Sichuan Restaurants in Singapore -Review

[superfinefeline]

If only TTC could write a book...but its not easy to be able to put out stuff like that. How else to put down TTC's wealth of knowledge in one location & for posterity? *scratching head*

Hmm...how abt a "manual" ie. something like the Gongfu manuals in volumes... Ok, ok, its another of my wild ideas.

Anyway, Moonie...keep eating Sichuan, you'll find your pain treshold rising.

BTW, TTC should we rename "Sichuan Food Buddies" to "S&M Foodies" instead?

[southernoise]

how about a monthly newsletter format, and at the end of the year can compile into an album, TTC Speaks Vol 1 2008, 1-12.

jokes a side, I enjoy reading TTC's posts a lot.

[Tiantianchi]

BTW, TTC should we rename "Sichuan Food Buddies" to "S&M Foodies" instead?

Glad you all enjoy it Southernoise idea is good. If we can compile all the interesting posts. I particularly enjoy MM Eslim's sharing of all the food and non-food knowledge (this one is the real encyclopedia, my mentor and idol ), Miki', Hungrybear & Mothball recipes ( and of course the other forummer's) and cooking ideas, Chihuahua's gardening threads, jm's localized ang moh perspective on Oriental food etc. These are all the gems in this forum.

Consolidating the Sichuan food postings in this forum (to be continued indefinitely as and when one is tried. Please contribute your experience too). You will also find out that Sichuan Food is not all about spicy food.

The renewed Sichuan food craze started with An Fu 安福which Eslim discovered and we did a makanouting sometimes ago.

http://www.makansutra.com/forums/singap ... hp?t=14197
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/columnists ... 09,00.html?
http://food.recentrunes.com/?p=1499#comments

I particularly like how they handled the Suan Ni Bai Rou ( 蒜泥白肉Sliced pork with garlic sauce). Sliced belly, chilled and placed in a small basket with the sweetish, not over spicy but garlicky sauce at the side. Most places would have served it together with the sauce but by having it seperately, you decide how much sauce you want and you can actually taste the sweetness of the pork itself. There is another version where they kind of hang the pork on a small bamboo stick, I tried that in HK, but I think someone mentioned to me before SilkRoad might have it, it is the same thing but just gimmicky display which actually look rather impressive.


picture by Makanguru KF Seetoh

Do order the guotie 锅贴 if you like dumpling. The only other place I know that serve it this style, having them stick together with a thin layer of crust is Silk Road but at a hotel restaurant pricing.

picture by NinjaHk

The homestyle duck (魔芋家乡鸭 Mo Yu Jia Xiang Ya) is delicious and goes very well with rice. A deceiving light looking dish which is robust and explodes with flavor with each bite, the use of konnyaku ( Chinese call them Mo Yu) was ingenious as it not only gives a crunchy flavor similar to sea cucumber, it absorbed the flavor very well.

Of course another must try if you like fiery seafood is the Tyrant crab 霸王蟹- Makanguru has described it well enough in 2 short sentences which I cannot do better.


picture by Makanguru KF Seetoh

After not having tried too many Sichuan restaurants in that short while, I tot this is it. Although I was not satisfied because I felt the food can be more spicy and more numbling. I felt the handling of the Sichuan pepper could be better, they were not the freshest and I could not really blame them because the best pepper is not easily available here.

An Fu Restaurant is at #01-06/07 Balestier Road, Tel: 6254-3266, Open 11:30am to 3am.

One of the makankakis that shared the same sentiment when we had our dinner there was Superfinefeline and she told me she wanted to bring me to an even better Sichuan food. Of course I jump at that opportunity and it was about 2 weeks later we visited. Jin Hang 津杭as the name suggested was formed joining 2 Northeastern City Tienjin and Hangzhou. I am puzzled, as why would a place supposingly serving Northese Eastern cuisine be serving South Western food. Anyway. the food was pretty good and true enough, the numbling level is a notch higher than An Fu, but I must say, they cheated. Instead of toasting the Sichuan pepper, crushed it, they used it whole and so you get a more instant sensation that hits you on the face. Unfortunately the restaurant did not last very long as the owner decided that Raffles Place area is not an easy place to serve this kind of food. We are still hoping that they reopen for business somewhere else soon.

picture by superfinefeline

http://superfinefeline.blogspot.com/200 ... style.html
http://superfinefeline.blogspot.com/200 ... al-rd.html


To be continued.....

