Wok’s up? Taste of Asia coming to Swansea with new restaurant
THE Pan-asian noodle chain Chopstix opened its doors yesterday in Swansea city centre.
Excitement has been building for the popular chain’s arrival since we first reported that plans for it to open had been lodged with Swansea Council.
Yesterday was finally the day when the chain’s third Welsh store welcomed its first customers and we visited to have a look inside.
Chopstix is the largest Asianinspired quick-serve restaurant in the UK. It operates as a fast-food restaurant, serving chicken and vegetarian dishes.
The chain has 72 outlets including franchises across the UK, and three across Wales in Cardiff, Bridgend and Swansea. The new restaurant, in Swansea, is a £250,000 investment and has created 15 jobs. Uk-wide the business employs more than 700.
All the food served at Chopstix is freshly prepared and displayed in front of customers, with plenty to choose from. How it works:
Meals at Chopstix work in a five step process: Step 1. Choose your box. There’s a small box which includes one topping for £5.50; a medium box which includes two toppings for £6.25; and a large box with three toppings for £7.25. Step 2. Choose your base. You can pick from vegetable noodles, egg fried rice or skinny rice.
Step 3. Pick a topping. They include BBQ chicken, teriyaki beef, katsu chicken curry, golden salt n pepper chicken and red Thai chicken curry. Step 4. Grab extras, which include vegetable spring rolls, salt and pepper potatoes, duck spring rolls and many more. Step 5. Add a drink. There’s various fizzy drinks to choose from, such as Pepsi, Tango and 7UP.
Chopstix is located at 806 Oxford Street and the vibrant store includes the brand’s “living wall” and some new features, including the debut of the “animated Chopstix Anime Girl”, along with the now-famous decor reflecting the ethos of the Chopstix brand.
Area manager Iacob Strajean, who has worked for the company for 10 years, said he was excited for another branch to open in Wales.
He said: “It’s very exciting, it’s the third store in Wales. We have done some soft openings the last couple of days just to see how it is and it’s been more than what we expected it to be. A lot of customers were enjoying, so it’s made us really enthusiastic for the opening today.
“We have had 15 jobs created and we’re looking at increasing that so we’ve contributed to the community.”
We obviously had to try out the food at the new restaurant ourselves, and many of the staff recommended the caramel drizzle chicken and golden salt ‘n’ pepper chicken.
We tried a medium box with vegetable noodles which cost £6.25, with a Pepsi being an extra £1.20.
You do get a good portion of chicken and noodles which tasted very fresh. It may be quite pricey for a whole family to eat here but it’s the perfect fresh lunch for one person to keep you going for the day.
The chain also provide meals that are under 500 calories with its new skinny rice, which you can have with toppings such as sweet chilli prawns, Chinese chicken curry, sweet and sour chicken and many more.
You can also order from the store from online food delivery companies Deliveroo, Ubereats and Just Eat.