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news blog

Our End of year Recap

happy birthday romford dragon graphic with birthday cakes

🎵 Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, HAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UUUUUS! Happy birthday to us.  🎵

Alright, technically it isn’t really our birthday, as we opened on the 25th of January and not the 12th of February. However, in the lunar calendar it was Chinese New Year on the 25th January 2020, and Lunar New year is on the 12th this year, so let’s go with that, and not because I was too late to post this! 😳

Well, we made it… Probably one of the worst years to start a Chinese takeaway… When I wrote our first ever post back in 2020; I did say one of the reasons why I opened the Romford Dragon despite it being difficult to run a Takeaway is because I love the challenge, someone obviously read the post, and went “Hmmm, challenge, eh?”

We started pretty well, with our buy one get one free offer, people were super supportive and made us feel very welcome!

Admittedly, orders began to trickle down during March, not helped by the media and people who think ordering Chinese from a takeaway in Romford, will give you Corona. Sorry folks, we only throw in free crackers or drinks, no matter how many times you ask…

At the end of March, we had a huge dilemma, should we remain open or close?

Being new, would people remember us when we reopen?

Totally gutted, we decided to close, 🔒 as we didn’t know much about the virus, and believed this will help limit the spread.

However, no rest for the wicked, we remained productive during the lockdown, renovating, ⚒️ so we have a better workplace when we reopen. We have also been keeping up with government guidelines, 🧠 as confusing as they are, to get us a little more clued up with how to protect everyone once we open.

After 3 months of Covid school, we felt ready!

We reopened at the end of June. 🔓 Our worries were unfounded, as the Sunday, you were hot on that order button, making it the most busiest day yet!

It was plain sailing from then, we created a Covid page to communicate with you guys better; and we ended the year with a bang! With another busy Christmas and New Year’s Eve!

The future

It has been a difficult year, but we quite like it here in Harold Hill, so sorry everyone, the Romford Dragon is here to stay!

We would like to share some updates with you though:

Corona Virus

Might as well get this out of the way, we are not out of it yet, and won’t be until the end of the year, please continue to help us by reading our Coronavirus page, communicating with us, and more importantly, being patient with your orders; basically what you have been doing so far!

Menu Prices

Another thing we have to get out of the way, we had to increase the prices on our menu. This is due to the increase in prices from our supplier, this could be down to Brexit, we didn’t ask, but it seems to be the main reason for everything else increasing, so we will just go with that shall we?

Before you close this page with absolute disgust, and vowing to never order from us again, we have GOOD NEWS!

Signup Discount

Here is some good news, if you are new, our 20% sign up discount is here to stay!

All first orders made on our app or here on the site will give you 20% off, no matter the amount.

New Romford Dragon 2021 Menu

When we opened, our main goal was to expose everyone in Romford to new and different Chinese and Asian cuisine. Apart from the typical Chinese food you get in any other Chinese takeaway nearby; like your Egg Fried Rice and Chicken Chow Mein, we’ve included some more authentic dishes such as Dim Sum; and you loved it! We like having you on board with feedback, so we asked you what would you like us to add, and you took on the challenge! From more authentic Asian foods, to missing Chinese dishes from other takeaways; we got so much feedback. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to add them all, but we tried our best! You can learn more about each dish we added here.

Well, that is our first year’s wrap up, hope you enjoy reading this as much as you enjoy our food. We will continue to keep everyone updated.

I know most of my posts are quite informal and not very serious, but I would just like to close this post with all seriousness:

Thank you. Thank you so much for supporting us in our first year, despite the challenges.

Thank you for leaving us a positive review on Google, TripAdvisor and other platforms.

Thank you for telling your friends and neighbors to try us out.

And thank you for making an order, every order supports our family and our staff.

Thank you, and here to many more orders with the Romford Dragon!

CHEERS! 🥂

~Alex, Alice and the rest of the Romford Dragon Team 🐉 💁‍♀️ 👨‍🍳 🚴

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news blog

the New 2021 Romford Dragon Menu

honey crispy chicken

Chinese takeaways have the same boring old menu, if it’s not Egg Fried rice then it is the Singapore Rice Noodles! Don’t get us wrong these are scrumptious Chinese dishes, and we are guilty of eating them a lot; but it does get a little old quick. 🥱

 

Introducing the Romford Dragon 2021 Menu!

 

Over here at the Romford Dragon, we love to involve the local community in our decisions and we are always open to your feedback. 💡

We asked you over on social media last month on what you would like us to add to our new menu and you spoke!

This blog post will share the dishes that we have decided to add to our menu so you can learn a bit more about them before your next order!

