The Slow Boat in Chester has been there for as long as I can remember. Located on Frodsham Street, above Iceland and next to the Canal, this restaurant serves a mix of Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Singaporean food. During the week it’s serves your regular banquets and menu, as well as takeaway, but it’s at the weekends that the fun starts. Especially if you have an enormous appetite!

On a Friday and Saturday it’s the Full belly ‘All you can eat’ banquet, and you don’t even have to get out of your chair. From 5-10pm and £22.50 per adult and £16 per child under 16 you can order and eat as much as you like. That’s soup, starters, crispy duck, mains and dessert. On a Sunday it is similar but for a little less money as there’s no crispy duck and a little less choice on the menu.

Now, we hadn’t been here for a good few years, but the interior hasn’t changed in the slightest. Lots of tables in one big room with the bar and kitchen at either end. Service was reasonable considering how busy it was and we ordered our first round of soup and starters pretty rapidly.

You are encouraged not to over order obviously, so it’s six items per order for a table of four. We had soup first which was pretty unremarkable so I wouldn’t waste the stomach space on that next time, especially as prawn crackers aren’t on the menu. But this starter plate was demolished pretty rapidly and we went on to order another of course…..

My favourite were the honey wings and the veggie spring rolls. The satay were a bit spicy for me but I’m a massive spice wimp and everyone else really liked them. The duck was just ok, which was a shame as I adore duck and pancakes. I don’t know what it was, maybe I was just too full but it didn’t hit the spot like a good duck pancake normally would.

By now we’ve been in the restaurant for a good two hours, the food was pretty slow in coming out but gave us a little break between courses which was actually quite nice. We ordered a main and a side each now, which in the past I’ve skipped altogether and just ordered more starters but I went for a sweet and sour chicken and rice, whilst Steve chose a prawn satay.

I actually enjoyed the main meal and managed to get all the chicken down me. Our friends weren’t as happy, with dry noodles but we we were all just happy to be out I think 🤣 Unfortunately we then realised we’d been parked for the 3 hour limit in the Iceland car park (watch out for that!) and Steve left to move the car whilst we cleared our palettes with a little ice cream.

I’ve always debated whether this place is quantity over quality but some of the bits are really good, you just have to find and keep ordering more of them! They do have Gluten and nut free menu versions apparently but just above where it says that on the menu, it says they can’t cater to anyone who has an allergy 🤔 I wouldn’t chance it personally if you have a severe allergy.

It was quite expensive in the end considering only two of us were drinking but I’ve had my Slow Boat fix so I’m happy! Maybe next time we will go for the cheaper Sunday option and just keep ordering satay sticks and wings hey!