New Chungshan

New Chungshan is a licensed Chinese Restaurant located on Gympie Road, Chermside. I can only comment as take-away customer, having never dined in. I first tried dishes from New Chungshan during the unpacking stage of my move into the area. You know the part where there are what seems like towers of boxes around you and newspaper strewn all over the floor. Where you can't find sheets to put on the mattress to sleep in, let-a-lone cutlery or cooking utensils. Anyway myself and my moving crew (my poor ol' Mum and Dad have become professionals at moving since I turned 18) thought we would try New Chungshan as my Dad is a lover of Chinese food. To be honest, I can't exactly remember what we had. I think we had spring rolls for entree and my Dad chose Beef and Black Bean for his main and my mum and I shared a chicken dish with a large fried rice for all of us to share. The spring rolls were fine. Nothing really stand-outish though. Probably average. The Beef and Black Bean was quite good, but I remember my chicken dish wasn't cooked very well. It wasn't undercooked but just not right. The fried rice was ok. Typically served with the little prawns and peas but fairly bland tasting. Mmmm....my first experience was not great. Not baaad, but not great.

I had heard from a friend that used to live on the North side that New Chungshan was "The Bomb", so I thought I would try it again after trying some of the other eateries.

It has taken me a long while, but the second taste test occurred last Saturday night after a few quiet afternoon beers. We decided to walk down to New Chungshan and order. Folded napkins were the first thing I noticed on entering the restaurant. Not sure why but folded napkins remind me of the eighties and in turn my childhood. I think we thought that it was "flash" to have folded paper napkins on the table back then. My boyfriend and I decided not to have an entree but opted for a beer while we waited instead. We ordered Mongolian Lamb $15.00 and a chicken Chow Mein $10.50 and fried rice to share. We took a seat at the bar and chose a Chinese beer called Tsing Tao or Ching Tow (or something like that the lady said it was pronounced) which was surprisingly nice. The vibe in the restaurant seemed alive with plenty of patrons. We received our meal 3/4 of a beer later and trotted off home to enjoy.

The Mongolian Lamb was really quite yummy, I would say a 7/10. The Chicken rated about a 5 being a little on the bland side. The fried rice was ok - but I am used to the Westerner style with loads of soy sauce, so taking this into consideration, I would rate it about a...ohhhhh...this feels harsh.....5.5. On the whole New Chungshan looks to be a fun place to take family and friends and is reasonably priced with passable food.