In several of my other reviews, I've mentioned that I'm often attracted to more basic restaurants over flashy establishments as I assume that the former is happy to let its food do the talking, and is using the money that they take in to make better food rather than ultimately superficial improvements to their premises. That's true to an extent, but it's fair to say that the Mayflower Chinese takeaway pushes the boundaries of my belief in this dogma. The sign above the door proudly states 'Quality Chinese and English meals to take-away', which really doesn't bode well. First of all, 'take-away' is right, as, despite a decent sized location, there are no tables whatsoever, only benches on which to wait for your food. I appreciate this is fairly common for Chinese takeaways, but you'd have thought with a bit of creative rearranging that they could've maybe fit a small restaurant section in. However, this inconvenience is more than made up for my the excellent food. I'm not a major fan of Chinese food, but the Mayflower has earned a place on my regular circulation of takeaways (don't judge me), not least because of the excellent prices, with mains rarely costing more than £4.50, significantly better than many other Chineses in Birmingham. read more