Chifan — Restaurant in Mole Valley

We have used the Chifan for takeaways for four years now and generally food and service is good. However last night we had a takeaway delivered and I noticed that the price charged was £2.40 more than expected. I phoned and was told that there was a £3 delivery charge (I had already allowed for £1 as displayed on the menu on basis on minimum spend and distance). We live 2.2 miles from the restaurant so well within the 3 miles quoted for £1. I was told that the “system” automatically calculated the delivery charge and they just pressed a button to complete the order and had no discretion to amend this. I then checked previous orders and noticed that on the two most recent occasions I had been charged £2 delivery for the same order, time/day of the week and distance. So there is not even any consistency in the way the “system” applies the delivery charge. I haven’t gone back any further but get the impression that random delivery charges are just added in the hope the customer doesn’t notice it/query it. I also queried the odd 40p and was told that this was packaging costs (not mentioned on the takeaway) and was due to them replacing plastic bags with paper ones. Surely there should be an additional cost for the use of plastic bags NOT the more environmentally friendly alternative. I got the distinct impression that I was merely being fobbed off and they couldn’t wait to get me off the phone . I was offered the extra delivery charge taken off our next order but on the basis of our experience I don’t know if there will be a next time. Very...

We were delighted to be invited for a special family birthday lunch at Chifan in July. Wow! What a fabulous meal and time we had. Starting with champagne we enjoyed the most delicious starters of perfectly cooked fresh squid, pork and vegetable rolls and marinated chicken wings before moving on to Chinese duck pancakes. The pancakes were lightly steamed and the duck perfectly prepared and served. Our main courses were fragrantly spiced tender lamb with vegetables; steamed pea shoots, duck breast meat with crispy skin ( which had the most gorgeous flavours); green beans with minced pork and small cubes of sweet and sour pork with shaped vegetables. Everything served to us by the lovely Jessica was utterly delicious. Who looked after us all so beautifully. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten such a deliciously fresh and authentic Cantonese meal where the spices and flavours had been especially selected with care.

Huge thanks to my cousin and his lovely wife for inviting us to join them for this outstanding Chinese feast. Well worth the 4 hour drive to Dorking from north Devon.

We will be looking for any small excuse to...

We have used this takeaway three times now and were prepared to give the benefit of doubt after the wrong food was sent to us a few months ago. Second time the food turned up with but was average and we were given a £5 discount because of the previous mistake. A nice gesture but done in a very insincere way. Again we were prepared to give it a go and third time the food took over 2 hrs to turn up despite several calls. The management offered a very weak apology blaming the weather as it was raining! The delivery driver explained that despite the management knowing that all orders would be at least 2hrs + to be delivered they did not inform their customers. The driver also informed us that all the customers were complaining to him, poor driver its not his job to deal with complaints and is unfair of the management to expect him to put up with it! Looks like money comes first and service comes...