Emperor's Kitchen 秦食 is a family-run Chinese restaurant at 351 Lincoln Road in Addington, Christchurch. It serves Shaanxi and Sichuan dishes, and it is known for its noodle soups and street-style snacks. The noodle soups range from a mild chicken broth to a spicy Sichuan-style beef soup, and the noodles have a springy texture. The Chinese pork and beef burgers in steamed buns are a favourite, and a stir-fried beef burger is also on the menu. Hot and sour dumpling soup and lamb soup with pita bread are on the menu too. The owner will suggest dishes to suit a diner's spice tolerance.
Diners praise the flavour, the clean room, the friendly family service and the quick food at a reasonable price. Some say the spice is weaker than they would like, and others say the burgers are juicy enough to get messy, so a small bowl helps. The restaurant does not open for breakfast, which one diner said was a shame for noodle soup on cold days. The listing shows one other Chinese restaurant within a kilometre, Maxine's Palace, 0.3 km away and rated 4.5 from 1190 reviews. Our pick in Addington for a warming bowl of noodle soup.