Chung Hing

I was out for a walk and I got hungry. It had been far too long since I'd eaten Chinese food - at least two days - so I decided to duck into Chung Hing. I didn't know anything about it, but from the look of the place I was relatively certain I could guess 95% of the items, and that there would definitely be lunch specials.

I wanted to do my impression of Will Farrell in Elf: "Congratulations, you did it! Best Chinese food in town!"

I've ordered a lot of garlic chicken and General Tso's chicken lately, but I've haven't had any orange chicken in months, so I decided to go that route. The lunch specials come with rice and wontons and a choice between soda or soup. I decided on soup, requesting the hot and sour. 

The "Weight Watch Section" falls into the 5% of the menu that I did not anticipate.

I thought about snagging all the duck sauce for Elizabeth's mom, who uses it the way I use Sir Kensington's. But I only took one. 

As with most of these places, the portion size is generous for the price (in this case $6.25).


I have eaten at scores of Chinese take-out joints all over this country, and never have I received soup as hot as what I got at Chung King. A few degrees hotter and it would have been boiling, I imagine. It took several minutes before it cooled down enough to be eaten. I liked it fine. It was very thin but there was nothing objectionable about the flavors.

Unfortunately, I hated the chicken. A mix of white and dark pieces, it was stringy, overcooked meat with a syrupy sauce that did not taste at all of orange, despite the fact that pieces of orange peel were present. I searched around for edible pieces and found two. The rest had to be thrown out. 

And the wonton chips were stale.

Sometimes places like this are crowded because they're cheap, sometimes because they're delicious, and sometimes because they're both. Chung Hing wasn't crowded at all, which should have been a good indicator to me. It was cheap (although I've had cheaper) but it just wasn't good. There is no need for me to ever return.