Dry spiced Bashu prawns
The fiery flavours: We started with the crispy pork jowl ($98), which were like little cubes of spice that we had to cut ourselves off from eating to make room for the many dishes to come. A very mild mouth-watering chicken ($128) came next, served cold, this is a popular dish from the region but didn’t hold any lasting memories for us. Pork belly with garlic and coriander ($98) is another great choice for those with tender tongues, along with the translucent beef slices ($108), which have only a hint of heat and were like eating beef chips with a light coating of sugar on top. The gastrodia elata ($108) is a root used often in Chinese medicine and similar looking to ginger. Its crunchy, watery consistency went well with the wasabi and chili sauces it was paired with as it holds almost no flavour on its own. The Neijing fried sea cucumber comes buried in a bed of mushrooms, minced meat and bean sprouts that are all combined to sit in a shell of iceberg lettuce for a crunchy wrap that’s surprisingly tasty. The tea-flavoured duck filled with chicken (shall we call it ducken?) ($145) is a pleasant non-spicy dish to cool down the taste buds while the Pi County fish in Douban sauce ($248) was so tender and delicious when paired with pumpkin, it was possibly our favourite dish of the day. But then came the Mandarin Fish in hot chili oil, which puts spice-lovers tongues to the test and was another hit around the table. The final dish was a dry spiced Bashu prawns that will literally stop you in your tracks. You’ll be thankful for the calming powers of the eight-treasure tea as this dish builds heat after you eat it and slowly turns your entire mouth into a fiery cavern that mercifully subsides after a few short minutes. It turns out this effect is also surprisingly addictive.
Tea-flavoured duck filled with chicken
The sweet afters: For dessert there was a simple yet refreshing Malva nut sweet soup packed full of goji berries along with the show-stopping candied banana fritters that are made right before your eyes with the tantalising smell that foretells its delicious flavours.
A scorcher of a lunch: Open for lunch and dinner with a very reasonable four course lunch set for $148 that includes several signature dishes to choose from.
7/F, M88, 2 Wellington Street, Central, 2521 6699
