Every dish was literally exploding with flavor - in the best way! The highlights included the…read morefried chicken with whole chilis (seriously not to be missed), the mapo tofu, and the seasonal pea shoots. We tried the fried noodles with beef, which was tasty but almost too rich. We definitely needed steamed rice to balance out the intense flavors and extreme spice! In addition to the great food, the service was excellent (though the proprietress is much friendlier than the proprietor, they are both very nice and attentive), and the atmosphere was cozy (if a bit smashed in the tiny restaurant!). Highly recommend this place if you can handle the heat!

The Chongqing Szechuan Restaurant on Elgin street is a real gem amongst restaurants in the Soho…read morearea. To be fair, I'm not a big fan of Szechuan food, as I do find is all overly spicy, and just trashes my taste buds for about four days. However, if I'm feeling adventurous, or more to the point, want to give a visiting friend an experience of crazy hot food, then I will always come to Chongqing Szechuan Restaurant. The menu is very similar to all the other Szechuan restaurants in the area, serving a variety of dishes like; deep fried chicken with whole dried chilies, and ma po tofu. However, what makes this restaurant great, especially in Mrs L's opinion, is that I have an identical menu but entirely vegetarian and mock meat. They are essentially exactly the same dishes, but using vegetables or meet supplements. The preparation is exactly the same. Beyond the food, we also come for the great service. The manager/owner Barbara (or Ba-ba-la!) is an absolute hoot. She always refers to me by name, and if she doesn't know your name she will just call you "Lady", even if you are a guy. There are a lots of reviews that criticise the service, and whilst Barbara is delightful, she can be a bit scatty. Just give her a break, she is running the front of house pretty much single-handedly. As a special treat, she often finishes our meal off with a round of complimentary drinks. The restaurant itself is very small, probably only able to seat 15 as an absolute maximum. If you do want to come, make sure you book. This also serves as a quick check to see if the restaurant is in fact open, and sometimes it randomly closes for holidays. I do thoroughly recommend a visit, the food is great, albeit tear-inducing hot, the service, whilst a bit varied in quality, is always friendly. I am sure you will have a good time (unless of course you are made of stone).

Came here for lunch earlier today, around 1pm, party of 2. Our order was: pork wontons in spicy…read moresauce, and we did the 3 set meal with the fried eggplant, Beijing style minced pork noodles, and the XLB. Total cost was $194 HKD including the service charge. Pros: - really tasty food, a user-friendly menu especially if you're a tourist or expat, food comes out quickly and the tea is really good paired with the food. - fast and friendly service, English menu available - festive interior with lots of paintings, lanterns hanging from ceiling - great air conditioning , recommend you don't get a seat behind the fan units or else you won't feel it - decent portions for the price of a fancier sit down restaurant with tablecloths (but I'm writing this from the point of view of an American tourist , it might be considered more pricey if you're a local ) Cons: - Google maps isn't great when it comes to Asia and restaurants on different levels /floors - this place is under a few escalators - the 2 soup dumplings were squished into a tiny serving dish, so it was really hard to get them out without having the soup leak. But that's my only complaint Overall, I 10/10 would come back here for food if I'm in the mid-levels area. Delicious, fast service, good Chinese food. - May not be as "authentic" if you're looking for the really intense flavors of Szechuan cuisine etc, but I feel like it's pretty obvious from its appearance and location that this is for expats/tourists. There were definitely a few white people here, but there were also locals here , so that's promising to me. I really don't think it's fair to fault the place for being more westernized, it's in a neighborhood that serves a lot of international expats anyway.

