SzeChuan Zeng’s Restaurant (巴渝人家), Spicy food from ChongQing

SzeChuan Zeng’s Restaurant opened some time around winter 2018. They are one of the newest, most under appreciated SzeChuan restaurant in town. I came here when they first opened in late 2018. It was pretty good at the time so I decided to come here again in mid 2019.

SzeChuan Zeng’s Restaurant is located on Kingsway, between Joyce and Boundary in Vancouver. It’s in a plaza that is tucked in, so it’s harder to spot. There is limited surface parking space and a lightly bigger covered parking structure off the side.

The entrance is quite unnoticeable, sharing an alcove with the Korean meat shop next door.

Focus on food, not decoration.

Upon entering the premise, I immediately noticed the Christmas decoration from last year. I’ve also spotted some of the decorations from the previous restaurant that occupied the space. I don’t think it’s too big of a deal. We go to Chinese restaurant for their tasty food, not their services, and not their decoration.

There is a wall-hung television playing the latest Chinese entertainment show. It’s also hard to ignore the Chinese signage scattered on the wall. This type of decoration is usually catered to the younger crowd from China.

Boiled Sliced Pork Kidney with Spicy Sauce

If you can accept innards food, don’t miss out on the pork kidney. Pork kidney is hard to cook. First of all, it’s difficult to clean. Then, it can easily have been raw or overcooked. The thickness of cut, the wok temperature, and timing all contribute to the quality of this dish. SzeChuan Zeng’s Restaurant cooked the pork kidney perfectly. It has a crunchiness to the bite that I really appreciate.

We ordered medium spiciness. It was a bit spicy for the first few bites, but I eventually got used to it. The spices were in perfect balance. I could not taste any strong undesirable pork kidney taste. Do note that they give a large amount of pork kidney compared to what other restaurants give.

Chongqing style spicy noodle

The noodle was oily and spicy. They can be a bit more chewy for my liking, but they are really delicious. When you order the ChongQing style spicy noodle, keep in mind they are a little numbing. SzeChuan Zeng’s Restaurant serve a big portion of noodle. We did not finish them.

Pork Blood in Spicy Soup

Pork blood in spicy soup is not really a soup. It is cooked ingredients soaked in spicy oil. They did not cheap out on the ingredients. You can find pork blood, spam, tripe, intestine and meat in them. All the ingredients are cooked perfectly. Nothing is raw and of course nothing is chewy like rubber.

The washroom was relatively clean. However, the half fallen acoustic ceiling tile with pot light it in really worried me when I was doing my business.

604 Food Critic Assessment

SzeChuan Zeng’s Restaurant serves tasty spicy food. They did not spend much time on store appearance. The service is satisfactory. Come here for the food, and nothing else.

How to get in touch

Phone: (604) 336-9866
Location: 3510 Kingsway, Vancouver