Little Spicy Chinese Restaurant is a full-service Riccarton dining room with a menu designed to work for both individual rice or noodle meals and a larger Chinese-style shared table. Reservations, table service and takeaway all operate from its unit on Riccarton Road, giving diners flexibility without reducing the venue to a counter. The range reaches from dumplings and roast meats to Sichuan preparations, claypots, seafood, tofu and vegetables, so a group can mix familiar comfort dishes with plates carrying considerably more heat.
Dumplings provide several different openings. Pan-fried pork dumplings emphasise a crisp base, Sichuan dumplings come dressed in red chilli oil, and scallion-oil dumplings take a more aromatic route. Deep-fried wontons and roast pork-belly bites add crunch and richness, while cold poached chicken uses Sichuan pepper, chilli oil, soy, vinegar, garlic and ginger for a numbing, sharp contrast. These snacks are useful as a shared first round, especially when the table wants to compare gentle and fiery flavours before choosing mains.
Rice and noodles make the menu approachable for a quick solo meal. Chicken, combination and Yangzhou fried rice sit beside beef ho fun and other fried noodles. Soup bowls include barbecue-pork wonton noodles and beef-brisket noodles, each bringing broth, meat and starch together in one order. Crispy roast pork, sweet-and-sour pork or stir-fried pork can also be served over rice. These formats offer the kitchen's broad flavours in self-contained dishes, while remaining easy to supplement with a vegetable or shared plate.
Larger dishes reveal the restaurant's full range. Stewed beef brisket arrives in a claypot, sliced beef takes on hot chilli oil, and Chongqing chicken brings a dry, chilli-led style. Black-bean beef and sweet-and-sour pork provide less fiery counterpoints, while salted-egg-yolk prawns give seafood a rich savoury coating. Tofu, roast meats, vegetables and eggs prevent the shared meal from becoming only meat and heat. Milk teas, fruit green teas and slushies cool the palate, with Hong Kong-style peanut-butter French toast available as a sweet final plate.
Address: Unit 1, 87 Riccarton Road, Riccarton, Christchurch 8011, New Zealand
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