Golden Bowl

Cheap and dirty Chinese food from one of those no-​fuss take-​away only places. While I am still on the fence when it comes to these slightly soulless and eerily chair-​less establishments, I am very firmly pro Americanized/​Anglicanised Chinese food served straight-​up in under 10 minutes flat.
Greasy and hot, there is nothing that can beat a 5 quid plastic lunchbox of noodles stir fried with fresh veggies. I had a massive craving and Dalston has no love for Chinese food. This hit the spot. Plus the price is right and the speedy service is convenient, complete with good packing of the food into portable containers.
The breakdown:
Wonton soup: good but slightly small balls with a plain flavor. The broth was less than aromatic and lacked any kind of concentrated flavor, tasting rather watered down.
Chicken noodle soup: rather lackluster as it used the same type of stock and the noodles were short vermicelli though there was a good amount of cut strips of chicken for the small size of the bowl
Hot and Sour Soup: good mix of hot and sour and a hearty, thick mixture made busy with lots of stewed down ingredients and generous amount of tofu, mushroom, and egg. A bit inconsistent in terms of ingredients as the first time I ate it there was no visible seafood in it but two days later it had lots of mini shrimp (which I am not a fan of and is pretty unconventional as far as hot and sour soup goes)
Shredded Duck Chow Mein: quite a decent amount of duck with a subdued overall flavor and a generous portion. I finished it for lunch the next day
Sweet and Sour Hong Kong Chicken: fairly average, crunchy texture and with enough sauce to coat any accompanying rice
I was not a fan of the woman at the front taking order who was rather terse and made no effort at any kind of eye contact. I was surprised when she noticed that I came in and added something to my original order. She shooed me out saying my food was not ready yet before I could open my mouth to add another entrée. So that was less than good customer service. Otherwise, a decent place to get some food the go, but not open before 5pm unfortunately!

Seriously yum! When you have a late night meeting on Skype and no food in the house and a stomach that is grumbling like it hasn’t been fed in days I would suggest turning to The Golden Bowl (of joy and takeaway food!).
I have to say that my crunching through prawn crackers and eating so much I think I’m going to thrown up was all part of this 5 star experience. This Chinese is dirty, but the veggies are fresh, the rice greasy and the delivery prompt. Can’t really beat that now can you?!