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2009-12-19
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So I came here with a friend of mine after hearing a lot about this place. Since we booked last minute we took the reservation at 9:10PM. Environment: I am a little surprised how nice the place looked inside. Even though the decor was simple and straight forward it definitely had a more western design vibe to it (maybe they are catering more to western customers). We were lucky to be one of the first ones let in so my friend and I snagged a 2 person table (the only one at Da Ping Huo). Our table
Environment: I am a little surprised how nice the place looked inside. Even though the decor was simple and straight forward it definitely had a more western design vibe to it (maybe they are catering more to western customers). We were lucky to be one of the first ones let in so my friend and I snagged a 2 person table (the only one at Da Ping Huo). Our table although small didn't really feel cramped and it was nice not having to share a table with anyone else.
Service: The owner and his waiters were extremely friendly and efficient the entire night. At one point the owner suggested I should have another bowl of rice and literally 2 seconds after he left my table a waiter placed a new bowl of rice in front of me. The only thing I will mention is about communication. If you don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese it might be a little tough communicating with the waitstaff (although the owner does speak English...at least enough to get by). Even Cantonese I don't think is the strong suit for most of the staff. Since I spoke some Mandarin we used that to converse most of the night. This is not a major issue...but an issue nevertheless you should be aware of.
I love spicy food so onto the food:
Trio of Sichuan Appetizers
Sweet and Bitter Melon (糖醋香瓜) - Pretty similar to Shanghai cuisine flavor wise. Nothing particularly special but it had a nice crunch to it.
Spicy Veggies 3 Ways (涼拌三絲) - So they julienned (cut into long thin strips) carrots and Chinese celery (I think) and threw in some bean sprouts. The sauce had a nice heat to it (people started to cough all around me...haha) which I liked. The sweetness from the veggies was a nice contrast against the heat. Quite a nice appetizer in my opinion.
Sour Spicy Bean Sheets (酸辣粉皮) - Bean sheets if you didn't know look essentially like wide translucent noodles. This was also a spicy dish with peppers and nuts (very similar to roasted kernels). I personally liked the bean sheets a lot. Nice cooling sensation to act as a contrast to the heat. What I didn't particularly care for was the nuts cause there was too much of it. If they had more beat sheets and less nuts...this dish would have been much better.
Main Course
Braised Chicken with Sichuan Spices & Chili Oil (口水雞)- This was actually quite tasty and not all that spicy. Chicken was flavorful and the texture was quite smooth. My only gripe was against our cut since the bones in our pieces were kind of big.
Sauteed Mushrooms & White Cabbage With Minced Chicken Soup (雞豆花) - To me this dish is essentially a Shanghaiese dish. The flavors are just so familiar. Quite a good dish nevertheless. The soup broth was quite tasty and the cabbage was cooked right (a lot of restaurants overcook it and it becomes kind of gelatinous). Nice dish after the few spicy dishes.
Stewed Beef Brisket & Tendons in Spicy Gravy (紅燒牛肉) - Another good dish. The brisket was tender and the tendons chewy (but in a good way). Not super spicy and full of flavor. My favorite dish of the night.
Steamed Pork Ribs in Jenrofen Powder (粉蒸排骨) - Jenrofen I believe is some sort of meat spicing powder (to give it added meat flavor). Also the pork ribs were sitting on a few blocks of winter melon. To me this dish wasn't all that great. The meat from the pork ribs was kind of 'mushy' (maybe from the jenrofen?) but it did taste fine. Winter melon was a nice touch.
Spicy Prawn (川味泡椒蝦) - I would say a miss in my book. With the spicy sauce it was sitting in I don't particularly feel it is ideal for the customer to remove the shell ourselves (gets quite messy) and I didn't see any wet naps nearby. The shrimp itself tasted quite neutral flavor wise since the spice hadn't really penetrated through the shell yet. Shrimp was relatively fresh and the taste was quite clean.
Bean Curd With Minced Beef in Hot Chili Sauce (麻婆豆腐) - Mapo tofu is a staple for Sichaun food so I was excited. I would tell most of you to watch out for this dish since it is probably the spiciest out of all the dishes. To me (even though I eat super spicy) there comes a point where the spicy kind of overpowers the flavor of the food. Sadly I felt this was the case here (and I LOVE spicy food!). The diced bean curd was nice but I had a tough time really tasting the meat. Decent dish but I think it would be better if just toned down the level of spiciness.
Vegetable Soup (碗豆湯)- Nothing spectacular here. Tasted very similar to Chinese egg drop soup (with Chinese watercress) which was a nice change of pace against the spicier dishes.
Sichuan Dumplings (鐘水餃) - I personally am a big fan of dumplings and I found this quite nice. Pork filling was yummy and the chili spice had a nice kick to it. Skin to me was a little on the thick side but overall it was a good dish.
Dessert
Sweetened Bean Curd With White Fungus (雪耳豆腐花) - Although maybe a little unconventional...I probably would have preferred ice cream after all that spice...haha. Anyway, I'm not a particular big fan of hot Chinese desserts but this was pretty decent. The bean curd and white fungus was in a bowl of sweet liquid. Decent ending to the meal.
An important note: They charge $150/bottle corkage fee so we ended up just ordering a $300 bottle of Riesling at the restaurant.
At the end of the meal the owner and his wife goes around to each table to ask how your meal was (which was a nice touch). Afterwards the owner's wife will sing a 3-5 minute Sichuan opera song (a cappella style) to all the customers. She definitely has a nice voice and range but personally I'm not a really big fan of Chinese opera so it wasn't really my cup of tea. My friend and I joked we were expecting our wine glasses to shatter since she was hitting some really high notes
Overall I thought this was a good meal but I felt the Sichuan dishes were a little one dimensional. At least to me even super spicy dishes should be prepared in a way whereby flavor is not scarified. Afterwards I was thinking...if there was a noodle dish like a bowl of dandan noodles (擔擔麵) instead of 1-2 of these other dishes...I probably would have been much more satisfied.
Service and the environment I thought really was the saving grace here. Even though I am a big fan of spicy food I just feel my $500 (including wine) could really be spent better elsewhere. Not to say their food wasn't tasty (cause some dishes were) but I just didn't feel as satisfied as I should have.
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