cafe • restaurants • shopping

Hi Chong Qing (Hi CQ)

We were curious to try this place for a while now after it’d been featured in Time Out Melbourne and Good Food. It’s a quaint little place tucked in an alleyway close to Lygon St, with not much seating space and only one staff working when we came. The menu is quite small, with only 5 items which are all noodle dishes. Unfortunately, both the Beef Tendon Noodles and the Chinese Herbal Beef Noodles were sold out, which was disappointing. So we just ordered the 3 that were available. The famous Signature Chongqing Noodles was delicious, the broth was very flavourful and with just a slight spice (at the less spicy level). The Spicy Beef Noodles has a numbing broth, very different from the signature one. Not my favourite, but if you prefer something heartier and spicier, this would be perfect. However, the Pork Mince & Chickpea Noodles were probably my favourite - the toppings added a nice texture with the noodles. For each bowl, the noodles were cooked to perfection - very fresh and a nice chew. The only thing we found is that the noodle portions were rather small compared to other Chinese noodle joints, so I’d definitely recommend getting an extra serve of noodles if you’re hungry. Overall, we had a nice meal at Hi Chong Qing and left quite happy. If you’re in the area, it’s worth checking out.