Author: Deborah_Martinez

With the closure of Hon’s on Robson, and a craving for some decent Chinese cuisine, I decided to give ChongQing a try based on the largely positive reviews this establishment has received on social media sites like TripAdvisor. While I wouldn’t go as far as...some reviewers and declare ChongQing the “most amazing food in Vancouver,” I will concede that, on the whole, it was pretty good. There were many similarities with Hon’s that I appreciated: The menu is diverse; the price-point is very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food you receive; and, while the portions are large, it’s clear that ChongQing is not doing this to overcompensate for poor flavour. Quite the opposite, in fact! Now let me elaborate: After a lengthy walk through Vancouver’s West End and back to my hotel, I was quite peckish and so, while reviewing ChongQing’s menu online, I think hunger got the best of me – I ended up ordering way too much food: Fried Green Beans (Szechuan style), Hot Pepper Won Tons, Stir Fried Scallops w/ Red Chili sauce, Dai Ching Prawns and Shanghai Chow Mein w/ Shredded pork. What can I say, I must’ve been hungry! But to be fair, much like Hon’s, the menu had a LOT of attractive items on them . . . I guess the lesson is don’t order when starving ;) The good news, though, is that most of it was very tasty. The “Hot Pepper Won Tons” were ample and, unlike other places I’ve tried, they weren’t swimming in chili oil. Likewise, the Fried Green Beans were fairly exceptional. They were cooked properly and had a nice flavour to them; however, I do wish they had a little more “spice” to them as they did, at times, verge on blandness. The Dai Ching Prawns were, for me, the star of my order. The prawns were ample and fresh (they gave that lovely “pop” you get from a fresh product) while the accompanying vegetables added a nice “pop” of colour as well as texture contrasts. Again, though, for a dish that’s supposed to be “spicy” it was a bit wanting here. The Shanghai Chow Mein was fairly standard and didn’t particularly stand out. Finally, the Stir Fried Scallops with Red Chili Sauce – the dish I was most looking forward to – was without question the biggest disappointment. First, the poor scallops were drowning in the sauce (see photo). Second, this “chili sauce” tasted much more like a diluted sweet & sour sauce than something with spice. Again, most of the items were good, but I probably wouldn’t order the Shanghai noodles again, nor the scallops in chili sauce. While a lack of spice pervaded pretty much all of the so-called “spicy” dishes, it was most evident with the scallops, and in a not so good way. ChongQing really should work on this aspect of their food prep. Spicy should indeed be spicy. FOOD: 3/5 SERVICE: 4/5 VALUE: 3/5 RECOMMENDATION: Overall, I think ChongQing serves as a fine and fair replacement for “cheap” Asian cuisine. The servings are generous and the delivery time was decent at 40 minutes. Interestingly, as I wrote this review, another similarity with Hon’s popped up: Some of ChongQing’s dishes are inevitably better than others, but I suppose that’s to be expected when you have such a large and diverse menu. Would I order from them again? Yes. Recommended. PS: If you found this review helpful in any way please consider hitting the "helpful" button!More