the fiery of all things spicy...
but let's begin from the start...
i must say i was skeptical at first...
when my friend jio me out for a Si Chuan cuisine a la carte buffet...
and knowing that it is an authentic Chinese restaurant just add to my skepticism...
Chinese restaurant at Chinatown?...
hm...
for those who know...
i recently had a bad experience with Si Chuan steamboat...
so although i was pretty excited about trying something new...
i was worried about two things...
is the food really that good...
can i handle the heat...
coming off the escalator from Chinatown MRT...
the first indication of the place was its sign...
looks like a simple authentic Chinese restaurant...
and before my prejudice about things Chinese can hit me...
i was smack in the face with the not-so-ugly truth...
yes...
the place looks more than decent...
it would not have been out of place in any shopping malls or in town...
now for the food...
i know what most people would think about Si Chuan cuisine...
spicy and hot...
heavy favoured...
and most importantly...
so spicy u cannot even begin to enjoy the meal...
that was what my friends and i feared from the start...
if we cannot handle the heat...
can we enjoy the dinner...
and from the start...
perhaps they already give u a pretty good indications of things to come...
even their peanuts feature deep fried chili pieces...
(which towards the end of the meal... when i gathered enough courage to try them... i realised that they are not hot at all... just gives u a little tingling sensation in the mouth...)
my friend's girlfriend is familiar with the dishes...
so she was in-charge of ordering...
the first few dishes looks alright enough...
nothing too spicy...
and they all taste pretty good...
a good start...
and we slowly venture into the main dishes...
the spicy stuff...
to my surprise...
although the dishes look pretty scary...
with seemingly more chili than meat or vegetable in each of them...
they are not outright spicy...
they are actually pretty tolerable...
spicyly nice...
but u do have to watch out for some of the spices they put in...
if u happened to bite into them...
the taste can be quite overwhelming...
and to all those who cannot handle any form of spicyness at all...
there are actually non-spicy dishes there...
but if u are going there just to eat that...
then u are missing all the fun...
(funny thing is... their kang kong is not spicy... hahaha...)
overall all the dishes taste good...
despite ordering about 15 different dishes...
we only touched the tip of the iceberg...
their a la carte buffet offers a very comprehensive menu...
and the buffet itself only offers selective items from the actual restaurant menu...
so u can imagine the magnitude of dishes on offer there...
and as i observed...
many tables actually order from the main menu and was not there for the buffet...
a few things to note though...
the buffet is only available if there are 3 of u dining or more...
and most importantly...
the dishes are of a standard size...
so if there are 3 of u...
or 7 of us...
the serving would be the same...
so i think if u are going for the buffet...
u should really look at a number of about 8-10...
so u can really sample the different dishes and eat ur money worth...
one final bad point...
even though my friend made a reservations for 7pm...
when we arrived at 6.55pm...
we were told to wait till someone leaves...
that says alot about the popularity of the place...
and also that making a reservation seems pretty much pointless...
i simply can't see any difference from walking in...
all in all...
if u are looking for authentic Si Chuan cuisine...
or want to try something tolerable spicy for a change...
Chuan Garden would be a good option to consider...
No comments:
Post a Comment