[Tiantianchi]

New dishes ordered at Ba Yu Ren Jia last night. Toned down version because some of the friends could not take overly spicy food. Saw Zhang Hai Jie ( 张海洁 Chinese News anchor) at the restaurant and noticed she ordered extra spicy



Fu Qi Fei Pian 夫妻肺片( sliced beef tripes and ox tongue in spicy sauce)

Very spicy, very shiok. Not for the faint heart and offal haters. This is a starter. If you want to frighten off any unwelcomed guest who can't take spicy food, this is it.



Gan Guo Ya She 干锅鸭舌(Duck tongue in mini wok).

This taste very similar to the sauce they use for Hui Guo Rou, beany, sweetish and tinge of Ma and not as spicy as it look. Rather addictive. The big chunks are deep fried Yam. HungryBear, you looking at this? This was specially ordered with you in mind.


Ba Yu Special spicy sauce Eel ( 巴渝腾椒鳝鱼)

With this dish, I did the unthinkable. Even after downing a mug of beer, I could still feel my tongue burning, the head itch and my lips were in trance. I have to dose the fire with a full can of soya milk before I felt lots better. But the sensation is super shiok and despite the spiciness, you could taste the sweetness of the eel. This is a must order if you love spicy food and I rank it higher than their shui ju yu in term of taste.


Pan fried Bitter Gourd (甘煸苦瓜）

I have not had this for a long time since Sha Wan closed down. I always wondered why no other Sichuan restaurant I have tried later does this? Is it because the version with string bean is too popular or the chef does not have enough confident because this needs skill. How to balance the saltiness, the spiciness, to bring out the sweetness of the bitter gourd and yet at the same time without diminishing overly the distanct character of "Kumness ( there is not such word but it is similar to a bittersweet, liquorice tasting description" They didn't really do it too well here compared to what I had at Sha Wan, a little too bitter and a little too "green" tasting. A nice try though. My current favourite for this style is Guo Fu and the shameful part is this is not done by a Sichuan chef. [/b]

One more for HB


Apology...still trying to take better picture with a 1.2mega pixel camera phone.

[superfinefeline]

aiyah! next time bring me along lah...for the paltry cost of one plate of "ma yi shang shu", I will be your amateur food photographer for the meal!

*thick-skinned kitty grin*

[Tiantianchi]

Yeah yeah yeah, let me practice a bit more lah.

Does it requre a Sichuan chef to do good Sichuan dishes?

The answer is no, not really.

This is evidently so at Guo Fu 国府. Recommended by Superfinefeline again (she is definitely a bigger Sichuan food fan than I am ) Read her review here

We were lucky we have her with us. The first Ma Po Dou Fu almost let me conclude that a non Sichuan chef cannot cook Sichuan food but the second serving was fantastic. Got to be one of the best we have eaten. It has the right numbness, the right spiciness, and the right savory taste. Even better the mince pork was fried till a little crispy. For those who read Chinese, it has the right 麻,辣,酥,香, a good Ma Po Dou Fu should be.

Even better was the Gan Bian String Bean. This dish got a standing ovation from me. The string bean should be pan fried with very little oil till it is slightly charred, dried up and remaining crunchy and sweet. They did it very well. The right amount of minced pork and you could even bite on the numbling salt crystal. The best I have ever eaten in Singapore till now.

I am not so impressed with the La Zi Ji. It should not be deep fried in a batter. That is cheating. But I noticed non-Sichuan chef went making this dish like to use batter, this is the same at Jin Hang.

Overall, very good for Sichuan food cooked by a Northerner.

[Tiantianchi]

Speaking of La Zi Ji. I like it but it has never really been my biggest favourite dish in Sichuan food, cause deep fried stuff has never been my favourite in the first place but all my fellow female buddies including my dear wife simply couldn't get enough of it.

