Tonight we tried a Sichuan place which was written up in the City Weekend magazine as a can’t miss restaurant. It was the restaurant at the Chengdu Representative office in the Shudu Hotel, down an alley from Jingshan Park. The entrance embodied the usual Chinese soulless décor of provincial hotels and the restaurant fared no better, with a very cafeteria like appearance. The smell of baijiu which greeted us at the hotel entrance only intensified as we entered the restaurant. We sat in a private room away from the noise and odor- it was 8 pm when we sat down at the only table left. The dinner started out auspiciously as they informed us the kitchen would close at 8:40. Then as we were ordering we found out that they had no Ma Po Doufu, kind of the equivalent of McDonalds running out of French fries. Nevertheless there was plenty more to choose from. The only beer options were warm, as they informed us the refrigerator was not plugged in. But a short trip down the alley produced ice cold Yanjing at 5 RMB a bottle so we were covered on drinks.
The food itself was good, just not great. We might have been receiving slightly reduced spice levels being foreigners- often very common in Sichuan restaurants in China. The cold appetizers included a nice lotus root with a spicy sauce with a tinge of peppercorn and the standard Sichuan cold dish - spicy chicken in a sesame spicy broth. The dandan mian were for me, the highlight of the meal- spicy broth, noodles done to perfection with minced pork and green vegetable- very well executed and I was sweating after this one. The shuizhuyu (fish in spicy oil) was ok. Our first choice- catfish- was not available so we opted for the basic river fish. It was ok- the fish was well cooked- nicely tender- but the broth needed more peppercorns- it was just very mild. The laziji ( deep fried spicy chicken and peppers) was reasonably well executed with a nice kick but the chicken was pretty sparse. The gongbao xia (shrimp) was garden variety- a good balance of sour, sweet and spicy- but again, not enough spice- the shrimp were also on the small side. There was a very nice beef fillet and green spicy pepper stir fry which had a good balance of spice, and the gan bian (French beans with preserved vegetables and chil) was done to a very high standard, the beans tender/crisp with the nice sourness of the preserved vegetables complementing it perfectly and a small bit of spice to give it a little character.
All in all, it was an acceptable meal, at a very acceptable price – 105 RMB a couple- which is very hard to do in Beijing these days. We were kind of forced out of the restaurant at 930 as the last ones to leave as things shut down early. The company was great and the food satisfied at the basic level. There are better Sichuan places to be found in Beijing, so this is a can miss, but it was not bad overall.
A wine I enjoyed this week was the Vriesenhof Kallista 2004 – a South African meritage style red with Merlot and Cabernet as well as Cabernet Franc. The wine had a medium body, with very soft tannins (the bottle aging was just about right). Plenty of red fruit to enjoy and a little bit of earthiness coming from the Cabernet. A very pleasant drink.
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