One of the best restaurants in Hong Kong, as well as a very friendly and welcoming staff. Every…read moretime that I am in HK I always enjoy the dishes and ambiance of this restaurant. Most of the dishes are from Szechuan. I never have been disappointed. Dr. Erick J Mann, PhD Professor of History and Fulbright Scholar

I don't understand the magic of Sichuan peppercorns. How the hell is it able to transform flavours…read moreinto a completely new explosive experience? How am I picking up on these flavours when I can't even feel my tongue? How am I suddenly able to not just tolerate...but ENJOY spicy food? There's only one word for it: magic. And all of this can be YOURS for a shockingly low price of HKD $110! That's what a 4 person set + one lunch set cost for each of the 5 of us. The 4-person set itself was more than enough food for 5 of us, and I had leftovers to take home for dinner. See, the Dan Dan Noodles included in the set doesn't mean one noodle dish to share, it's 1 bowl for every person in the set! 4 bowls of spicy, flavourful, chewy noodles! On top of that, there was: Jellyfish and Cucumber: To cool down your palette. 3 Layer Pork: Some weird chilled pork roll with a spicy/sour sauce and a mound of garlic...something in the middle (puree?) Don't let the notion of spicy/sour/garlicky/cold pork rolls turn you off. This was pretty good. Spicy Boiled Fish: The visual representation of Sichuan cuisine: a giant pot of chilies, oils, and spices. Submerged in all that red are pieces of flaky white fish, flat rice noodles, and veggies. Good, but damn, this left my tongue swollen and made me a mouth breather. Wontons: This was loaded in the peppercorns and their oils, which means one bite renders your tongue numb. The second bite makes you appreciate pork in a whole new way. The flavours were so intense. This was definitely one of my favourites. Kung Pao Chicken: I'm not sure what this was, but it wasn't Kung Pao Chicken. It had chickens, cashews, and was way too saucy to be a traditional Kung Pao. The sauce was sweet, spicy, and sour. The cashews had a hint of a spice I can't really put my finger on...cinnamon? Still, very delicious, and something unique. Fried Pork Cutlet Noodle/Century Egg and Tofu: This is the additional solo lunch set we ordered. The pork was marinated in Chinese rice wine, and it was a fantastically strong flavour. Century Egg and tofu made another great palette cleanser. They've got the AC jacked up high but the weird thing with this kinda spicy food is that it doesn't really warm you up. You just feel your mouth burning while your arms are cold. At least when you're in a state of conflicting temperatures, you can relax on their super comfy pillows. All I know is that after the meal, my mouth was on fire, my nose was running, and I was sweating profusely. Never felt better. (55/100) - 2017

Get the set menu at lunch, its an excellent deal. Note - the portions are somewhat large :-)…read moreOh, get here early - or prepare to wait for a *while*

This is my first time giving 5 stars…read more I went for their lunch menu that is $128 per person. The food is good, the portion is generous, the environment is classy and the service is good. For $128, there are lot of lunch choices in Central. But for a decent siuchuan style lunch, I don't think you can find any better than this. The quality started from the cup of tea that was served - they served an authentic "Kung fu" herbal tea instead of the regular pot of tea served by other Chinese restaurants. The entree not only taste good but was also nicely presented (the picture that I took won't do justice as I ate 3/4 of the dish already). The portion of the main dish is generous and tastes good. At the end they also serve a dessert "腰果糊" which is very nice. The restaurant is properly staffed - ie. You don't have to wave your hand too much to have a waiter to serve you. It's just getting rare to have a restaurant that is adequately staffed these days...

Good location, good lunch set menu…read more Good portion size and seemed authentic, at least some of the dishes. Had the beef slices and fried chicken coupled with a side or rice. Finished with peanut soup, which was delicious. Good find and better than some others. Maybe not the most genuine Sichuan spot but caters to a western palette. Service is ok but they seemed rush. Always taking food away quickly, sometimes before I finished.

This place was recommended by our friend who used to live in Hong Kong and we were excited to try…read more What an amazing Sichuanese food experience we had while visiting HK. We visited twice on our 4 day trip! We loved everything we tried here and they have a dedicated vegetarian menu to cater our dietary needs. Dan Dan noodles and Ma Po Tofu is my fav when it comes to Sichuanese cuisine and they were flavor bomb here. Loved the peanut sauce twist to Dan Dan noodles. The egg fried rice looked so basic but it was spot on - one of the best we ever had. The vegetarian dumplings in chilli sauce were perfect to start with. The service was quick and it was easy to get the dinner reservation. It was nice to find a restaurant open till late.