So when my buddies suggested we try out this restaurant using the name of La Zi Ji at Smith Street, I have high expectation. La Zi Ji Sichuan Cuisine 辣子鸡 we realized was owned and managed by the Chen Fu Ji group. That probably set the alarm bell ringing and my expectation actually went down a notch and fortunately so.

http://www.grains.com.sg/eng/

Of all the dishes we had, none really stood out. The Shui Ju Yu has to be the most expensive in Singapore at $30 plus a serving. They claimed to have used grass carp ( 鲢鱼) but frankly I could not tell much different in term of taste, or texture from the normal patang fish or dory most places use. The La Zi Ji was not outstanding, so is their ma po dou fu. But what made me rather furious was the Kou Shui Ji. It tasted just like half a bottle of Lao Gan Ma Chilli Oil ( 老干妈油辣椒）poured over it. Excatly the same MSG laden spiciness and even the peanut tasted the same. I don't even taste any additional of other condiments in this dish.

Over priced, gimmicky and pushy, not a place I will return.

[superfinefeline]

My sentiments exactly! It didn't help that the waitress had a slightly snooty attitude and spoke as if they're the ONLY authentic Sichuan restaurant in Singapore. They are firmly etched in my memory as my WORST Sichuan food experience (not counting Canto-Pseudo-Sichuan interpretations).

*sputter, sputter*

I was soooo dissatisfied after that meal, I had to get another Sichuan fix...which was when I visited Guo Fu for the first time (also recommended by another friend, FW, who checks out Sichuan places with her Chinese colleagues).

[Tiantianchi]

Speaking of Canto-Pseudo-Sichuan, one of the people whom I count as a main inspiration that spurs my renewed interest in Sichuan food is actually Jacky Yu of Xi Yan fame.

http://www.xiyan.com.hk/

It was after tasting his version of Kou Shui ji in 2002 when I was in HKG that I got hooked to this starter. The slight variation of his version is the addition of century egg and liang fen that impressed me greatly.

His Ma La Beef brisket was the inspiration behind RSSH's Ma La Beef Brisket noodle and one of my favourite pot luck dish.

His intepretation and improvisation of Sichuan dishes never fail to amaze me. I would rather call it Nouveau Sichuan.

Unfortunately I was told the Singapore branch is not exactly as high standard as the HKG one.

http://food.recentrunes.com/?p=1360

...... to be continued

[superfinefeline]

Ooh la la! I must try Xi Yan when I next haul my lazy a** to Hong Kong!

[superfinefeline]

BTW, for those wondering why I am using Szechuan and Sichuan. The word Szechuan was more commonly use than Sichuan until recent years.

I have the same problem. I grew up using the word "Szechuan" but in recent years, "Sichuan" seems to be the more "correct" form.

BTW, TTC, I went to Guo Fu for lunch yesterday. Even though we've always known that the food quality is inconsistent, nothing quite prepared me for what was served. I'm quite convinced that there might have been a change of chefs or that the chef who does Sichuan best was not cooking our dishes yesterday.

The Mapo Tofu was so mildly flavoured that I was literally eating spoonfuls of it without breaking a sweat, no tingling sensation on my lips/tongue and didn't feel a need to eat any rice to accompany it.

The Si Ji Dou was too moist and lacked the spicy salt crystals that we used to love. This was even though I had requested for an authentic version (ie don't sugar coat my Sichuan food).

I was sorely disappointed. I told the new waitress who attended to us (its a pity that the friendly waitress who used to serve us left about 2 months ago) that the food didn't taste like how it used to, she just looked flustered.

I didn't want to give her a hard time so I dropped the matter. However, if Guo Fu is intending to pass this off as Sichuan food, they'll have to consider renaming the Tofu dish to "Po Tofu" ("Ma" which means "numbing" has to be dropped from the name as a more accurate reflection of the dish's flavour).

[Tiantianchi]

That is what I always worry about. Unless the kitchen is managed by the proprietor there is always this chef turnover problem. If there is consistency it always last only 2 years because the PRC chef will always leave unless given a good term because by then they want to move on or has gotten their PR status.

[superfinefeline]

Yeah. We should definitely hedge our options & continue the quest to eat at all the Sichuan restaurants in Singapore!

[hungrybear]

img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/2710488802_8a2f63a568.jpg[/img]
Gan Guo Ya She 干锅鸭舌(Duck tongue in mini wok).

