Guest Review: Zhonghua Traditional Snacks, Cambridge

Reviewed by Shifa
After a facial and massage to ease work stress nothing is better than a finger licking Chinese meal to finish off the day. I have been to this restaurant a couple of times before and each time I loved the food. I prayed more than hoped the food would be as good as it had been before during my recent visit – I was not disappointed!
The restaurant is tiny, it holds around 20 seating places, it does not have the nicest decor (very takeaway/fish and chip shop vibe), with uncomfortable, very closely packed wooden chairs and tables. So nothing special with a slightly run down feel and look.
Since my friends I had been here before we ordered our regular hot and sour soup (one each), dumplings with fish (steamed) and prawns (grilled) and a marinated tofu salad. Our order was taken about 5 minutes after arriving which was great as you can imagine after the caloric expending day of a massage and facial – we were all starving!

The food took about 10-15 minutes to arrive, with the marinated tofu being the first dish to grace our dirty’ish table and eagerly awaiting poised chopsticks. We had never ordered this dish, so were intrigued, hungry and eager to try it. It was salty, fresh (cucumber slices) and refreshing with a nice hit of coriander and lashings of chilli. It was lovely and tasty.
The hot and sour vermicelli soup bowls made their appearance next; what I love about the food in this restaurant is the size – they are unafraid to give the diner a big portion! As a food lover who is unashamedly greedy with a large appetite I was most pleased.
The soup was to die for – everytime I have had this it has tasted the same: hot, sour, spicy, salty – so more-ish, so satisfying and so great! I cannot rave about this enough – it was amazing. The look of the food is not the neatest or the most artistic but who cares about these things when inhaling the best hot and sour soup I have tried. Please note that wearing white coloured clothing is not advised, because if you are like me and like to feed your clothes and your belly, your clothing will not be too pleased.

Whilst we were all slurping the soup, the two dumpling trays arrived – 12 pieces of each type of dumpling (brilliant portion size). The fish filled dumplings were steamed and the prawn dumplings were grilled. Both excellent however my favourite were the steamed dumplings – brilliantly flavoured, soft, hot and chewy! Yum! On the table you were given bottles of vinegar, soya sauce and chilli paste to make your own dipping sauce – great accompaniment to the dumplings and a great personalised touch.
Verdict: I would most definitely go again…and again…and again!
I love the food at this restaurant and would gladly go back and try some more dishes however there is not a huge fish or veggie selection but enough for me to keep going back again. A definite must try!
Food: 9/10 (borderline 9.5)
Ambience: laid back, student feel
Decor: take away style, run down
Service: efficient
Value for money: bloody brilliant!
Price: ££
(Hot and Sour soup x3, fish dumplings, prawn dumplings, marinated tofu salad = £35.50)
Address: 13 Norfolk St, Cambridge CB1 2LD
Discover great halal restaurants near you using the Halal Gems Restaurant Finder App. Download it for free on the App or Play Store here.
About Shifa

Shifa has been interested in food for as long as she can remember. She enjoys finding new places to eat, either expensive and chic, homely or a hole in the wall that serves amazing grub. Nothing upsets her more than bad food and long nails.