Little Chilli   小辣椒 

The usual bowls of Dan Dan Noodles served in Hong Kong aren't exactly awe-inspiring right? Most of their soup base is so Hong Kongnised and just made from off-the-shelf, syrupy & viscous sesame oil which (and they look dark brown, translucent and reminds you of sesame oil than sesame paste) is then mixed with something resembling peanut butter. Its hard to explain on paper how they're made, if you haven't seen it. I COULDN'T BELIEVE MY EYES, IF I DIDN'T SEE THEM BEING SCOOPED IN WITH MY OWN EYES! Where is the creamy grinded Sesame Paste they promised, and which the original Sichuan recipe calls for?

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LITTLE CHILLI is not something unfamiliar as I've eaten some of their Sichuan dishes over the years, but on a quest to find a more Authentic Sichuan Dan Dan Mian, I was happy to find something remotely Sichuan Authentic like ~ finally! That's not to say I don't like the Shanghainese~Hong Kong~Singaporeanised versions, as I've had a few good ones at these following places:
1) 鄧媽媽過橋水餃: http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=22607
2) 翡翠拉麵小籠包: http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=18758
3) 詠藜園四川擔擔麵: http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=7773

Original 四川擔擔麵 has proven elusive to locate in Hong Kong so far! You see, even within Sichuan itself, there are a variety of interpretations of the same noodles dish apparently. The most traditional Dan Dan Mian version in Sichuan, as sold in the older street stalls, actually allows the customers to choose their own selection of toppings! Kind of like the Taiwanese noodles. These might include pickled bean sprouts, beef or pork mince, herbs, nuts, chilli and a variety of things. Nowdays however, modernised Sichuan Dan Dan's have evolved over time. They used to have less soup and were more of a dry mixed noodles, but these days they are mostly half covered in a red oily soup, with sesame base at the bottom and often served with minced meat. Although this soup shouldn't cover more than half the noodles, unlike the Hong Kong submerged soupy versions.

The one served here can definitely be considered an authentic enough version! The soup base is both hot and sour with sesame taste. Made of real Sesame Paste (not only sesame thick oil), Soy Sauce, Dried Ji Tin Chiu Chili (for numbness factor), Chili Oil, Chili Beans Paste, Vinegar and Sugar, etc. This is known as a Sichuan 怪味 base, more or less a mother sauce in Sichuan cooking. There are also some braised peanuts, dry crushed peanuts on top and some herbs. The only thing missing from this version is a pickled Bean Sprouts used in Sichuan, which the chef here said are unavailable in Hong Kong. There are also no meats in this version and you cannot choose the level of spiciness. It wasn't very spicy here though.

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UNFORTUNATELY, good and authentic Sichuan Dan Dan Mian are hard to come by... The one here is pretty close to authentic, but I wish it has more Optional Add Ons for us to choose from. The Noodles themselves aren't very Sichuan like, but its a compromise that is understandable...

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   Need a Beer to Cool me down..
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   Nearly Authentic Enough. Just look at the Red Oil!
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   This has Red Chili and Sesame Taste. For once !

Due to my job nature, I have to travel to Foshan, China pretty often. For this reason, I got addicited to spicy Sichuan cuisine, My boyfriend knew about my addiction and brought me to Little Chilli in North Point. To be honest the location isn't convenient at all. It is inbetween North Point and Fortress Hill. It is slightly closer to North Point, yet you still need to take several minutes walk from the MTR to get to the restaurant. Saying that, this restaurant does worth these minutes of walk and here is why.

There is nothing more important than having real genuine Sichuan Cuisine. While most restaurant adapts localisation, Little Chilli provides Hot Yummy genuine Si Chuan dishes. I could literally tell whether a restaurant provides genuine traditional dishes as I have tasted a lot of Chuan Cuisine in Foshan, and Little Chilli is definately one of them. One of the reasons behind is because the restaurant is run by real Si Chuan people. I have had now tried Little Chilli for several times, and among all the dishes there are 3 that I Love and are SO GOOD that should not be missed.

1) House Special | Little Chilli Spicy Fried Rice (小辣椒炒飯)
It is the BEST of the best. Normally people will not order fried rice as white rice might be enough to go with the already spicy Sichuan Dishes. Yet Little Chilli Spicy Fried Rice is something that you should not miss. It is a very spicy dish with a strong fantastic scent. Hot red chilli pepper, scramble egg, spam bacon and green onion bits are scattered around the Little chilli Fried Rice, and every spoonful of it gives you the satisfaction you could never imagine without trying it in person. All you could do is keeping on craving it bowl after bowl.

2) Boiled Beef Fillet in Hot Spicy Sauce (水煮牛)
The Boiled Beef Fillet in Hot Spicy Sauce is a traditional dish that most likely could be observed on Sichuan dinning table. Served on a pot with hot red chilli pepper and slices of beef floating on top of the spicy hot chilli sauce, colouring with drizzles of green onion to complete the mouth drooling look. The beef fillet is killingly good, and if you like spicy, you could always try the bean sprouts dipped down the pot, all soaked and absorbed the essence of the spicy sauce. Yummmmmm.

