Wonderful Kitchen

Wonderful Kitchen sits on a quiet residential corner of Lichfield Drive in Alvaston, the south-east Derby suburb strung along the London Road A6 corridor. It is a small neighbourhood Chinese takeaway of the sort that survives on regulars rather than passing trade, and the menu sticks closely to the British-Chinese list most local kitchens of this size keep: chicken curry and fried rice, sweet and sour, chow mein, salt and pepper variations, set meals built around two or three courses for one or two people. There is no dining room — orders go out for collection or are run round the surrounding Alvaston streets — and the operation is straightforward rather than ambitious. Reviewers who use it tend to mention prompt delivery and generous portion sizes; the recurring complaint elsewhere on the web is that it is not always easy to get through at peak Friday and Saturday hours, which is more a function of being a small kitchen with a single line than anything else. Lichfield Drive itself sits just back from the London Road shops at Alvaston, near the parade that runs down past the library and the small green, and the takeaway draws most of its custom from the immediate housing estates rather than passing London Road traffic.