Eat Drink Hong Kong

Chonqing means double celebration. I certainly felt like celebrating, after all it’s not often I can persuade anyone to join me for fiery Sichuan food, and I’d been wanting to try this restaurant for quite some time. It was my guests idea, we were just strolling along Elgin street wondering what to eat when he said, “Lets go there”. I was in through the door before he had a chance to change his mind

The restaurant is quite narrow and has a nice old traditional feel to it without being too slick. The staff are friendly and we felt completely at ease from the moment we walked in.

We took our places and ordered beers. They do have a selection of wines but I prefer to have beer with spicy food. Not because of any notion that it will sooth a burning palate - it won’t. I just think it tastes better.

The menu is an elegant cloth bound affair with descriptions in both English and Chinese and if you are still unsure, the staff also speak excellent English so it is very easy for non-Chinese speakers to order with confidence.

My friend already had his nose buried in the menu. He is also very partial to sichuan cuisine, which I hadn’t known until then, so I was quite happy to follow his advice on which dishes to order.

For starters we ordered the classic Sichuan chicken ($62) and spring rolls with fresh prawns and asparagus ($88). Though spring rolls they are, they were cut into slices that reminded me, a little, of sushi. A notion that was reinforced by a compartment on the side of the dish which was filled with soy sauce and a dollop of mustard. The overall effect was truly delicious.

The chicken was served on a bed of clear flat noodles and was garnished generously with those wonderful smoky dried chillies. My habit of munching these whole usually generates expressions of alarm from fellow diners but my guest this time didn’t even notice, he was too busy with his own.

To follow we ordered soft shell crab with chilli sauce ($138), sauteed sliced beef in pungent sauce ($118), pan fried string beans with minced pork ($88) and, at the suggestion of the waiter, pork dumpling with garlic and vinegar sauce.

The crab was the first dish to arrive and seemed a logical continuation after the chicken and the spring rolls. I love soft shell crab and these were as good as any that I’ve had. The sauce was spicy but not volcanic. Instead of overwhelming, it accentuated the flavour of the crab.

Next came the string beans and the beef. The beef was a kind of hot pot which sat on its its own heater bubbling happily away while we finished the crab. And finally the dumplings arrived.

The dumplings were not spicy at all, they were flavoured with herbs and had the effect of luring the palate into a false sense of security before treating it to the beef hot pot. This was very hot indeed. It was still very flavoursome and despite the fact that we were both getting quite full, we dived in enthusiastically and made short work of it.

We decided to give dessert a miss. I always feel that skipping dessert is shirking my duty but to be quite honest, sweet dishes seem to have little appeal after a good Sichuan dinner. The chillies and the beer compliment each other perfectly and what we really wanted right then was a nice cold one for the road.