll their children and they'll often eat at Red. There's a new Chinese opened on West Street that shares similar features (delicious food, authentic chef and so on).

 

Candytown, however, deserves another excellent review. Their dishes will not seem so foreign to Westerners and the staff are very friendly and warm. I have been there twice and think it is a hugely underated restaurant in this great city. Whereas you'll get a Chinese student serving you a greasy quasi-Vietnamese dish in Pho, cooked most probably by a Chinese or Malaysian chef and you take a massive gamble in Noodle Inn as to whether you are going to order a delicious or disgusting dish in my experience, I'd say Candytown is one of the better restaurants on London Road along with Siam Inter and possibly also Bahn Thai. Candytown is a far more comfortable restaurant than Pho or Inn. I rate the Dim Sum restaurant on London Road very poorly. I can't understand why it is popular. Terrible food and staff just in it for the money.

 

I'm a snob and don't want to sit in something that looks like a run down school canteen when I go out of an evening

 

Bring back servants/domestic helpers!

[DerbyTup]

thanks for the further info on China Red samuk100. Sounds like one I must try soon.

 

The other on West street you refer to - would that be Hui Wei? Not tried that one either.

[samuk1000]

Apologies I don't know the detail yet. The only thing about China Red is it may feel like you've just sat down in a traditional Chinese Communist Work Unit to eat with your Comrades and you have to put up with the restaurant habits of mainland Chinese, which can have a lot to be desired in terms of etiquette, for example, in China you often bring yourself to the plate/bowl rather than bring your food to your mouth and sometimes if you're hungry you just eat like a wolf - literally. Still provides good anecdotal material for stuck-up and derisive conversations with other intellectually, morally, ethically and socially superior people (like me).