I’ve recently heard quite a lot of hype about a Chinese spot called Monk’s Chinese.

They work on a delivery only basis, with free delivery to the CBD and surrounding areas.  I couldn’t find any details about their physical address online, seems it’s a well guarded secret, but to me that just added to the intrigue…

I figured I should try them out for myself to see if 1. it matched up to the hype; and 2. to see how it compared to my favourite Cape Town chinese spot over in Sea Point, Mr Chan.

So last Wed eve I made the call…  Pricing wise I thought it was pretty good with sides at R10, standards mains at R55 for medium portion and R65 for a large and then some great week day deals:  The Beijing – R100 for 2 medium meals + side and the Shanghai – R120 for 2 large meals + side.  Knowing that Chinese servings are usually quite big, I stuck to the medium sized meals and I tried to get something chicken, something beef & something pork to get a good idea of their offerings.

My order arrived only 35min after placing the order which was a really big surprise as I’m so used to waiting forever and ever and ever for Mr Delivery to finally pitch up.  And the other nice thing is that they also have a handheld POS machine, so you can swipe your credit/debit card upon delivery.  Then the food is packaged in those regte egte white boxes like you see in American TV shows, with chopsticks and all.  So cool.

From top left, clockwise: egg fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, crispy beef with BBQ sauce & shredded pork with garlic, ginger & chilli

The egg fried rice is really good and my favourite dish was the sweet & sour chicken.  The other two were good as well, I’m just very very fond of anything sweet & sour.  Did it beat Mr Chan?  Nooooot quite.  But I’d say it came a close second.  Plus the convenience factor and free delivery make it awesome for different reasons.

The medium serving is quite a lot of food.  Bjorn and I each had plenty to eat, then still had enough left over for lunch the next day.  If you have a BIIIG appetite though, opt for the large.  At least Chinese food still tastes equally awesome the next day.

Now I have to also note that I had some girlfriends over on the Fri eve for movies & wine and we decided to go for Monk’s again.  The delivery that time round took about 1 hr 25min.  BUT in their defence it was storming outside & a Fri eve, the perfect conditions for everyone in Cape Town to not want to head outside and rather opt to have their food delivered.  Also, they felt really bad, apologised and before I really even had to say anything, told us that the food was on them.  I respect that.  Everyone has the odd crappy night, but the fact that they were willing to make up for it was a-okay in my book.

So ja – if you’ve got a craving for Chinese and you don’t want to leave your couch, check out the menu on their website and give them a call on 021 424 9162.  It’s tasty, the service is good and you’ll be smiling just like the chubby monk on their logo, I’m sure of it.

xxx