In the past, the arrival of a new book by Ching always led to an immediate frenzy of wokking, because the recipes were new and exciting. This time however, Ching's Fast Food is something of a disappointment. At least 11 of the main recipes have featured in her three previous books, sometimes under different names, and roughly half of the duplicated recipes are to be found in her last book, Chinese Food in Minutes. So far, I have only tried two of the new recipes in Ching's Fast Food, and both resulted in rather bland dishes, in contrast to those featured in her earlier books which, with very few exceptions, were full of flavour.
The layout of the book is attractive, and the colour photographs of the prepared dishes certainly make one's mouth water. Unlike photos in many cookery books, these show what a not-particularly-talented amateur cook can reasonably hope to achieve. However, I found that the use of coloured text on some pages does not make for easy reading, unless your kitchen has lighting worthy of a film set.
The chatty style which Ching uses to introduce each recipe and elsewhere in the text, is invariably informative, and encourages one to read her books from cover to cover, rather than just to dip in when looking for a particular recipe.
For someone new to Chinese cooking, this book represents a good but not outstanding starting point. However, for those who already have her previous books, you might, like me, find it a bit disappointing in terms of new and flavourful recipes.