Chang Chang is part of Chef Peter Chang’s restaurant empire and focuses on the flavors from Hunan, Shanghai, and Canton, with influences from the Chinese diaspora in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Peru.  Peter Chang got his start working at luxury hotels in China and after winning national cooking competitions he took the foreign service cooking test and became the chef of the Embassy of China in Washington DC.

My experience at Chang Chang had some bumps. The first table we were seated at was covered, including the plates, glasses and tableware, with a very, very fine red powder. It was not immediately noticeable until it got on our hands and clothes.  The staff said the dust must have been left over from some construction work done on the front door earlier that day – not reassuring.   The other bump were that service had some gaps.  We had to ask multiple times to get bowls of rice with our main dishes and to get some chili oil.    

Although the dumplings were not among them, there were some standout dishes that I might return for.  The Dry Fried Cumin Fish was amazing and moderately spicy.  The dish was comprised of pieces of whitefish cut like chicken fingers, that have been fried in a spiced batter.   I have been seeing Sour Cabbage Fish Soup on more and more Chinese restaurant menus in NYC and I was excited to try it for the first time.  I don’t have prior experience with this dish to compare it against, but I really enjoyed the Sour Cabbage Fish Soup at Chang Chang.  The fish was delicately cooked and the broth had a sour punch and a slow burn heat that built up over the course of eating it.

The Dumplings.  Chang Chang’s dumplings were a disappointment.  First of all they are expensive, depending on the dumpling $10 to $16 for orders of four dumplings.  We went with the pan-fried option for the vegetable dumplings, which turned out to be really bland and non-descript.  One of the dumplings, which you can see in the picture, had a torn wrapper and looked kind of beat up. We also got the Signature Pan-Fried Shrimp Dumplings which are served embedded in a lacey, delicate crust of fried batter.  These gyoza style dumplings were large and packed with shrimp, but they also had very little flavor.  I ended up eating them because I enjoyed the texture and, most importantly, as something to dip into the amazing soy chili oil dipping sauce.  The shrimp dumplings and the vegetable dumplings just served as a vehicle for eating the dipping sauce, which I would return to Chang Chang to get again.    

The Location:  Chang Chang is at 1200 19th St NW, in the Dupont Circle neighborhood and is two blocks south of the Circle.