The big chunks are deep fried Yam. HungryBear, you looking at this? This was specially ordered with you in mind.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, kum sia kum sia.
Can you imagine moi salivating at the foto

One more for HB



Triple oozingggggggggg of gastric juice liao

Apology...still trying to take better picture with a 1.2mega pixel camera phone. Nada, tks for the thot n efforts :lol:

[Tiantianchi]

There are at least 5 Sichuan restaurants in the Chinatown vicinity and since it is not too far from the Sichuan Buddies offices, obviously we would like to try them all.

Our choice today is Chuan Garden Restaurant at 79 Pagoda Street. The reason being this the most classy looking among all the Sichuan restaurants ( and we realized with price to match) there as we are having Overseas returning and junior members attending this round but mostly because of recommendation here:

U also trying the Sichuan hotpots restaurants as well?
If so, die-die must try Ba Shu Ren Jia along Geylang Road. It is near to Lorong 9, I think...
The Sichuanese I know have tried most of the Sichuan restaurants in SIN and they all have 1 conclusion - this 1 is the best!

You see Chuan Garden is a sister restaurant of Ba Shu.



What I hated most when you are placing order of food and the mind of the staff is to push for high ticket items and not just refusing to listen, refute every choice you made, almost every dish has a better and more expensive version. Not that there is anything wrong to up sell if expensive items are indeed what a diner come from, but I am more interested in knowing how good the chef can cook rather than how expensive the ingredients he can find. .

Boss of Chuan Restaurant must be pleased that his staff is very persistent in doing that but to such obnoxious extend I almost wanted to walk out of the restaurant. Ordered 7 dishes for 7 adults and 1 kid and he told me I did not order enough and pushing me to order a few more. Anyway we ended up having 9 adults and 2 kids, so we did order 3 more dishes but only because they were non-spicy for the kids.

These are what we ordered:

1) Yangzhou Fried Rice 扬州炒饭 - any cze char restaurant can do standard.

2) JinJiang Rou Shi 京酱肉丝- if people were to tell you Sichuan chef can't do Beijing dish, this will be one they must order in order to prove themselves right. Tasteless, oily and uninspiring. A disappointment especially after trying Guo Fu's ( told their standard has dropped by SFF though). In actual fact I have tasted some of the best Beijing dishes by Sichuan chef, but certainly not here.

3) Hong You Ji 红油鸡( Chicken in Chilli Oil - their version of Kou Shui Ji) - not too bad. What I like is the this is done like a cross of drunken chicken with chilli oil sauce. What I don't like, too much "refrigerated" taste.

4) Suan Ni Bai Rou 蒜泥白肉- the version I like, which is hung on a bamboo post. Very small portion of about 8 slices of meat and a sauce tasted only of chilli and soy sauce and nothing much else. Was told SilkRoad does this version very much better.

5) La Zi Ji 辣子鸡- lacks punch and flavor though very aromatic with well toasted fresh Sichuan pepper.

6) Shui Zhu Yu 水煮鱼- Now, this is what I call fish. Thick, slurpy, tender chunk of fish meats. Rather tasty stock but disappointed with the very muted spicy and numbling sensation. Interesting and good idea of adding beancurd skin in the stock.

7) Fat Beef with Golden Mushroom in Spicy sauce 金菇腾椒肥牛 - I was expecting nicely marbled sirloin slice but it is just beef shortplate (or brisket - those in in Yoshinoya), sliced thinly, half than quartered. Almost like eating minced meat with golden mushroom. Not exciting.

Ma Po Doufu - I don't even want to talk about this. As bad as what we have eaten at La Zhi Ji. All I tasted is the saltiness from beanpaste.

9)Gan Bian Shi Ji Dou (pan fried string bean) - Not too bad. But could do with a little more chilli flakes.

10)Ma Yi Shang Shu (Minced meat with vermicelli) 蚂蚁上树- boring and salty.

Overall, not a value for money place with prices about 30% more than other Sichuan restaurant and only the Shui Zhu Yu will make me come back. Lots of MSG too. The service, other then the ordering part was pretty efficient and polite, is a little illogical. Despite informing them that the food only to be served when ALL the guests arrive, they send the food out TWICE before all the guest arrived. The excuse was, they are starter and we DON"T need to wait for all the guests to arrive.

Do make sure you check your bill. Additional item were added if you are not careful as happened to us.

(Do check out SFF's & Umami blog for alternative perspective and photos if they were to post them)