Chilli is addictive; its consumption triggers the release of endorphins (the body's natural painkiller) and gives chilli eaters a natural high and a temporary feeling of euphoria. Once hooked, there is no going back, and bhut jolokia is the limit (not that I feel quite ready for that yet, though...).
I find chilli cravings tend to get worse in winter, and as the weather has cooled down significantly in Honkie over the past few weeks and I have eaten quite a lot of delicious but remarkably unspicy Cantonese food of late, my body was starting to send me some warning signals that my capsaicin intake was dwindling to life-threatening levels and that action needed to be taken. I enrolled a couple of friends and booked a table for dinner at Yunyan Sichuan Restaurant (4/F Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui). Reviews of this restaurant are generally very good, and I would say that's well deserved. Even my foodie buddy Peech recommended the place, which speaks volumes knowing that he is not a chilli fanatic. The food was delicious and looked fairly authentic, and the efficient service was polite and friendly. In an effort to accomodate all patrons, the menu lists a susprisingly generous offering of non-spicy dishes, and spicy dishes are rated by spiciness on a scale of 1 to 3, which I found quite useful. I can't wait to go back and try more dishes, and would highly recommend the place to anyone who, like me, likes it hot...
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| Appetizer: spicy peanuts and spicy marinated tofu skins Both were very good, particularly the tofu skins, which had a soft and moist texture. A request for seconds was graciously fulfilled by our waitress. |
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| Stewed hairy crab coral served with steamed wheat buns We had a foreign guest at the table tonight, so we ordered a few dishes which I would normally not consider in this type of restaurant; this was the first one. The steamed buns were made with whole wheat and were light, fluffy and quite yummy. The crab coral was decently fragrant. Not bad. |
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| Shark's fin bouillon with crab meat This was surprisingly delicious and very generous in both shark and crab meat. The bouillon was quite flavourful (I think they might have used some chicken essence) and the bits of crab meat pretty sweet. Nicely done. |
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| Deep-fried vermicelli with hairy crab coral The hairy crab preparation was the same as in the first dish. |
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| The vermicelli were light and crispy, and became softer as they soaked up the crab sauce. Pretty good too. |
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| Crispy chicken dice with spicy dried red chillies and Sichuan peppercorns Rated "3 chillies" on the menu and quite spicy indeed, with a good tingle of Sichuan peppercorns. The chicken pieces were nice and crispy-chewy from the deep-frying with the chillies and peppercorns, which had infused the meat with their flavour. A very good dish. I could not resist munching on a couple of dried chillies, and these were actually not as lethal as I would have thought, even though still quite strong. They were of excellent quality; the flesh was slightly sweet and tasted a bit like smoked paprika. The amount of chillies on the plate left us wondering how much of the stuff the restaurant goes through in a month... |
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| Tofu with minced beef and chilli (Ma Po tofu) Another "3 chillies" dish. This was absolutely delicious, I just couldn't stop refilling my bowl. We ordered some plain steamed rice on the side to soak up the sauce. |
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| Tofu with minced beef and chilli (Ma Po tofu) The tofu was medium-firm and silky, and the very hot sauce was packed with flavours. Definitely one of the best Ma Po tofus I have ever had. |
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| Stewed bamboo fungus with mixed vegetables Fragrant mushroom in a nice starchy sauce with baby bok choi. Decent but a bit flat in taste and flavour after all these chillies. |
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| Pan-fried red bean pancakes This was pretty good. The pancakes were golden and crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside, and the red bean paste was really good. |
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