Fanshan Restaurant — Restaurant in Sofia City

First impression is it is not the most attractive of places, but the food is superb, very friendly staff, MASSIVE PORTIONS, and amazingly cheap..

We were a party of four; Mel, Dilly, Jimmy, and me:~

4 X starters; 4 X mains; 4 X rice; 1 X chips; (see note) 1 X bottle of wine for Mel; 2 X pints of lager for Dilly; 2 X pints of lager for Jimmy; 2 X Cokes for me;

NOTE:~ the waitress (who speaks Bulgarian and some form of Chinese) had no idea what we meant when we asked for "chips" (3 X Scousers and 1 X Scotsman) so I searched for "plate of chips" on my iPhone and showed her the picture.

"Ah, you won klash-klash" she says (or something like that lol).

"Yes, we won klask-Kalashnikov" says we.

Out comes what I can only describe as an upturned dustbin lid with enough chips to feed an army.

We did our best but none of us could finish our mains, and none of us had room for a dessert. (a definite Mr Creosote experience)

Grand total???? Fourteen English pounds!!!!!!!!!

If there's better value on the planet I've yet to experience it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

TOP TIP....... order one main between 2 people. Ye WON'T finish a main on yer own.

I've been back to Sofia since, and eaten at Fanshan again, and it was just as good as first time.

I'm going again in November with some friends, and will be eating at Fanshan yet...

The last time I tried a Chinese restaurant in Sofia was maybe 5 years ago.

I thought about trying again with this one and I must say my experience is as bad as before.

Of course the food is tasty (thanks to the mountain of sauces) and the portions are really generous (2 stars for that) but the products quality is very poor. I had chicken with mix of vegetables. I can't say if the meat I got was chicken or not. The texture was totally off. It feels more like having a meal from a fast food than...

Was hoping for some comfort food and decided to visit this place. They have an extensive menu and the place looks cosy, with a simple interior. The first dish, fried noodles were way too salty, quite a disappointing start. The assorted vegetables were good and the fried rice was alright. The sweet sour pork used sliced pork instead of cubed pork so the end result was too much batter, but the sauce was spot on. A decent visit but the food could be better.. it felt like the chef has lost his...