Chopstix Restaurant and Bar sits on Devon Street West in the heart of New Plymouth, serving Chinese food with a menu that stretches from comforting, familiar classics to the bold, fiery flavours of Sichuan. True to its name, it is both a restaurant and a bar — a place to settle in for a proper meal, whether that is a long dinner with friends or a yum cha spread shared across the table.
The kitchen's range is one of its strongest cards. At the centrepiece end sits the celebrated Peking Duck, while the wok section covers well-loved favourites like Sweet & Sour Pork with Pineapples, Mongolian Beef and Orange Beef, alongside Slow Braised Pork Belly cooked until rich and tender. Seafood gets real attention too, with Prawn Dry Pot, Salt & Pepper Prawn Cutlets and Prawns with Cashew Nuts all on offer.
For those who like heat, Chopstix leans into it happily: Sichuan Chili Chicken, Hot & Spicy Tofu in the mapo style, and Spicy Wontons in Chili Oil show off the numbing, fragrant side of Chinese cooking. Milder palates are well looked after with the dumplings — Pan Fried Dumplings among them — and the sweeter, glossier classics.
Beyond à la carte dining, the restaurant has a dedicated yum cha offering and caters for functions, making it a flexible choice for gatherings large and small. Reservations can be made, and the team can be reached by phone or email, or followed on Facebook at @ChopstixNewPlymouth for the latest from the kitchen.
On Devon Street West, right in the centre of New Plymouth, Chopstix Restaurant and Bar has made a name for itself by doing what good Chinese restaurants do best: cooking a wide, generous menu properly and serving it in a room built for sharing. As the name suggests, it is both a restaurant and a bar, which means a meal here can just as easily be a quick, satisfying dinner as a longer evening spent working through the menu with friends.
The kitchen's range is immediately obvious from the list of house dishes. At one end sits the Peking Duck, the celebrated Beijing roast that has long been a centrepiece of Chinese banquets — a natural choice when the whole table is eating together. Alongside it are the classics generations of diners know by heart: Sweet & Sour Pork with Pineapples, Mongolian Beef, Orange Beef and Slow Braised Pork Belly, cooked until it is rich and tender.
Seafood lovers are well catered for. Prawn Dry Pot, Salt & Pepper Prawn Cutlets and Prawns with Cashew Nuts each take a different approach — one dry-pot and boldly seasoned, one crisp-fried, one light and nutty — so it is worth choosing more than one if the table allows.
Then there is the Sichuan side of the menu, and it is not for the timid. Sichuan Chili Chicken arrives wok-tossed with a generous tumble of dried chillies, the style known as la zi ji, where the fun is in hunting crisp pieces of chicken out from among the spice. Hot & Spicy Tofu follows the mapo tradition — silky tofu in a fiery, fragrant sauce — while Spicy Wontons in Chili Oil deliver that same combination of heat and depth in a smaller, slurpable package.
If that all sounds like too much, the gentler end of the menu holds its own. The Pan Fried Dumplings, golden outside and juicy within, are among the most approachable things the kitchen turns out, and a natural entry point into the yum cha side of the house.
Yum cha gets its own billing at Chopstix — it is a dedicated part of what the restaurant offers, not an afterthought. Dumplings and wontons fit naturally into that style of eating, where dishes arrive steadily and the table grazes through the afternoon or evening.
The venue also caters for functions, which makes it a practical option for birthdays, work dinners and family gatherings in New Plymouth. Between the bar and the breadth of the menu, there is enough range to keep a mixed group happy — chilli enthusiasts and sweet-and-sour loyalists alike.
Chopstix Restaurant and Bar is at 17 Devon Street West, New Plymouth. Reservations can be made, which is wise for groups and anyone set on the Peking Duck. The team can be reached on +64 6 215-3999 or by email at [email protected], and the restaurant posts updates on its Facebook page, @ChopstixNewPlymouth.
Whether you come for the fiery dishes, the classics or a yum cha spread, the idea is the same: order generously, share everything, and let the table do the talking.