Szechuan Chongqing 重慶大飯店 : Commercial Drive location

Yeah… not going to bother taking another photo of the restaurant's exterior LOL, this photo is good enough. Around 9:00pm on a Sunday, where is there to go for Chinese food? Other than the usual late night restaurants on Kingsway, Fraser or Main Street, apparently Szechuan Chongqing is open until 10:30pm (not really late night but it was useful in my situation)!

I have been trying to come here for a while now and well, I just do not bother. Possibly because my family has never been here, or family friends… or hey, even my own friends! Meaning, there must be a reason right? Plus, when I tried visiting the location in Burnaby, their seafood was $5.00/lb higher than Kirin! As for the interior, the restaurant looks quite nice. The interior follows a neutral color scheme, has a high ceiling, chandeliers, and is fairy big as well as spacious.

PEKING DUCK THREE COURSE MEAL ($38.95).

FIRST COURSE, PEKING DUCK SKIN AND CREPE WITH HOISIN, GREEN ONION AND CUCUMBER.

The accompanying sides are green onion, hoisin and cucumber. Despite that I would have preferred brushed green onions, it was fine shredding them apart myself rather than using the whole cut. Plus, I hate asking the restaurant for more and feel guilty. As for the crepes, there is a nice elasticity, are very thin without ripping and do not taste too chewy. Furthermore, the crepes do not stick together despite the damp looking appearance.

Moving towards the highlight, there is a variety of random Peking Duck slices to satisfy many diners. Some of the slices have a chunk of meat which I do not prefer, while others have a ton of fat which I also do not prefer. However, there are a couple (literally) with just the skin which I do prefer. In addition, the skin is neither soggy nor crispy and although it is not the restaurant's fault, there are a few inedible pieces with hair attached. 

SHANGHAI STYLE DUMPLING, XIAO LONG BAO (7.95).

Being hesitant and contemplating whether or not to order these, our waiter recommended them and mentioned they are housemade, so meh, why not? The XLB has a medium thick skin and tastes juicy; however, the meat tastes bland as well as gritty. Yeah… these are not that great but hey, it is a generous portion?

PEKING DUCK THREE COURSE MEAL ($38.95).

SECOND COURSE, PEKING DUCK LETTUCE WRAP.

The duck meat is actually not too bad! Well diced, not mushy and has a tasty seasoning. I have to say, Chongqing has one of the better Peking Duck lettuce wraps! Also, I like the fresh crisp large pieces of iceberg lettuce. However, my friend prefers the younger pieces since she does not like breaking them in halves before eating.

PEKING DUCK THREE COURSE MEAL ($38.95).

THIRD COURSE, PEKING DUCK BONE SOUP.

The soup has a rich flavourful barbecue duck broth and does not taste salty. In addition, the soup tastes like it has been cooked for at least ten minutes considering that most restaurants (including "fine dining") only cook on a fast boil for five minutes. I also like that the ingredients are not removed from the soup before serving because in a way, the broth tastes better. Overall, the soup is actually quite flavourful compared to pretty much every restaurant I ever had peking duck at.

STIR FRIED SCALLOPS WITH CHINESE BROCCOLI ($18.95).

Despite the glossy appearance, the dish does not taste too oily and the Chinese broccoli has a nice crunch. As for the scallops and although moist, there is an unpleasant milky ocean flavour. The scallops should have been properly rinsed under water before cooking. Furthermore, I am not a fan of the scallops sliced in halves and prefer whole ones. The dish pretty much tastes average and is nothing special; however, I am probably spoiled from restaurants (including cheaper ones than here) that properly rinses scallops and adds a tiny bit of a house broth rather than serving a generic sautéed dish.

TOTAL: $71.25 + $8.75 = $80.00

Overall, we tipped 12% because there was no service. Our waiter never made himself available or changed our plates. Also as the dishes arrived, he did not even help us juggle some plates around to make more space at our small table. The funny thing is since we spoke English and after we paid, he yelled in Chinese to the manager, "I knew they would only give $80.00". Well, I have no problem tipping more but we had no service! By the way, his tone of voice was like I knew it, not cheap asses.

In the end, the restaurant is nothing special and despite only ordering Cantonese dishes rather than Szechuan which defeats the purpose, I would not come back to try their Szechuan cuisine or to the other locations. I will mention though, the restaurant is extremely non-Asian friendly! Our waiter was extremely friendly to a couple of hipsters and a table of first year post secondary students that were drinking cocktails.

POSITIVES

- Restaurant is non-Asian friendly, like VIP service

- Peking duck lettuce wrap and soup is pretty good (3/5)

NEGATIVES

- We had no service

- Food makes just average

LITTLE THINGS

- Yes, no brainer, we ordered all Cantonese cuisine and nothing Szechuan

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 1/5