Westar, 82C Ashley St, West Footscray. Phone: 9689 8182

There’s at least a couple of Chinese places that do home delivery that are closer to our Yarraville pad than Westar.

But they’re significantly more expensive.

There’s other sorts of food can be likewise had, but it’s either equally pricey or pizza – and we reckon pizza travels no better than fish and chips.

Accordingly, the popularity of home-delivered pizza remains a mystery to us.

Westar, by comparison, has a minimum order of $12 and a delivery fee of $2.

Bargain!

And it means it’s viable exercise for a meal-for-one when the mood strikes.

The CTS ethos essentially dictates food should be eaten where it is cooked, and that takeaway or home delivery should be avoided.

So this is rare indulgence.

Of course, we don’t dig the plastic containers – but these will be washed and used for soup ‘n’ stews bound for the freezer.

Westar food is nothing special, but it is reliable and the delivery guys are always smiling and have the right change.

My spring rolls ($2 for two) are hot enough, but even after taking the travel time into account, they’re disappointingly chewy, though quite tasty.

Next time I’ll stick to No.3 – fried won tons.

Home-delivered or takeaway noodle dishes tend to mold themselves into the shape of their plastic receptacles – and that’s certainly the case with my beef “hot fun” ($8.50).

But once I’ve stirred and loosened things up with my chopsticks, this is fine and just right for the night.

Inevitably, the vegetables have lost that wokky crispness during their journey from West Footscray to Yarraville – but there’s heaps of them: onion, carrot, zucchini, broccoli, bok choy.

But there seems to be even more beef than all the vegies combined – it’s tender if a bit tasteless.

MSG?

Oodles of it.

We’ve only stepped inside Wessar once – on one hot afternoon in order to pick a new menu.

The staff seemed as surprised to see us as we were by the single-table gloom of the place.

I’m guessing 99.99 per cent of their business is takeaway or home delivery.

Hong Kong BBQ Restaurant, 118 Hopkins St Footscray. Phone: 9687 8488

We’ve had some indifferent experiences at this Footscray institution.

Not so much with the food, which we’ve mostly found good and even – sometimes – excellent.

It’s had more to do with the service.

Service so brutally indifferent it has seen us depart without even ordering on a couple of occasions in the past couple of years.

Service that has felt like a slap in the face.

But Footscray is not richly endowed when it comes to Chinese roast meats, and sometimes nothing else will do.

So I’m happy to give this HK joint another go.

Maybe it’s all in the timing.

For today the place is pretty much deserted – just one other booth occupied, but with a bunch of folks coming, going and in takeaway mode.

I am served with the usual brusqueness, but by someone who injects a little humour and warmth into my experience when the pen she is using fails.

She later slaps down the top of my tea thermos with the admonishment: “Keep closed, tea stay hot!”

My two-meat combo of soya chicken and roast pork with soup/noodles ($10) is good, but I’ve had much better here and elsewhere.

The chicken is terrific, tender and flavoursome, with the meat not dauntingly attached to the bones.

The pork is on the fatty side. It always is, but this is more so than usual.

The noodles tend to stick together in a bothersome ball.

The broth is sadly short of hot. It’s salty, too, but I like that.

It’s probably also larded with MSG, but I don’t mind that. I’m not one of those people who can automatically tell one way or the other.

One large bulb of bok choy provides greenery and the feel-good factor. I could do without it.