3) Spicy Dumplings (麻辣餃子)
Equally yummy is the spicy dumplings. Served on a hot chilli sauce, it is nicely wrapped with generous amount of pork and veggie with sprinkles of peanuts and green onions on top. This is really really good and usually a back order is expected.

If you love spicy food, I highly recommend you to try Little Chilli. I reckon it is the best Sichuan restaurant with reasonable and definitely affordable price in Hong Kong. Yet, if you are looking for fancy furnishing and excellent services, you should always go to more high end restaurants. While if you are looking for real genuine Sichuan food, Little Chilli should be your best choice.

P.S. They do not provide table reservation service, be prepared to wait for a bit if you are coming in a big group.

www.cinnamon4coffee.blogspot.com

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   Crazily Good Little Chilli Fried Rice
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   Mouth Drooling Boiled Beef Fillet Pot
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   Spicy Dumpling, back order guaranteed

This is a good value sichuan restaurant in North Point that doesn't offer the best example s of this kind of food in the city but also doesn't cost as much as many of the private kitchens Mum Chau's of Sijjie which do. Its easily possible to have a meal here for under HK$100 each and there are big bottles of Chinese beer for HK$10.

The dan dan mihn came in a huge bowl and was excellent value for HK $18 – a meal on its own. The noodles, although not home made, had a satisfying doughiness and were much better than instant noodles. The sauce lacked the complex flavor of some version’s I’ve had, but it was thick and enjoyably spicy, much better than the translucent, oily sauces some places try to pass off. Plenty of broken peanuts and chopped spring onion, added good texture.

The laaht zi gai, served in a large metal pan, was large enough to justify its HK $68 which makes it more expensive than most of the dishes here. It is satisfyingly heaped up with Chilis, giving you the wonderful joy of fishing through to pick out the nuggets of meat. The restaurant got the first fundamental law right by using chicken on the bone. The pieces weren’t that meaty, which is a double edged sword; giving the meat more flavor but meaning you need Cantonese chewing skills to tear it off. With much less oil than most versions, the meat was beautifully dry and crisp. There were plenty of chilis and peppercorns to give flavor, but I wished there could have been more of the sichuan peppercorns which add the mouth numbing 'ma' taste to the dish. They had also used a lot of salt, and red powder (probably some kind of msg flavouring) which the dish would have been better without. .

seui jyuh ngauh yuhk (boiled beef) also offered a large serving for the price. Lots of strips of beef are sunk down into the extremely spicy sauce. Eaten with a bit of rice, this is really a meal in itself. The sauce had enough vegetables added to it and was satisfyingly spicy, but again the flavour lacked the complexity of other versions I've had. Here it felt like the spice really drowned out the flavours of the meat and vegetables and overall was a bit bland. The lower quality beef used here also meant that instead of being really tender and soaking up the spicy sauce around it, this tasted a bit coarser and less flavoursome.

Won Ton in Chili oil were okay, but nothing special - the won ton tasted like they had been made in house, but the sauce was a bit blandly spicy and could easily have just come out of a bottle. I've had better versions of this appetizer elsewhere.

小辣椒 serves authentic Sichuan cuisine at a reasonable price. The sour spicy noodles (suan la fen) are superb, though not for those unused to numbing Sichuan peppercorns. Standard Sichuan dishes are all recommended, the ma po do fu (pockmarked grandmother's beancurd) and hui guo rou (twice cooked pork) in particular. Some vegetable dishes have the trademark Hong Kong addition of shrimp, but 9 times out of 10 what's served here is authentic.

Open 11am to 5am, delivery available. Drinks are exceptionally cheap (Blue ice beers 12 HKD for 3, Yanjing 15 HKD for 3).

Service is passable at best - at quiet times it's quite hard to get noticed.

Although the ambiance is lacking, little chilli feels like a very authentic Sichuan eatery and is one the spiciest places I have eaten in HK. Almost every dish is filled with sichuan peppercorns and red chilis. English speakers should also be warned that although they have an English menu, it is very different, and much shorter than the Cantonese version. Thus, it is advisable to either bring a native speaker along or supplement your order from the English menu with dishes ordered by pointing at whatever looks good from other table. From the English menu, my three favorite dishes are the "Chicken with Paprika", "Pork with garlic sau" and "Aubergine with bean paste." The dishes on the newspaper advert placed under the glass on each table, including the spicy dumplings, prawns with peppers, and chilli crab are also all quite good, and although not on the English menu, easily ordered by pointing at the pictures. From the Chinese menu, the hotpots and seafood dishes are often good, although because they can only be ordered by pointing at other tables, can be hit or miss. The noodle dishes and deserts are also best avoided. In terms of service, the waitresses are somewhat hurried and abrupt, and will likely not want to deal with you if you don't speak Cantonese, but will become far friendlier if you try to use a bit of Cantonsee. Finally, be sure to order lots of beer (only 10 for a huge bottle) and rice, you'll need it for the spice.