This place is often recommended as a place to go for Sichuan food. On the positive side the dishes…read morethat say they are spicy are spicy and you do get the 麻辣 taste. On the negative side is the price and the taste. The food really is pretty average. If you have been to Sichuan and had Sichuan food there you will definitely not like this place. Perhaps it is more suited for a western or Hong Kong pallet. A number of people I have talked to say that you can't really get good Sichuan food in Hong Kong and based on my experience so far (not just here) I would have to agree with that statement. Don't order the 紅油抄 pretty disappointing.

In a nutshell: spicy, large portion, decent and pricy…read more We have all been watching out for this basement private dinning Sichuan cuisine for years. On a Monday noon we rolled over and gave it a try. Closed space with thick Chinese deco, feels like some royal mansion 's lobby in ancient dynasty. Staff are a bit stiff which somehow fit in here. Food wise we ordered fish in chilli oil, chilled chicken in Sichuan source, beef stew with turnip and beans with minced pork. No surprise and hot level exceeded average. Proper occasion for guests, visitors, or meeting the folks! ;)

I stopped in here for a lunch and had a solid meal. The wait staff was super unfriendly to me,…read moremaybe because I'm a westerner. I had the signature chicken (which to my surprise was cold and not spicy) and the spicy soup which was very good (I ended up pouring the broth over the chicken to give it a kick. The space is modern and sleek.

We had a simple terrible time here. The venue stinks, buried under a bank in downtown. The…read moreentrance is hard to find: you go up, up and then down, down, down to get in. They stalled us upstairs. The timing of duck ruined the meal -- we had the duck on the table literally before they asked us if we wanted a drink. The meal was totally chaotic as a result of that and our server who was lost and frenetic. We were shoved in a backroom off the main dining area despite having booked months in advance. The duck was decent, but no more. The rest of the food was tasteless. I'd never come back here in any circumstances. Oh, and the waitress was so lost that she literally brought the check twice, bringing it a second time when she should have brought the credit card machine to pay it. Disaster.

This was my first time here, and it won't be the last. The location of this restaurant is inside a…read morebank building, which was very unique. Upon entrance of the building, I was greeted by a very nice young lady who checked my reservation and asked me to proceed downstairs to the restaurant. I booked the Peking duck and rosewood bbq bork in advance. The BBQ pork was in a wooden box with rosewood underneath to smoke the meat. The meat was melted in your mouth and very tasty. The Peking duck was not only tasty but also unique in presentation. The server brought us the deck before it went to the chef to be prepared for us. First, it came the duck skin, which was seasoned with yellow sugar and melted in your mouth. Then, the meat came with freshly baked flour skin. This dish was the highlight of the meal. The service provided by the servers was polite and attentive.

Instead of marking the menu with chilies to show what is spicy they should mark what is mild!…read moreGreat flavors that awake. Your tongue! Really nice options for vegans. The vibe is classy but we felt comfortable wearing T-shirts. The noodles have a peanut tone that is lovely. Service was incredibly attentive.

Qi House of Sichuan was one of my favorite places to visit during my Hong Kong trip. We had just…read moregotten to our Airbnb and were tired beyond belief but we were also hungry. Found this place down the street and decided to go. The first thing you'll see when you walk in is peppers. And I mean a lot of peppers!! They had huge bags full of peppers everywhere which should give you an indication of how spicy their cuisine is. We ordered a variety of different foods and they were all great. It's was all flavorful and something I've never tried before. If you don't enjoy spicy food, you might not like this place. They put spicy peppers in everything!! By the end of the meal, our lips were on fire and I'm sure I couldn't taste anything near the end. But it was fantastic!! Definitely go if you are in the areas