Before we start, we would just like to say, we really wanted to add pork and other steamed buns (Char Siu Bao) to the menu, but we had one issue. The steam buns are best enjoyed piping hot, and it tastes rather naft when cold; so we had to drop those buns 😞

With that out of the way, let’s check out the new dishes!

Duck Spring Rolls (6 pieces) #J12A

Love our crispy Aromatic Duck? We’ve wrapped it up into a roll, stuffing it with various vegetables such as carrots and cauliflower, and a mix of Chinese noodles.

It is then deep-fried until golden brown.

spring rolls

Special Dragon Crunchy Crispy Noodles #113B

Our new signature dish with some special thin noodles.

These noodles are deep fried, then dried to give it a crispy crunch; these will be served separately so it will retain its crunchiness. Once you are ready to eat it, pour the main dish consisting of beef, chicken, pork, king prawn and veggies. You can then taste the sauce from these meats along with the dragon crunch of the noodles!

 

Dragon Crunchy Chilly Seafood noodles #113C

For our seafood lovers who want a little kick of spiciness, true to any dragon, we serve these noodles in a hot spicey sauce along with mussels, squid, king prawns and mixed vegetables.

 

Crispy Aromatic Mock Chicken # V17

Our Mock meat is extremely popular with our vegan customers, so we decided to add mock chicken to the menu.

Served with soft pancake rolls, tangy Hoisin Sauce, a box of cucumber, onions and lettuce; it is everyone’s favorite dish in vegetarian chicken form!

 

Dragon Tomato Chicken/Beef/King Prawn #8A/28A/47A

Want something a bit healthier? We got you covered. A tangy tomato dish, rich in tomato sauce, onions and peppers. Lovely with boiled steamed white rice.

Special Fry Udon Noodles #112B

Chewy noodles fried with Beef, Chicken, Pork, King Prawn & Vegetables on top cooked in sauce. Normally found in Japanese restaurants, these noodles originally came from China.

udaan noodles

Thai Seafood Spicy Udaan Noodles #112C

Same noodles, very different flavor. Chewy spicy hot noodles, fried with mussels, squid, king prawns and mixed vegetables. YUM!

Salt and Pepper Crispy Shredded Beef #38A

Beef shredded into pieces, dipped in batter, just how you like it, but dry fried with salt and pepper!

 

BBQ Chicken Wings # J29A

Well, we don’t know what else we could say other than it is chicken wings made with our signature barbecue sauce! Great if you want to go easy on the deep fried stuff, enjoy!

 

Sesame Chicken Rolls (6 Pieces) # J12

Our fried chicken cooked in sesame, wrapped in a roll, then deep-fried.

 

Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken #J14A

These Chicken pieces are a little familiar if you frequent a certain chicken place with some old chap on the logo. Fried with our salt and pepper, we dare say, it is pretty finger licking good!

 

Honey Crispy Chicken #J33

Strips of chicken deep fried then glazed with a rich syrup, we dare you to find something as sweet as our Honey Crispy Chicken!

honey crispy chicken

 

Plain Fried Rice Noodles

For those who have tried our spicy Singaporean rice noodles, this is a lot more innocuous. Great for those who want a healthier simpler dish; friendly to vegans.

 

Stir Fried Vegetarian Rice Noodles #123B

Stirring it up a bit with more flavor, we have added carrots onions, beansprouts, and peppers to give it more taste.

 

Deep Fried Tofu Rice Noodles #123C

First we deep-fry tofu, then stir fry it with noodles, even more taste if the first two dishes aren’t enough!

 

Few, and there you have it. We do hope you will try these out along with your favorites, we are always looking to introduce new Asian food to everyone in Romford.

Thank you so much for supporting us in 2020, and enjoy our new menu by trying out a new dish today!

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blog

How is the Romford Dragon Keeping You Safe during Covid-19?

Due to the ongoing uncertainty with Covid-19, and the government’s constant changes; we felt that it will be better to have a central blog post to update everyone in Romford. This will ensure the safety of both our staff, and you the customers. So please keep up to date with our  #DoingMyBit  to limit the spread of Covid-19 updates.

This recent news and new guidelines will applies to both us here at the Romford Dragon, but also, to other Takeaways in Romford. Other establishments might be different, and it will be best to check with them.

Latest Corona Virus Updates for Romford Takeaways as of 05/01/2021

 

Third National Lockdown in Romford

Well happy new-year to you all, kinda…

I am actually running out of things to say now, it’s like the post before, but it means schools not opening, very similar to the March lockdown in 2020, only difference is we are not closed!

Please keep working with us, as it will be crazy busy during these times.

Thank you!

Starting on the 5th of January 2021 England will be going into another national lockdown.

