China Style

I swear I would never go there again. It not Chinese food at all. It is no better than the KFC besides.

This is quite possibly my favorite fried rice in melbourne for a couple reasons:
1. It’s at the Uni, so where else would they perfect cheap, quick and hearty food?
2. It’s at the Uni… people watching!
Multiple varieties of the fried rice are all great. Their spicy soups (a la Laksa) is possibly the hottest i’ve had in town. It’s the one place that really kicks my butt!

During the good old Melbourne uni days I would often have cravings for cheap Asian food (uni budget you know) and not have the time or energy to head into the CBD to get it. Because of that, I set about finding a place right next to uni. I stumbled across China Style and they had an enormous range of options at very cheap prices. The place also seemed to be a hit with tons of the Asian international students and would often be packed. The food was really moreish and the portions nice and generous. The service was ok for an Asian place and the environment was a step above canteen style food.
I haven’t really been for the last year or so, having finished studying and not going to that neck of the woods so much. Having said that, China Style served me really well throughout uni and for that reason I have to give it some props.

I like China Style. I do not care about the lousy customer service or the shaky tables. I just want my deliciously filling and cheap Chinese food in front of me.
Customer Service: One plus is that the food came out very fast. But otherwise, the customer service was very awkward and uncomfortable. I was greeted by a waitress, sat down, and I asked for water. She stared at me blankly and smiled as if she didn’t know what I was talking about so I repeated myself «May I have water?». She still had no clue so I used hand gestures to make it look like I’m drinking out of a cup and said «wa-​ter» more slowly. She still had no clue, but thankfully I heard them speak Mandarin so I said «sui» (Mandarin for water) and she finally got it. When I was looking at the menu and deciding what I wanted, the waitress literally just stood next to my table staring at me. Really. Really. Awkward.
Food: I ordered the Salty Chicken/​Fish Fried Rice. The Fried Rice was amazing — packed with flavour, soft, and filling. Hands down the best fried rice I have had in Melbourne yet! I highly recommend it.
NOTES:
~ The tables are really small. They do put tables together to make rows for larger groups, but if you’re coming here by yourself or just with 1 other person, you will need to squish.
~ The table I was at was shaky.
~ The water was kind of dirty. Either that or the cup was, because I saw bits of oil droplets. It didn’t taste funny though so it was okay I suppose.
Room for Improvement:
~ Better customer service. It just felt really awkward and uncomfortable.
~ Working on being a more comfortable environment in general with cleaner cups/​water and fix the tables rather than it being cramped.
The customer service and the ambiance definitely could get better, but that fried rice will be the thing that drags me back to China Style again and again. Ignore everything else about the place — just dig in.