We came here for restaurant week, so the menu and price was set at Hkd 328/person, which was an…read moreattractive deal given the quality of the menu. **A bit of background: Restaurant week happens few times around the year and participating restaurants offer tasting menus at set dinner prices of either Hkd 328 or 418 (and lunch at different ranges), offering diners a chance to try places at affordable prices.** King's Taste is from the King's Lodge chain of restaurants, which does traditional Shanghai/Beijing food. King's Taste is their upscale, modern take on traditional Chinese, as I guess this is the more hip and profitable way to operate nowadays. Decor is understated, tasteful and dim - wooden Chinese themes combined with a western layout, and there are stalls for groups of 4 or less. There was a very large group that night that took most of the seats in the restaurant that night, so our group of five received a cozy booth. The place actually wouldn't seem out of place for a date. An improvement they could make is on the background music volume, it was so quiet it was barely audible. For me, if I'm going to pick a restaurant for a date or for a conversation, its one that has some good background noise, to put people at ease, or to prevent that awkwardness when both you and your date are chewing and it goes silent. I think chilled out restaurants with a good crowd are usually full of chatter and banter, so no music is really needed; upscale places are usually more subdued so they have bands or music to 'fill the air'. This place seems to be aiming for classy, so I think that music would definitely help prevent giving out a noiseless, dead "library vibe". But the food is wonderful here, it's a delicate take on their usual menu at their King's Lodges, and I was pleasantly surprised. Won't go over everything I ordered but food is generally good here - they managed to take some more ghetto dishes, like steamed fish slices and garlic pork 蒜泥白肉, and give it a softer flavor and really pleasing presentation - check out the pictures. The place and the dishes are really quite presentable. That's why I mentioned it wouldn't seem out of place for a date. Some more traditional dishes like Xiao Long Bao (steamed pork dumplings) retained their original state and were very well done, and I think are comparable to the usual place such as 369 and Ding Tai Fung. I think part of their effort in modernizing the menu is to reduce the fat in the dishes, so the meat was a bit less 'smooth', but still juicy and flavorful. I think it is a positive thing and both works for me. Besides the smoked egg that we ordered in addition to the Restaurant Week menu (not sure what wood they used for smoke, but I found it bitter), most dishes left me quite satisfied that night. Also have to mention, the servers are exceptionally polite and attentive to details - our server, a pregnant lady, asked us if we were in a hurry or not, so she could decide how to pace the serving of the dishes. Impressed and also a tad guilty to have a pregnant lady take care of us. I think the place usually costs a bit upward than what we paid, I checked the normal menu and dishes are generally 200- 350, so with service charge average spend per person would be 4xx for dinner. But it is quite enjoyable and I would definitely come back to this place.

Even though only been a few years since their debut on Ashley and now newly minted Kimberly Hotel…read morelocation, Chuanxi (川熙樓) feels like it's been around forever. The makeover has resulted in a serious boost in decor, contemporary takes on Sichuan classics, and an overall high caliber operation. This is one of the neighborhood's tastier Sichuanese options, making it a great option for spice lovers. The menu is composed of really great options across the board, all which I've sampled has been excellent. For starters, their pepper bone fish soup (鮮椒無骨魚) has a beautifully clear broth and tasty chunks of fish. Another quality execution on an old classic, sauteed string beans (孜然四季豆) is crispy and full of flavor while the mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) is nothing short of fantastic. While the noodle dishes like dan dan noodles (擔擔麵) or scallion oil noodles (蔥油麵) haven't been as impressive, they are still better than most other places in the area. I've remained a fan of their tofu fried rice (豆腐炒飯), though their take on foie gras fried rice (鵝肝炒飯) actually blew me away. There were hints of smokiness and the foie gras essence was noticeable with every bite. Their marinated shredded lamb (京蔥拌羊肉) is also a surprise, no major bouts of gamey flavor but definitely A-game execution. A few other favorites include their spicy eggplant with minced pork (魚香茄子), poached eel in hot oil (沸騰土鱔魚), mala fish in oil (麻辣冷鍋魚), and poached beef brisket (水煮牛坑腩). My mouth is already watering. Their hot pot has been legendary, but I still haven't had it. The weather as of late feels a bit too warm for this, but that doesn't seem to stop people from ordering it. I suppose it's just that good. Service is most definitely next level, it's expected in places like this. What should also be no surprise are the prices, it's not backbreaking but would never be deemed affordable. Most dishes are a minimum $120HKD and any of the hot meat dishes noted above are in the $200 range. With 4-5 dishes, expect to pay around $1,200+. Quality Chinese is not cheap out here, but that's the way the climate is in Hong Kong's food (and rent) crazy world.

I tried the boiled whitefish in chili sauce and it was spicy and delicious as I expected. Also had…read morefried rice and it was fairly typical and also very good.