Chopstix noodle bar a hit for your takeaway tastes
THE POPULAR PAN-ASIAN CHAIN HAS OPENED ITS DOORS IN LINCOLN
A NEW Chopstix restaurant has opened in the city centre where lovers of Asian food can combine all their takeaway favourites.
The popular Pan-Asian chain, which has more than 110 locations across the UK, has opened a new franchise store on Lincoln High Street that offers customers the choice of delivery, takeaway or eatin.
The interior of the restaurant was
Customers queued up to try Chopstix in Lincoln on its opening day
clean, vibrant and minimalistic.
As opposed to a traditional Asian takeaway, the chefs prepare and serve your food right in front of you which is a nice touch and means you know exactly what you are getting when you order it.
You are offered the choice of three boxes: small (one topping, medium (two toppings) and large (three toppings). All boxes include the choice of noodles or egg fried rice as a base. I opted for firm favourite Salt ‘N’ Pepper Chicken, signature Caramel Drizzle Chicken and Chinese Chicken Curry on a bed of noodles.
Other toppings included Teriyaki Beef, Sweet Chilli Prawns, Pumpkin Katsu Curry, Firecracker Chicken and more.
I upgraded my food to a meal deal which gets you a small drink and
some sides for a few pounds extra, but it’s definitely worth it.
In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting much from the food not knowing much about Chopstix as a brand. However, I was blown away with how fresh and flavoursome it was.
The chicken was succulent and each dish was bursting with flavour. Having them all combined into one box was a delight and I couldn’t fault a single thing.
In terms of pricing, a small box was £6.39, medium £7.39 and large £8.39. I chose the ‘Extra Value Meal Deal’ which added £2.99 onto the price.
It may seem a tad pricey but for what you get, it’s totally worth it. I was comfortably full for the rest of the day and I’m already thinking about my next visit.
A VILLAGER says he has “no regrets at all” about giving his purple bin away on the day it was delivered. Warren Webster, 56, lives in Bardney in West Lindsey, one of the districts to have already rolled out the purple-lidded bin scheme for dry paper and cardboard.
However, mere hours after his purple bin was delivered, Warren gave his to another resident in the village, and hasn’t looked back ever since. He said: “I don’t see the point of us doing the council’s job for them.
“The black bin (general waste) is emptied once in a blue moon, you have to pay for the green one (garden waste) to be collected, and now they want us to have another one? That’s four bins now, what’s next?”
The rollout of purple-lidded bins for paper and card has proven challenging at times for residents in Lincolnshire, but it won’t be going away any time soon. There are just two remaining districts in Lincolnshire (City of Lincoln and South Holland) to adopt the scheme, with South Kesteven being the latest to join the party in February 2024.
Last year, Lincolnshire County Council unveiled plans for every district to have purple-lidded bins from the start of 2025, following successful trials in Boston Borough and North Kesteven in 2020. In the 2023/24 financial year, the purple bins have contributed to less than three per cent of kerbside recycling rates in Lincolnshire, but it is gradually increasing year-onyear.
In terms of collectable, quality dry recycling, West Lindsey actually leads the way among all Lincolnshire districts, closely followed by the likes of North Kesteven, East Lindsey and Boston Borough — all of which have already adopted the purple bins. City of Lincoln, South Holland and South Kesteven are the worst-performing of the local authorities in Lincolnshire, bringing the overall percentage for the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership to just over 80% for quality recycling collections in Q3 of 2023/24.
Areas with purple bins tend to perform better in terms of overall recycling rates and the quality of recyclable materials being presented, and Rachel Stamp, waste partnership and projects manager for Lincolnshire County Council, says the numbers make for better reading each year.
She said: “Since the purple bins have been introduced, the kilograms of contaminated kerbside waste is going down which is brilliant, because it aligns with the government message of reduce, reuse and recycle.
“Our aim is to collect and then dispose of as much waste as we can, and the quality of material is improving as we adopt twin stream recycling, which is the purple bins.”
The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership argues the purple bin rollout has been “really embraced” by residents, but not everyone is best pleased with them. The main complaints from residents around
Warren Webster, the scheme are centred around space, and for Warren, three bins are plenty.
He said: “What about the people who have small courtyard gardens? Where are they going to put these four bins? It just hasn’t been thought through. I pay nearly £1,600 in council tax this year, and the council need to do the job they are paid for and duly elected for.
“If more bins are brought in, it won’t be happening at this house. My days of being told what to do, outside the law, are over.”
Another controversial element of the scheme are the advisory tags placed on bins with the wrong item in them, otherwise dubbed as “tags of shame.”
Mr Webster said he feels this is a case of authorities “putting their thumb over our heads” and asked the council not to “insult our intelligence.”
“We were never consulted, we were just told. It’s all about how it’s worded, I don’t tell my lads at work what to do, I ask them if they can do it.”
Mr Webster said he finds alternative ways to recycle his paper, shredding it and donating it to a local animal rescue to provide bedding for ferrets, rabbits and other furry friends. On the topic of environmental benefit through twin stream recycling, Warren argues the bad could outweigh the good.
He said: “Four bin collections means an extra wagon, does having an extra bin for cardboard really quantify for an extra vehicle driving around? Bins cost a lot of money and when you multiply that across the district, it feels like an awful lot of money to essentially be wasted.
“Councils keep saying they haven’t got money, but surely it’s about working smarter and prioritising your money?”
I pay nearly £1,600 in council tax a year, and the council need to do the job they’re paid for.