Ken's Oriental Restaurant in Athlone

On a wet Monday in Athlone there is no better place to be than Ken’s Oriental Restaurant. While the atmosphere skews towards quiet — we were the only diners eating in for a good portion of our two hours — the buzz of the takeaway collectors provided enough excitement to keep us entertained. The menu boasts classic Irish-Chinese takeaway dishes alongside several Ken Specials including Ma Po Tofu, which was flavourful and spicy. However, the second page of the menu is what really stood out: you can select literally any meat/veg/tofu from a lettered list and any sauce from a numbered one and get that on a plate with rice. K5 please! We opted for the chop suey mixed vegetables, which could’ve been improved with a better variety, but the few rogue peas brightened it up. A jug of Mi Wadi was ordered for the fun of it, and what fun we had. We still weren’t content on the liquids front, though, so ordered some steaming green tea which came with tiny cups and complimentary fortune cookies. While the cookies predicted lucky daisies and meet cutes, they didn’t tell us how fortunate we were to have graced Ken’s doorstep. They also let us charge a phone ❤️