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2013-06-11
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Foolishly my wife and I had tried to come here on the weekend with no booking. And we were not seated. Less foolishly, we returned today with a table booked. I love spicy food, so I had high hopes.Two dishes arrived at the beginning, free of charge. On the left we have some mildly spicy red and green chilis, both quite flavorful. On the right, garlicky cucumbers. They were both pretty good. AThis isn't the most appetizing photo, I'll admit. There's a reason I don't get paid for my food photograp
Two dishes arrived at the beginning, free of charge. On the left we have some mildly spicy red and green chilis, both quite flavorful. On the right, garlicky cucumbers. They were both pretty good. A
This isn't the most appetizing photo, I'll admit. There's a reason I don't get paid for my food photography. This is a spicy Sichuan dumpling. "Spicy" is part of the name-- it's not actually spicy. The dumpling is however pretty tasty. Juicy, with a nice pork-vegetable balance. If it weren't advertized as "spicy" and if I weren't comparing it to other better Sichuan dumplings (say, at Chili Fagara), I'd give it an A. As such, it gets a B+.
I love chilis as vegetables. I must've eaten 9,000 green chilis on my recent trip through New Mexico. Anyway, these Sichuan chilis in vinegar sauce were a perfect instantiation of what I wanted. I have had this dish better-- but not much better. (mildly spicy) A
The chicken with cashews and chilis was surprising. I'll say up-front that it wasn't spicy. Even eating mouthfuls of those red chilis (and yes, I did that) did not ratchet up the spice all that much. But the chicken was amazing. It was crispy, tender, and spiced with cumin (surprising part) and Sichuan peppercorn. Maybe the best version of this dish I'd ever had. A+
The server asked if we wanted him to skim off the chilis. I declined, but there was some miscommunication and he skimmed them off anyway. I got him to stop most of the way through, and this picture is after, so you can imagine what it must have been like before. However, again, there's not much spice in the chilis, even eating them as I said by the mouthful. However, intermixed with the darker red dried chilis were some smaller, brighter red, fresh (or less dried) chilis that had a searing hot intensity. I think you can see one in the photo-- it's a little to the left of center, and it still has its stem on. BE FOREWARNED before eating one. I had several, but they stopped me in my tracks a couple of times.I love this dish in general. I had it one time at a restaurant with no English name in Tsuen Wan and it was spectacular. This instantiation was less than spectacular. The fish itself was tasty, but nothing amazing. There were plenty of Sichuan peppercorns thrown in, but the flavor wasn't well incorporated. Every now and again I'd bite one and get this intense bloom of numbing pepper-- it was quite an experience, but I'd prefer it a little less instense, and a little more spread throughout the dish. The bean sprouts in the dish were, I thought, the most flavorful part. It wasn't very spicy EXCEPT, again, those chilis about which I warned you. B+
Looking back, I'm going to give this place an A-. The service was friendly and polite. The food was between "good" and "excellent." I could see myself coming back, even though I don't often return to restaurants, especially ones as difficult to access as this is for me. I don't see why everyone was raving about the spice levels here-- it is spicy, unlike Yunyan; but I frequented Sichuan places in New Jersey with a higher heat level than this. I'm going to have to keep looking around for the Sichuan food of my heart... or maybe just go back to Tsuen Wan.
A-
Other Info. :
$740 with all that food and 4 beers for 2 people. Beer is the usual Tsingtao, Blue Girl, San Miguel, Carlsberg...
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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