 

Romford to enter Tier 3 and 4 restrictions

We get it, we only just got out of a national lockdown, and now we have to go back up to a Tier 3, very high alert system; it is like an enthusiastic yoyo.

This will not change anything however, as we operate purely as a Chinese Delivery and Takeout service.

It might mean, like witnessed in the month-long lockdown, people are ordering from us a lot more because of not being able to go out to eat. Please understand how busy it will be and order/wait accordingly.

Here is some non-Romford Dragon related rules you will need to know, that I took from the council’s social media, starting on Wednesday the 16th of December:

👪 You can meet in groups of up to six people in outdoor public spaces. No mixing of households indoors or in private gardens. 🍽️ Hospitality is closed, with the exception of sales by takeaway, drive-through or delivery 🏃 Indoor leisure can continue, but no group activities or classes should take place. 🛍️ ✂️ Retail can remain open, along with hairdressers, barbers, beauty salons and other personal care services, as long as they follow COVID-19 secure guidelines 🚗 Avoid travelling outside your area, other than where necessary such as for work or education. ⛪ Places of worship can open, but you cannot interact with anyone outside your household or support bubble.

 

New Four-week England Lockdown

Today, the 31st of October, the prime minister announced a national lockdown, starting on Thursday the 5th of November; like what we experienced back in March. This is schedule for only for a month, and hopefully it will not last as long as our first one. If the lockdown is affective in stopping us overwhelming hospitals, we will be out of it on the 2nd of December, going back to our Tier 2 level system. Boris Johnson said that Non-essential shops such as pubs and restaurants must close, unless they offer takeaway or delivery services.

What does this mean for us at the Romford Dragon?

Well, good news! Unlike our closure back in March, we are not planning to close during this lockdown!

We believe that throughout the last few months, we have learned a lot when it comes to keeping everyone safe; and with the help with the locals of Romford, yes that is you wonderful customers being super cooperative; we are sure we can offer a safe yet relatively normal service.

Remaining open, we ask that everyone continue to follow our guidelines, even more so now that the rate is a lot higher.

As always, please continue to work with us as we deliver your Chinese food in Romford right through lockdown!

NHS Test and Trace App with QR Code

The printout of the NHS sign on a wall. It shows a QR code along with the text:

We have displayed a QR code on the left -hand wall as soon as you walk into the shop. this is to notify NHS the places you visited and to see if you came in contact with infected people; it doesn’t have any personal information of you, so please leave your tinfoil hat outside!

All you have to do is to download the NHS Test and Trace App for Apple or for Android; and point your phone at the sign.

 

10pm Curfew 🕙

On Monday 21st of September, the Prime Minister announced that pubs and restaurants would have to close by 10pm due to a surge in Covid-19 cases. This rule will start on Thursday 24th of September.

Are Takeaways affected?

Yes and no, deliveries are allowed after 10pm, but not in person.

Here at the Romford Dragon, we will be locking our doors at 10pm, so you will not be able to order or pickup in person, but you can still make an order over the phone or online, and we will deliver until 11pm like normal.

This includes delivery to the great distance to your car, or outside the shop… Don’t worry, because we are such nice people, there won’t be a minimum order, nor would we charge you for the delivery fee. 😉

 

The Three-tier Lockdown in Romford

On Monday the 12th of October, the government has placed different restrictions in areas, depending on the severity of infection rates; fortunately, Havering is under the ‘Medium’ rate, which means we only have to comply with the base rules , this includes the rule of 6 gathering one and the 10pm curfew.

Another Local Lockdown in Havering?

It is possible according to Havering’s Council chief executive; if the spread is not controlled, we could face a lockdown as soon as October. Welp, October is here, and we don’t see any lockdown, so well done all! But this doesn’t mean we are out of the red yet, please continue doing what you are doing to keep everyone safe!

If this happens, many stores including restaurants and even takeaways might be forced to close.

At this moment in time, we have no plans of closing again if a second lockdown happens. Extra measures will be implemented if we do decide to remain open during a lockdown. We will keep you updated.

 

Mandatory Face Coverings

As a customer, face masks are compulsory when you are visiting us in person to make an order or to pick up your food. More than ever, due to the increasing cases of Covid, you must wear a face covering; so please make sure you have a mask on when you visit us; unless you are exempt. You can learn more here.

 

Contactless Payments

We offer a contactless payment via a card machine, online on our website, and on our mobile app. If you are visiting us in person just tap your card or use Apple/Google Pay on your phones. If you are getting your food delivered, you can call us and pay over the phone using your card. Card is also accepted through our online platforms. We appreciate not everyone will use a card, so we are still accepting cash.

