Mapo tofu, hot pot and dan dan noodles are some of Chengdu’s most famous
dishes. Hailed as UNESCO’s City of Gastronomy, the capital of Sichuan province
sets foodies’ imagination and tastebuds alight with its plethora of kick-ass
chillies and Sichuan peppercorns. Local dishes run the gamut from fried and
stewed to steamed and boiled with strong fiery-hot to
sour & spicy flavours.
To spur more Malaysian visitors to visit Chengdu which is also home of
the world-famous giant pandas, the Dorsett Grand Chengdu has flown in their chefs:
Zhou Xiang Rong, Bill Wang and Harry Chen for a charm offensive; enticing
food-loving locals to sample the city’s piquant fare at the
Chengdu Can Do
Food Festival from
27 October to 16 November.
Topping the hot chart is
Beef
Shank with Chilli; the slices of flinty meat flecked with bits of red chilli gently
scorching the tastebuds amidst the leafy bright freshness of coriander.
Coming in a close second is the
‘ma la’ (tongue-numbingly hot) yet
tender
Steamed Chicken in Chilli Oil with
a rounded nuttiness from the generous sprinkling of sesame seeds in it. Blunt the burning effect with some
Papaya
with Honey Sauce or refreshing
Lettuce
with Sesame Paste.
Briny and zingy accents coupled with crunchy texture rule in the
Marinated Black Fungus with Chillies and
Jellyfish Head in Vinegar with
cucumber strips heralded a welcome change of flavour dimension as the appetisers go.
Third winner has to be
Double
Boiled Duck Soup with Pickled Radish – an appetisingly sour, salty and mildly
spicy broth with little yellow chilli padi in it. The faint-hearted may opt for a slightly
unctuous but heartwarming
Seafood Broth
with filigree strands of egg or
Assorted
Mushroom & Bamboo Pith in Superior Soup – by far, the mildest broth
with a peppery edge similar to that of pig’s stomach soup.
Notable mains to look out for include
Steamed Fish with Chopped Chilli, Green Peppercorns and Garlic, Kunpao
Prawns and
Beef Ribs with Green Chilli.
We picked the bones clean off the fish; its inherent sweetness amplified by the
accompanying piquant topping.
Kungpao Prawns
Cashew nuts, rotund dried baby chillies and diced spring onion lent layers of textural and robust dimensions to the springy prawns coated in some caramelised sticky sauce; effectively reining in a bit of the diminutive chillies' kick-ass hotness.
Interestingly, the chopped green chillies piled atop the beef rib slices
tasted more herbaceous than spicy hot; its fresh acidity balancing the meat’s
lush richness.
More little round chillies made their presence felt in the
Braised Duck with Chillies. Bathed in
mildly tangy-sweet tomato sauce, the duck was so fork-tender that we could
scoop up the meat with a spoon.
Ramping up the hotness to mega sweat-inducing levels are
Braised Sea Cucumber and
Braised Abalone with Mapo Tofu. The
first offered a plethora of textural contrasts – from the crunchiness of bamboo
shoot to slippery succulence of mushroom set against the
warming heat of ginger, the smoky zing of diced red bird eye chili, the fresh clean
taste of chopped green scallions and the pungency of garlic.
Tart and zesty hot, Chengdu’s famed mapo tofu – diced custard-soft
beancurd flavoured with Sichuan peppercorns, red chilli oil and minced pork was given a
luxe touch with whole abalones bearing criss-cross patterns.
The
Boiled Dumplings with Chilli Sauce
were decent too; stretchy wheat skin parcels generously filled with minced
chicken with scallions. Again the ubiquitous chilli paste gave them a delicious
punch that won’t scorch your tongue too badly.
It would be unthinkable not to try the
Poached Noodles with Vegetables in Hot
Chilli Oil. Freshly hand-made by the chef in attendance, the rough ribbons
of chewy noodles are pleasantly tangy having been tossed in a sourish vinegar-based
dressing with black fungus giving extra crunch.
Vegetable dishes are no less intriguing in the Chengdu foodscape. The crunchy and sweet
Stir-fried Cabbage with Chillies won us over with its faintly
charred overtone.
Spice fiends may prefer the
Mixed
Vegetables in Chilli Oil – a lethal pool of tart and fiery-red chilli oil
brimming with fish cake, fish balls, bamboo shoot, beef balls, squid and sliced
lotus root.
Surprisingly, the
Boiled Mustard
in Mineral Water was better than we had expected; the green’s delicate
sweetness enlivened by a dollop of ground chilli paste.
The Chengdu Can Do Festival is held at Checker’s Café and
served buffet-style at RM88++ per adult for lunch and RM108++ for dinner.
CHECKER’S CAFÉ, Dorsett
Regency KL, Jalan Imbi, KL. Tel: 03-2716 1000
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