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2015-11-01
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We were 11 people going for a room escape thing in Causeway Bay (I was on a team that escaped within the allotted time, just to insert gratuitous braggadocio). I booked us a table here earlier in the day on a Friday, but they weren't all that busy when we arrived at 7:30, and I think we could've managed without.Shortly after I moved to HK, I ate "here" once before at the earlier TST location, and I didn't like it. At that time, I hadn't had much in the way of Sichuan food, but I did know it was
Shortly after I moved to HK, I ate "here" once before at the earlier TST location, and I didn't like it. At that time, I hadn't had much in the way of Sichuan food, but I did know it was supposed to be spicy, and I was disappointed on that score with everything we ordered. But one of my friends had been to this new location recently, and he vouched for its quality.
I didn't get to take individual photos of each of the dishes, because of all the logistics, but here's a snapshot from the meal:
Here are some run-downs on things that we got (prices and menu-listed spice levels included). TL/DR version at the bottom.8 Flavor Tofu: This was a special menu item. There was an entire insert on special tofu items and this one looked the specialest. In the photo it's at 11 o'clock, but it's mostly demolished. What it was was a steamer basket with a cylinder of soft, creamy cold tofu. It came to the table with 8 sauces, and the server mixed them all together in the bowl, then you added the sauce to the tofu. Pretty straightforward. I'm not sure I could discern 8 distinct flavors, but everyone at the table liked it.
Beef Shank and Tripe w/ Chili Oil (3x spicy; $88): As a sop to the one person at the table who just had to have offal, we got this tripe appetizer. Says beef shank, is mostly tripe. By the time it got around to me, was only tripe. I didn't try it.
Translucent Beef Slices (Chef Recommended; 1x spicy; $88): I described this at dinner as "candy bacon beef". It's a very unusual dish. The beef is so thinly sliced that it is a bit translucent. It's also very fatty, and extremely crispy. I think it's thinly sliced, then coated in a sweet sauce and deep fried. The sugary coating gave it a crunchy, kinda peanut-brittle texture? Hard to describe. Many people loved its novelty.
Crispy Chicken Dices w/ Dried Chili and Sichuan Peppercorn (2x spicy, $168): (Black boat-shaped dish to the right of center.) This is a very standard dish and this version now rates All Time Favorite - MJ Seal of Approval. That's right. I've long held the view that bone shards are one of the worst and most avoidable aspects of Chinese cooking. Someone has finally come to the same conclusion. Fantastic.
Kung Pao Prawns (1x spicy; $208 x2): OK, so this was the most expensive thing we got. I was in charge of ordering, and it was difficult to quiet the table and get a consensus on order changes. When I ordered this dish, the server told me it only had 6 prawns in it (and we were 11 people), so I ordered x2. Then it came on one plate (5 o'clock, but all the prawns have been eaten) that seemed pretty standard size. So $416 for one prawn per person and some nuts. They were very big prawns, and very nicely cooked, but I don't recommend this.
Poached Fish Slices in Chili Broth (3x spicy, $188): 3 o'clock. This is my favorite Sichuan dish. There's two ways I've had it. One comes in a huge container with lots of oil floating on top and has a skimmer. I always took it that the implication is not to eat the broth. Another version is like this: it has a thicker, slightly less oilier broth and the spoon given you to serve it doesn't have holes in it. I like this version less well, in particular because the broth is still rather oily and I have to watch my figure. The fish was very good though and I think I ate more than my fair share.
Stewed Eggplant in Chili Garlic Sauce (1x spicy; $98): So much food, I left this to the vegetarians. I hear it was good. (Center of photo.)
Sauteed String Beans w/ Minced Beef ($98): Like the fish in broth, the string beans came with tons of Sichuan peppercorns. This I love. I can't get enough of burning and numbing. The beans were good. When everyone finished off the veggies, I grabbed the leftover pork and peppercorn hash and added it to other things to amp up the flavor.
Crispy Rice Served w/ Assorted Seafood in Chicken Broth ($168): This seemed like an exciting thing. Most of the noodle dishes were soups and came by the bowl, so we decided rice would be nice. This is in the photo at 6 to 8 o'clock. The rice is in these hard cakes and the idea is you pour the soup over it. Others said that it was supposed to crackle, but we didn't get any of that. Rice Krispies do that, so maybe something like that. Anyway, the broth was universally reviled at the table, luckily, before it got to me, so I just put the fish soup broth on it. Still, I didn't see the appeal. Like Rice Krispies with broth instead of milk.
Pork Wontons in Chili Oil & Garlic Sauce (1x spicy; $52 x 2): All the dim sum came at the end (hence not pictured). I never really like these, and this case was no exception.
Steamed Minced Pork Dumplings Filled with Chicken Broth ($42 x 2): This was the xiao long bao. A cool thing they did was give you a syringe to inject vinegar directly into the soup dumpling. There were only 8 for 11 people so I took one for the team and sat out.
Steamed Vegetable Dumplings ($42 x 2): As the name implies.
Seared Minced Mutton Dumpling w/ Sesame ($42 x 2): There was some issue with the dumplings and they never came; we inquired after them and they were produced at the end of the meal. They had a very thick exterior and a crispy fried bottom. I can't say the mutton-y-ness of it was all that outstanding. If you had asked me to guess, I'd have guessed it was pork.
Chengdu Sesame Seed Cake ($52 x 2): Fabulous. Crispy pancake exterior with juicy scallions and soft bready interior, I also took more than my fair share of this.
TL/DR version:
Things I highly recommend, in order of best to less best: Sesame Cake; Chicken Dices w/ Chilis; Translucent Beef Slices; 8 Flavor Tofu
Things I might order again that are not on the previous list: String Beans; Fish in Chili Broth; xiao long bao
Things I advise against: offal, pricey prawns, and crispy rice.
Executive summary: My initial misgivings about Yun Yan are laid to rest. The food was flavorful, and some of it was very spicy and very numbing. With judicious hoarding of chilis and peppercorns, it was possible for everything to be spicy and numbing. All of the Sichuan classics we ordered were executed to at least an acceptable degree of goodness, all the way up to some of my Favorite of All Time. We took some risks and some paid off (translucent beef), while others fell flat (crispy rice). The food was quality, and we got out for around $180 a head excluding beer (I'm not remembering, I just made a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, factoring in a dish I didn't mention). There's better Sichuan in town, but this isn't a bad choice.
张贴
