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2010-08-27
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Back in the day of videogames, there were game packs, one of those packs that contain several, if not more than 10 games all compressed into one game (gamers can choose which one to play) It often felt like all the good games were on their own, and the crappy ones got into these compilations, as if the companies are trying to sell them out without having to invest money in their own game. These games, often overlooked, are generally not very good -- much attention has been focused elsewhere. A s
A similar situation goes into dining, I found, that when restaurants are trying to accomplish too much in one sitting, it often compromises the quality of food turned out from the kitchen. Why trying to have Korean, Japanese and Thai all under one same roof when you can perfect Korean or Japanese or Thai all on its own? Yes, it certainly attracts certain kind of crowds, but to many who gain knowledge of what good ethnic cuisine can be, the in-betweens are slowly disappearing, replaced by folks who feel more conscious about what they serve. Shouldn't that be good news?
But here were, at 湘川滬 right at the Kwai Tsing Theatre. It looked the part of a traditional restaurant along the lines of Shanghaineses -- cooks are at the front kneading dough and making dumplings. The restaurant takes up a big space, as we settled along the booths by the windows. We didn't feel for soup-filled dumplings, and out of three regions in its name, we focused a little bit elsewhere.
Chicken in hot chili sauce (重慶口水雞, $60) has such a generic name that the owners did not even attempt to mention Chongqing in it (as indicated in its Chinese name). The dish, a dome of arranged bony chicken pieces, were laden with a garlic-based chili sauce. It didn't feel very hot to our standards, but then neither were the Sichuan peppercorns. There was a faint flavour there, but it didn't manage to numb any of our senses. It was slightly disappointing, but gnawing on the bony bits as the chicken was tender and the marinade has been well absorbed, it wasn't the end of the world, we figured.
Sliced Beef in Spicy and Red Chili Soup (天府水煮牛肉, $88) had that stunning image similar to that of a 水煮魚 (Sliced fish version of the dish). The dried red chilies are all there, and so is the stinging heat and the strong punch of Sichuan peppercorn formerly expected in the chicken dish earlier. This dish, soupy with an abundance of chilies and mung bean sprouts, also featured slices of beef, unfortunately fell into the category of "tenderized". It didn't taste like beef at all, so soft, almost to "meltingly rich". One would've preferred beef to taste scrumptious like beef, but this one didn't, but the other ingredients, like the batons of cucumber and the bean sprouts, were great in the chili broth.
Soup Noodles with Spicy Peanut sauce (担担麵, $23) looked the part, and as we bathed ourselves into a whiff of aroma from the noodles, we were expecting peanuts, or a potent dose of nuts and chilies and heat. This noodle soup wasn't quite near it. In fact, it was faintly nutty, and the noodles were overcooked into a hot mess. It tasted more like a 煨麵, except that the texture wasn't there yet. One can still use chopsticks for this.
Panfried Assorted Meat Dumplings (三鮮鍋貼, 4pcs/$25) were disappointing. The filling was juicy enough, but the wrapper was too thick and doughy at the top, with the pleated crown slightly undercooked (starchy), while the base had enough browning, but it was also very hard, not a light crunch at all. Rounding up the meal we chose the Panfried Glutinous Rice with Assorted Dates (煎8寶飯, $48) It's by far the one and only dish we couldn't find obvious faults in. The dried fruits and peels were sweet as they should be, while the base of this glutinous rice patty was lightly crispy while the entire dessert was right at the perfect sweetness level.
It's amazing how much one can learn from places like this one -- it's not always about how many varieties you can choose, but about how well you develop the dishes you serve. Looking into the glossy menu here with more than enough regional dishes to make three regional cookbooks, I couldn't help but to think that if they take out one particular region and focus more on the other two, the quality could've been different. I can be wrong, but between varieties and quality, how should one choose, in a business where one often is considered to reign supreme over the other? That, is an open question for all of us to ponder on, sometimes at least.
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