You could spend years making your way through the menu at Hwa Yuan Szechuan, and just as long eating at every table in the three-floor restaurant. It feels like a province unto itself, one where Szechuan cooking has been practiced and paid tribute to on and off since the 70s, when Shorty Tang founded the original restaurant, Hwa Yuan Szechuan Inn, in the same spot. It was here that Shorty supposedly introduced the city—and the country—to sesame noodles, long before they’d been bastardized into a Skippy noodle knot by lesser chefs. They delight to this day with the perfect balance of sweetness and spice, like so many other standout dishes: Peking duck (as good as any in the city), Kung Po fried rice, Hunan chicken, spicy crispy beef, a whole fish with hot bean sauce, soup dumplings, Moo Shu pork … it goes on forever. As the enormous space suggests, Hwa Yuan is the sort of place where you bring reinforcements—the larger the party, the more food you’ll be able to take down. You shouldn’t have any trouble scoring a reservation here. When so many other restaurants in the city have fetishized food, Hwa Yuan’s Chinese banquet hall interior is almost a cue to relax and try a little less. —Nathan King

Nathan King is a Deputy Editor at AIR MAIL