Review: Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken. I'd give it a B



You get a packet of orange sauce, about a cup of uncooked rice, a packet of seasonings and 4-5 red peppers


I promised I would report back on my box of Wanchai Ferry that I got from My BlogSpark a few weeks ago. The other night I saw it sitting on my pantry shelf and decided to go for it.

Before you get all excited, I'll remind you that this is Chinese food in a box. Expectations were pretty low to begin with.

Contents:

• A pouch or orange sauce
• A pouch of dried red peppers
• A pouch of rice
• A pouch of seasonings and corn starch

You provide:

• Chopped raw chicken breast
• Optional veggies like broccoli or green peppers. I went with broccoli.

Results:
There are a fair number of steps in the Wanchai process, so you need to pay attention. The labeling of the instructions I didn't find super easy to follow, but that could've been me. A couple of tips:

• Make your own rice. The portion of rice is STINGY. The expectation that this one pouch will make 5 servings was obviously derived from a planet where 1 tablespoon of rice constitutes a serving.
• This makes TONS of sauce. If you don't make enough rice, you will have some sort of orange chicken soup on your plate
• Ignore the directions where it says you can use a zip lock bag to coat the chicken. I found the chicken and coating mix stuck all over the inside of the bag. A bowl would have been better, or make sure you really, REALLY pat your chicken dry
• We ixnayed the red peppers after reading the warning they were "VERY HOT."

Overall: B

• The product had good flavor, but it was a little overpowering.
• The kids pronounced it as OK
• My husband would not recommend ever buying it again, however. I think the lack of rice it came with was a big turnoff. I should have realized this ahead of time but didn't.
• Paired with another side item, like egg rolls or fried rangoons and enough rice, it is a decent substitute for takeout.
• At nearly $5 a box, I'd suggest they get rid of the rice altogether and just market the sauce and powder mix on their own for about $2. I can get a huge portion of real Chinese takeout from the local place for $5-$6.