Candytown - closed. When did it shut up shop?

[Del Usory 0]

(like it says in the title 

 

When did it close?)

[autumn 10]

Before Christmas, it’s been taken over by another Chinese business . Making massive changes .I believe the new owner has other places here in Sheffield and other cities . The poor builders had to dodge the mice and rats before they could start work.

[Del Usory 0]

Surely rats and mice are a testimonial to its food?

[GinTreeS7 18]

Oh no end of an era how sad - I had many happy meals in there over the years ... however now hearing about the mice and rats - ugh! maybe just as well its closed !

 

[slh73 32]

It was only a matter of time, been trading on reputation for years now

[Bargepole23 337]

41 minutes ago, slh73 said:

It was only a matter of time, been trading on reputation for years now

True. Mediocre food. Much better options are available elsewhere in the city.

[Le Phantom 10]

On 11/02/2019 at 21:46, slh73 said:

It was only a matter of time, been trading on reputation for years now

Fair point, be interesting to see how the new people work it, twas once very good indeed...

[DerbyTup 10]

It was a favourite of mine even though the food was never "top notch" Chinese, (a la Yang Sing in Manchester) but it was good value for money, good portion sizes and enjoyable.  

 

It was a very popular place to go for a Chinese in Sheffield at one time, especially for large parties, because of the large spacious dining room.  Going back 15/20 years it was in its heyday.  I remember going in mid-way through the evening on a Friday or Saturday night and being turned away until later, because it was heaving full.  Then, something changed...

 

London Road became a hot-bed of pseudo Asian food eateries.  Places proclaiming to be Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc., operating out of scruffy little premises, but appealing to folks who put low prices and the feeling of a fully belly beyond quality.  The competition hit CandyTown hard.

 

I reviewed CandyTown a few years ago on TripAdvisor - entitling it, "Come and witness the death of a Sheffield Institution".  Not a very nice title, I must admit, but an accurate description of what I saw was happening to the place.  It was becoming run down and standards were falling.  The cheap "Dim Sum" shops were snacking on its profits.  It was starting a slow decline which would inevitably end in its demise.  

 

The two Chinese ladies who ran it, I think, were wonderful.  They always went out of their way, service-wise, for me and my family when we visited.  They came from Hong Kong and would go back there every New Year for a few weeks after Christmas.  We visited CandyTown last, about September time last year.   The ladies were still the same, smiling and cheerful and helpful, but they looked tired, jaded even.  Worn down after God knows how many years of really hard work running that place, and doing a fine job of it for most of that time at least.

 

I wish them a long and happy retirement and thank them for creating what was, at one time, a Sheffield institution.  

 

It's now called "ChinaTown" - it's open.  And I'll be in there soon to try it out and report back.

[GinTreeS7 18]

I agree it was a Sheffield institution. I well remember the two friendly smiling ladies always willing to oblige and always great service.

 

I remember one Chinese new year when they had a "dragon" dancing around the restaurant. I have a video of it somewhere on an early mobile phone when cameras on them were radical at the time 🙂

 

I wish them a very happy retirement.

 

I would hazard a guess that the restaurants new incarnation, like other old chinese restaurants in town which have changed hands, such as the Wong Ting, will cater to a largely chinese clientele only and thus the food will be a lot less "western" 😞

[DerbyTup 10]

On 01/04/2019 at 11:53, GinTreeS7 said:

I agree it was a Sheffield institution. I well remember the two friendly smiling ladies always willing to oblige and always great service.

 

I remember one Chinese new year when they had a "dragon" dancing around the restaurant. I have a video of it somewhere on an early mobile phone when cameras on them were radical at the time 🙂

 

I wish them a very happy retirement.

 

I would hazard a guess that the restaurants new incarnation, like other old chinese restaurants in town which have changed hands, such as the Wong Ting, will cater to a largely chinese clientele only and thus the food will be a lot less "western" 😞

I wouldn't mind if it was less "western".  You mention Wong Ting, I remember being in there some time ago and there were 2 Chinese folks eating what looked like a big bowl of porridge with  meat in it.  I asked what it was and the waitress told me it was "Congee".  I asked where on the menu I could find it - and she told me it wasn't on their standard English menu - they had another menu just for Chinese people where they offered traditional Chinese food.  I'd never realised that before then.  

 

Somehow I doubt it will abandon catering for westerners altogether though.  Not everyone wants to eat chicken's feet and stuff like that.  

[GinTreeS7 18]

Ah yes chicken feet and heads ... Eastern delicacies lol

[DerbyTup 10]

On 19/04/2019 at 15:28, GinTreeS7 said:

Ah yes chicken feet and heads ... Eastern delicacies lol

Well, I don't know about chicken's heads, but chicken's feet definitely are something you see on sale in the Far East.  First time we went to Thailand and Malaysia, we saw these little street vendors trolleys and they had loads of cooked chicken feet and plenty of folks (non-Westerners) were snacking on them.