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'Get Stuffed'

The Great Wall Cafe

The Great Wall Cafe occupies a place in student folklore. For those determined to prove that downward social mobility is a reality, it is a must.

It is the cheapest place in town that is not subsidized by grog or something else. It offers a small menu of perhaps a dozen Chinese style dishes in a menu that can only be described as 'soiled'! It matches the shop.

We chose two dishes:

Sweet and Sour Pork ($1.30) - small pork slices in batter under a pile of cabbage, silver beet cauli, and pineapple.

Chicken, Tomatoes and Rice ($1.20) - tomatoes sliced, frozen peas, chicken and boiled rice.

Both dishes were ready in a short time, and since table service is for some customers only, you collect the stuff from the counter. Pink plastic chopsticks were on request.

The servings themselves were small compared with other Chinese restaurants, but the prices are 30 - 40 cents cheaper too. The sweet and sour pork dish is to be avoided unless you love fish and chips and vinegar. The Great Wall has not mastered the sweet and sour scene as yet. The pork pieces were cooked in a basic fish and chip batter and the sauce itself was so vinegary that it may as well have been the New Zealand national dish. To make it worse the pieces were placed under the steaming vegies ensuring maximum sogginess. To top that dish off the cabbage that was the main ingredient of the top half tasted very bitter but here the vinegary sauce was an aid to the eating.

By way of contrast the Chicken and Tomato dish was a simple well cooked and tasty dish despite the frozen peas.

Service: Indifferent. No effort is exerted to serve at your table but it can be forced if you refuse to notice the food sitting on the counter. Tea and coffee the same. A pot is placed on the counter and a tea bag dropped in. Milk is available only straight from the bottle probably to make you feel at home.

To sum up the legend of cheap/good 'feed' did not come about. The food was not cheap if the quantities are taken into account. In fact they are more suitable to a light lunch size. The surrounding are dreary, the decor dirty. Frankly I was not impressed.

Name:	The Great Wall Cafe
Type:	A limited selection of Chinese meals plus grills.
Where:	Ghuznee Street - a couple of doors along from the 'Big Tex'
Ratings:	** But if you do go, expect only a smallish meal. Avoid the sweet and sour pork.
Price:	$1.00 - $1.30 Cheap, but portions small.

Key

*****	All things considered price/type of place etc. I would go again and encourage my friends to as well.
****	Enjoyed the meal - worth a look if you like that sort of thing.
***	Unmemorable or mediocre.
**	Remembered with specific complaints.
*	If you ask me avoid it.

— Robert Lithgow