FOOD REVIEW: New China, South Street, Lancing

Yet this time around the daring move paid off.

We decided to visit New China, in South Street, Lancing, after driving past it every day but never going inside.

As soon as we stepped into the large waiting area we were greeted with a warm, friendly welcome by the girl behind the counter.

The Chinese take-away menu was impressive, with a good selection of Chinese, Thai and vegetarian dishes on offer.

After being torn between all the delicious options, we plumped for dim sum (£6.80) as an appetiser.

This included Vietnamese spring rolls, crispy seaweed, Beijing pork dumplings and crispy won tons.

All the food was cooked nicely, with the dumplings making a nice change from the usual starters.

For our mains, we decided to order sliced beef with mushrooms (£4.30), duck Thai green curry (£5), sweet and sour chicken balls (£4.20), chicken chow mein (£4.10) and steamed rice (£1.70).

The green curry made a pleasant variation from the other dishes and the spicy kick helped give the whole meal more flavour.

The duck was nicely cooked and the dish was not overpowering.

In fact, it was a great dish for my friend who had never tried Thai food before and had been wary about trying the cuisine.

The chow mein was not too greasy and there was a generous amount of chicken balls, which came with a separate carton of sauce.

The only dish I was not very keen on was the beef and mushrooms, which was bland and included tough, chewy meat.

However, the freebies made up for this dish, with free prawn crackers, fortune cookies, and a bottle of beer.

The service was quick and the container box the food was stored in was a great idea and made it much easier to carry.

One word of warning, though, the take-away only accepts cash or cheque, with a valid banker’s card.

New China, 93 South Street, Lancing, is open seven days a week from 4.30pm until 11pm.

To order, call 01903 762827.

By Alex Jenkins