 

Contactless Delivery

Once our driver is outside, they will knock on your door, place the food down, step back and wait for you to collect your food before leaving. If you haven’t paid yet, please leave the money outside, we will not be giving change, however,  our drivers will greatly appreciate a tip during these difficult times.

 

Social Distancing

We are only letting in 2 customers in the shop at any one time, this will unlikely affect you, due to our limited footfall; but if you do see more than 2 people inside, please wait until someone leaves. If you are inside, please keep your distance from other customers.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and #DoingMyBit to keep everyone in Romford safe. We will do our bit by keeping up with new government guidelines, and keeping all our customers informed. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram so you are notified if this page gets updated.

 

Let us tackle Corona together!

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blog news

Face Masks are Compulsory, even at Takeaways in Romford

Ok so let’s make something very clear here, facemasks help, look at Hong Kong, then look at America; this however is not a political post, we are just a local takeaway in Harold Park, all we do is cook food, and provide information in a fun, interesting and often silly way. So here is the lowdown on the new law on wearing face coverings on this Friday the 24th of July.

A few weeks back, our health secretary, Matt Hancock announced that from the 24th of July wearing a facemask would be required of anyone visiting shops, be it supermarkets or restaurants (because Corona is currently on annual leave and will strike back on the 24th!) In all seriousness, this is more than likely to give everyone chance to purchase or create some.

After the announcement, everyone kept asking the burning question. ‘Do I need to wear one if I pop down to the Romford Dragon for my weekly Chinese?’ Ok so maybe not that question exactly, but more like, ‘is it required in all shops like a takeaway?’ At first, Mr. Hancock said yes, but then Business Secretary, Alok Sharma said, no! Which was probably followed, with many yeses and many no’s and some ‘he said’s’, and ‘she said’s’. Then after all that,  it was a YES. ( Editor’s Note: Trust me, I had to edit this post over 3 times!)

 

What can £100 Get You at the Romford Dragon

Anyone who visits the aforementioned shops without a face mask will get hit a £100 fine; that’s a lot, apart from saving lives, that could get you a lot, like 25 Chicken Chow Mein at the Romford Dragon, or 50 prawn crackers! So yeah good to be on top of your mask game. Remember those who are under the age of 11 or have other conditions are exempt.

 

Can I still Pick Up My Chinese If I Do Not Wear A Face Mask?

So if you do come and pick up your food, we do have the protected screen up when you make the order, which has been working extremely well for the last few months; and due to our location, we do not have many walk-ins and can easily regulate how many customers are in at once.

Therefore, we will not refuse your order, but those who do come in wearing a face-mask, we will give you a complimentary bag of prawn crackers or a can of drink; this is our little way to promote face mask-wearing.

 

Bottom line, wear facemasks; save lives, save £100 and enjoy some complimentary prawn crackers! 🦐🍘

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blog news

No Eat Out to Help Out discount in Romford Takeaways

Today, the 8th of July, during the Summer Mini Budget Statement, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced several government schemes to help the economy. One in particular is the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme to boost the hospitality industry.

How Does Eat Out to Help Out Work?

Starting on next month, August, every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; customers that eat out will get 50% off of their order, up to £10.00 per person.

Does Eat Out to Help Out apply to takeaways?

Unfortunately, the Eat Out to Help Out initiative only applies to restaurants, pubs and other sit in eateries. This means, the Romford Dragon and other Chinese takeaways in Romford will not be able to participate. 😞

However, we still have some tasty deals here at the Romford Dragon that everyone can tap into if they do not feel safe out.

 

What Restaurants are Participating in the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme?

We don’t normally promote other businesses, but this is a good time to get the food industry back on its feet, plus supporting local businesses; so we would recommend  this handy guide from the Romford Recorder to see what restaurants are offering this in Romford. If you are not from Romford however, check out the government’s website to see what other places offering in your local area.

 

What Days are the Eat Out to Help Out Discount Available?

Starting on Monday the 3rd of August and ending on the Monday 31st of August, here are all the dates you can get 50% off of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme:

 

Week 1 – Monday 3rd of August, Tuesday 4th of August and Wednesday 5th of August.

Week 2 – Monday 10th of August, Tuesday 11th of August and Wednesday 12th of August.

Week 3 – Monday 17th of August, Tuesday 18th of August and Wednesday 19th of August.

Week 4 – Monday 24th of August, Tuesday 25th of August and Wednesday 26th of August.

The discount can be used unlimited times too, so people can enjoy it as many times as they like.

We hope this information is helpful.

 

If you do decide to go out and tap into the #EatOutToHelpOut discount, please stay safe, and we will be here if you need to order some Chinese food on your way home from the pub!