Anyone else get disappointed when a Chinese takeaway doesn’t give you free prawn crackers?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/1ifjbhj/anyone_else_get_disappointed_when_a_chinese/

created by TechnonUK on 01/02/2025 at 23:19 UTC

485 upvotes, 51 top-level comments (showing 25)

Not sure if I’ve just been conditioned by our local Chinese which chucks in a bag on any purchase over £20.

I’ve been to some places where I’ve spent £60+, and they can’t even chuck in a little bag of prawn crackers? It makes me utterly dischuffed.

Makes you really wonder, it really does.

Comments

Comment by Reasonable_Try_1346 at 01/02/2025 at 23:24 UTC

228 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I'm actually raging when this happens

Comment by McCretin at 01/02/2025 at 23:27 UTC

180 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Yep. Same when you put in a big curry order and they don’t give you any popadoms. It’s just stingy.

I once ordered from a curry place when I lived in London and selected “popadom”, (singular) on the menu for £1.50, assuming it was a typo and there would be multiple popadoms included.

Nope. In the paper bag was one solitary £1.50 popadom.

Never ordered from there again.

Comment by IAMACiderDrinker at 01/02/2025 at 23:29 UTC

42 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It’s pretty devastating

Also I’ve never heard the word ‘dischuffed’ and I’m going to start using it immediately

Comment by VeneMage at 01/02/2025 at 23:25 UTC

97 upvotes, 7 direct replies

Same when I don’t get free poppadoms, onion salad and sauce with my Indian. Thats a whole course I’m missing.

Comment by AestheticAdvocate at 01/02/2025 at 23:37 UTC

25 upvotes, 2 direct replies

And then you specifically order a bag, and then get two!

Comment by gaynorg at 01/02/2025 at 23:30 UTC

48 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Fortune cookies can fuck off. It's the free prawn crackers I'm after

Comment by Admirable-Cow-1132 at 01/02/2025 at 23:39 UTC

26 upvotes, 0 direct replies

My local hasn’t changed their menu (and barely changed the prices) in the 15+ years I lived near them. Husband and wife couple who hold the whole place together. I am more than happy to add an extra £2 to my order for the prawn crackers. They’ve more than earned it.

Comment by dick1204 at 01/02/2025 at 23:45 UTC

11 upvotes, 1 direct replies

We use to walk out with a haul of extras prawn crackers, Chinese hors d’oeuvres,fortune cookies and bottles of drink but the last 3 times we went and order something on par with “big boooshhhh John” for our whole family a load of stuff would be missing…the 7 mile round trip had me grumpy by the time I got back

Comment by Fun-Friendship2182 at 01/02/2025 at 23:27 UTC

21 upvotes, 0 direct replies

It's broken Britain

Comment by PipBin at 01/02/2025 at 23:38 UTC

19 upvotes, 3 direct replies

You can all have mine. Order a completely vegetarian meal, still get prawn crackers

Comment by Sidian at 02/02/2025 at 01:08 UTC

9 upvotes, 1 direct replies

At my favourite local place, you used to get free prawn crackers with any order, and a free bottle of coke for orders over £25. This continuously went up, and now you need to order that much just to get prawn crackers, and some insane amount like £80 to get a bottle of coke. Prices of every menu item get put up every few months. It's the same for all of them, but they've got me by the balls as they're by far the best one around.

Here's an open question: can anyone think of something that has got better in recent years? It'd be nice if, just occasionally, something got better; 'oh wow, they've increased the amount of jaffa cakes you get in this box', or 'oh nice, the 'new improved recipe' is actually better' or even 'the price of [product] has gone down'. But no. Things only ever get worse, the future is bleak.

Comment by OgreOfTheMind at 01/02/2025 at 23:30 UTC*

17 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I think I'm an outlier who doesn't like prawn crackers, they go in the bin if I get them. It's weird because I remember loving them as a kid.

One near me gives mini spring rolls instead of crackers if you ask, which is basically the only reason I choose them.

Comment by BurnyBob at 01/02/2025 at 23:26 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Crackers in this economy? Wishful thinking.

Comment by bleak_gallery at 02/02/2025 at 00:54 UTC

6 upvotes, 0 direct replies

My local charge £2.50 a bag no matter how much you spend😟

Comment by Car-Nivore at 01/02/2025 at 23:51 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Free Prawn Crackers and Fortune Cookies last night. Felt liked I stepped back into the early 2000s for one moment.

Comment by furstimus at 01/02/2025 at 23:39 UTC

7 upvotes, 0 direct replies

‘Dischuffed’ is a cracking word that I will be using henceforth. Thank you.

Comment by mittenkrusty at 01/02/2025 at 23:55 UTC

6 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I instead think I wish they gave me a free can of Pepsi/Coca Cola instead.

Even when I say "no prawn crackers, thanks" I still get them, sometimes I get an extra one!

Comment by Roper1537 at 02/02/2025 at 00:01 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

You never get them in the US. Fortune cookies are fucking shite

Comment by StandFreeAndy at 02/02/2025 at 00:40 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I used to order regularly at a local spot and they’d always provide free prawn crackers. Haven’t ever ordered from them again since the day they didn’t give me free prawn crackers.

Their loss.

Comment by I-Smack-Women at 02/02/2025 at 03:39 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Had a conversation with my local Chinese as I’ve been there since I was a young lad so they already know my order by the time I walk through the door ha. Lovely family from Hong Kong who’ve been here since the late 90s. They’ve been hit hard by inflation in ingredients which largely came after Brexit. Actually with how tight the margins are now the elderly couple are looking to pack it in now and retire.

The father says he’s still full of energy to keep going but financially it’s not possible, I can kind of see from their perspective why they can’t hand out free stuff as easy as they used to before.

Comment by stonkacquirer69 at 02/02/2025 at 04:50 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Last time, ordered from a new place and added prawn crackers to the order, and they forgot them!

Comment by GrumpyGG64 at 01/02/2025 at 23:28 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Not happened round here for years.

Comment by Original_Spud at 01/02/2025 at 23:29 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Controversial, I know, but I don't actually eat them. Even still, I'm so annoyed when they don't come with the food.

Comment by lastaccountgotlocked at 01/02/2025 at 23:37 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Free? Do you know how many men’s lives are lost every year down those mines?

Comment by DrEdwodCheem at 01/02/2025 at 23:53 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Mine does prawn crackers £20-30, beef spring rolls £30+. The spring rolls are delicious, but I still want the crackers.