The beef tendon was sliced so razor thin that it was almost transparent. It had been braised to a gelatin like texture and came soaked in a chili oil sauce thick as syrup but the heat traveled fluidly like spilled liquid through the mouth. There was a heavy dose of sesame taste in the sauce followed by the bang of heat that came later. If you don’t like squishy jiggly chewy things, you’d probably won’t like this dish, but we were addicted to it.
We asked Han what’s the difference between this noodle dish and the Dan Dan noodles. He said, “In this one, the pork is fried in the wok, and the sauce is wet.” Definitely different from the more familiar Dan Dan noodles; there was more liquid in the sauce with the meat having a more crispy nutty texture (from the frying). We also discovered that mixing the sauce from the beef tendon jelly dish with the noodles was a spectacular combination.
Not sure what the actual name for this dish is on the menu; Han just calls it, “The Monster”. This is the infamous Sichuan hot pot in a bowl. Well, a rather big bowl with everything thrown in; fish, lobster, chicken, pork, beef, vegetables… The broth was robust and delicious, especially with all the peppers swimming in it. There was so much meat in this bowl that it could easily feed a hungry village in China.
Chili, chili, and more chili!
This is the Sichuanese version of a traditional Cantonese dish. The meat is from the belly cut with some still having the belly membrane attached. It is braised expertly until super tender while retaining all of the essence in the meat. The broth is made partially with the juice from the braising and is extremely deep in flavor with star anise being the dominant aroma. This hearty dish was an “Ubber winner!”
Rabbit with PeanutFinely cubed rabbit (about ¼ “ each) fried with black beans, sugar, spices, red hot peppers, then combined with chili and braised; served mixed with fresh scallion, sesame, and peanuts. The rabbit meat did not have much flavor but I love the sensation of the sauce with the tongue numbing spiciness and the crunchiness of the peanuts and refreshing scallions. However, I did not enjoy picking off the tiny bones off the meat pieces and avoiding the bone fragment splinters running amok.
Grouper filet flash fried with black beans, scallions, green pepper, red hot pepper, jalapeño pepper, and whatever peppers happen to be lying around the kitchen. The fish was delectable with its crispy edges coated with the black bean hotness and moist delicious meat inside. It was a bit salty but in a good way. It was the kind of saltiness that made you addicted to the dish.
Thinly sliced tender pork over vegetable in a sweet and hot broth. I like the meat very much since it was not over-cooked which took some skill to achieve because of its paper-thinness. There was a slight hint of sourness which I wasn’t sure if it was from the broth or from the meat itself. Besides being very enjoyable, the vegetables also gave the dish some dimension and depth.
This room temperature dish was salty but not as hot, until you hit the chili powder sprinkled on top; then the numbing started. There was lots of skin and fat on the chicken but the meat was very good. For those less adventurous eaters, get the meat that is soaked in the chili oil, they were actually less hot.
The noodles in the cold dish was made from green bean flour. It had sort of a jello like consistency. This noodle dish had a nice soothing effect, in a hot spicy way. I particularly enjoyed the very small whole peanuts that were sprinkled onto the dish which provided a nice textural contrast.
This dish was cook perfectly. Tender fish meat and crispy skin from the deep frying and a slightly sweet light sauce with crunchy fried minced pork and chopped peanuts. The meat was moist, gentle, and delicious. In the grand scheme of everything, this was not a spicy hot dish, relatively speaking, but outrageously delicious.
Chicken pieces battered and deep fried, then stir-fried with dried hot peppers and scallions. We were so enjoying eating the sweet, tender and juicy meat until Han told us that it was shrimp!
Pork belly sliced razor thin, flash fried first then stir-fried with vegetables. Let’s be real. This was the best stir-fried bacon dish I ever had.
Not to be confused with the other Green Bean Noodle dish above. The noodles in this dish were cut much wider. The sauce was thick and made with lots of fermented black beans which gave it such a unique taste. The sauce had that lip-numbing effect but it was also sweet and addicting. Like the other dish, the green bean noodles provided a cool soothing effect against the heat.
Thinly sliced lamb stir-fried with onion and peppers. Cumin is a much used ingredient in Sichuan cooking; however, we could not taste much of the cumin in this [relatively] non-spicy hot yet still very tasty dish. May be our mouths were still numb from the other dishes.
It had the same name but it was different from what we had at another time. The sliced fish fillet was battered, deep fried, then stir-fried with vegetables and a light touch of black bean sauce. We liked the slight sweetness and the little spiciness in the dish, and the meat was delicious.
If you seek authenticity, you may want to order this dish with the direct translation name, “Strange Tasty Chicken”. The “strange tasty” were all present in this dish; sweet, sour, Sichuan peppercorns, etc. The oily sauce submerging the chicken was ridiculously addictive but you had to keep stirring it with the sediment at the bottom to bring out that extra kick, like keep shaking a bottle of salad dressing for everything to be mixed properly.
(Not sure if it was done purposely; but this dish was slightly different from the one with the similar name above. Since Han has given us a lot of off-menu items, we sometimes didn’t know if were eating the same thing with a different twist or he was just screwing with our heads).
Very basic non-Cantonese style wonton (with a thicker skin) dressed in a slightly sweetened soy sauce and light chili oil dressing. A good Beginner 101 dish for any non-adventurous eater.
Shredded Pork with Bean Curd Tiny morsels of julienned pork and hard tofu stir fried together with scallions and pickled vegetables. The addition of the pickled vegetables made this an off-menu item, but this non-spicy dish in a slightly sweetened seasoning and the light crispiness and sourness of the pickled vegetables made this dish also a good candidate for eaters not familiar with authentic Chinese food.
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