Dainty Sichuan
(03) 9663 8861
I have a love-hate relationship with spicy foods. I absolutely love the flavour and taste of chilli, curry, peppercorns, wasabi etc but my weak stomach so hates the after effects. There have been several occasions where I was really floored by such fiery treats, but three stand out from memory. The first one was eating a whole glob of wasabi after mistaking it for a salad (I was young and naive). The second time was in Bangkok, where I was incapacitated by a tom yum soup laced with deadly birds’ eye chillies. The third time was in Singapore, where I had peyote-like hallucinations after eating an incendiary lamb biryani. However, like a gimp, I always went back for more punishment. Dainty Sichuan Restaurant (surely an oxymoron) has just given me yet another chapter in my inglorious encounters with spice.
Located down the narrowest and possibly skankiest laneway in Chinatown (Corrs Lane), Dainty Sichuan is a haven for uni students, who come for the cheap and authentic fare, but it also means the restaurant is as utilitarian as they come, with help yourself cutlery and drinks from the glass cabinet. Fat goldfish stare out from a fish tank, seemingly mocking those foolish enough to brave this food.
Lunch specials are around $8. There is a more extensive a la carte menu that has pictures of the restaurants’ specialities, including the infamous Chongqing Chicken, which we ordered. Spice factor are rated by stars, with four being the maximum. I was assured by my dining companion that the four star dishes are quite inedible, although the ones with three stars are sufficiently able to burn the roof of your mouth off. There are several non-spicy dishes available.
The chicken came as a massive plate of dry-fried diced chicken (bone on), completely enveloped by a ton of whole dried chillies and topped with spring onions. You of course don’t eat the chillies; they apparently help to infuse the chicken with flavour. Yeah… like magma flavouring molten lava. The chicken pieces were tiny and you kinda have to sift through the forest of chillies to find them, but damn they’re tasty! They were salty, spicy, flavoursome and with so much chilli heat that my lips were quivering and anaesthetised within moments. I was desparately reaching for a bottle of sweetened soya milk – a recommended accompaniment. But like all spicy foods and crack cocaine, the chicken is addictive and you just keep going for that next piece! A word of advice: eat other dishes before this one because once you start on the ol’ Chongqing, you will find that you can longer taste anything else.
We also ordered Ants Climbing A Tree (geez the Chinese have buttery descriptions for their dishes) which turned out to be stir-fried mung bean shoots with ground beef. This was also a very tasty dish – salty, spicy and thankfully not as hot as the chicken. It was good. Oh so good.
I thought I had previously tried Sichuan food but these two dishes totally debunked my previous perception of what Sichuan food really ought to be. I knew it was hot, but not this hot! Dainty Sichuan is about as authentic as it gets and is highly recommended, but not for the faint hearted! Also, after experiencing the 12 hour test, may I recommend that you find yourself a bathroom with a nice cooling bidet.
Written by ElegantGourmand on
August 3rd, 2007 | Tags: Chinese, restaurants | Category: Uncategorized
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August 3rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Fantastic review! Must go down there and try it myself.
August 4th, 2007 at 3:42 am
My mother would absolutely love this place! Loved this review and will definitely have to take her there.
August 4th, 2007 at 4:09 am
I have to bring my inner gimp here.
August 4th, 2007 at 9:02 am
There is a LOT of chillies on that dish.. I can feel my tastebuds wrinkling at the sight of the photo.
Btw, how much did the Chongqing chicken cost; and what was the average pricing for the a la carte menu?
August 4th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Hi shopaholic. Yeah it’s a lot of chillies and actually looks even more imposing in real life!
I don’t remember how much the chicken cost but I think it was under $20. Most of the a la carte would be around that price, given that the patrons were mostly students.
August 4th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
i’m not personally a fan of spicy food myself, though i’m from malaysia.
what i never seem to get is, when people agree that its so spicy that you can’t taste anything else, how can that be considered good? ;p
August 5th, 2007 at 4:46 am
This place is definitely on my “go to” list. And thanks for the warning re. 12 hour test, I’ll keep that firmly in mind.
August 5th, 2007 at 7:16 am
I ate at this place back when it was located on Smith St – there was always a big crowd outside waiting to be seated! I wondered why it closed when it was so popular, then I found out they moved to the city.
I don’t know if it’s still on the menu, but the best thing I tasted was a cold noodle dish served with sliced braised beef. It was deceptively spicy as the noodles cool your mouth at first while the chilli kicks in later! yum
August 5th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Looks like a place I will be steering clear of – I can’t eat spicy to save my life! But I daresay once my other foodie friends read this post, I’ll be dragged there anyhow.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Hi crushedguava,
I’ve done a little bit more research on the Web as to why some people are so hooked on spice, as I agree about your point as to why people (my parents included) think that spicy food is so good when your tastebuds have been burnt off.
Take chilies for example, which contain capsaicin, the thing that makes the chili so bloody spicy. Apparently, the pain caused by capsaicin stimulates the brain to produce endorphins, which produce a sense of well-being. This is the same chemical that is released by athletes after strenuous exercise.
or, as us Singaporeans (Malaysians too?) know in less scientific terms, shiok!
August 6th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I also ate at the Collingwood place a few years back, and had the same dishes (chili KFC and ants climbing trees).
I stupidly brought red wine to have with the meal.
I failed the 12 hour test. I was crying by the end of the next day. I felt like I had been in prison.
August 7th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Oooooh, so you’re not meant to eat the chillies with the chicken. I should have read this post before I ate a similar dish at spicy fish recently…..
Live and learn huh.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:01 am
We just had dinner here tonight. We had the ants climbing a tree, a chicken special and a veg dish. The couple next to us inquired about the ants climbing a tree dish when it arrived and were just as tickled by its name as we were. The food was just excellent.
That place will definitely be seeing a lot more of us.
Thanks for the recommendation guys!
August 10th, 2007 at 4:47 am
DT/Mel – a good credible ants climbing the tree is available at the bargain basement end – $6 at the Xiao Fan Dian (don’t know its English name, maybe Little Cafe) in Racecourse Rd, Newmarket. With Rice.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I hate to disagree with everyone, but it didn’t live up to my hopes. Yesterday my wife came across these reviews and forwarded the link to me, knowing that I absolutely love hot food. I was very excited reading all of the reviews and was thinking finally theres a place that can make food the way I like it. We went there last night and I had to try the Chongqing Chicken and the ants climbing trees noodles as these seemed to be the most popular having read all of the reviews. The noodles were great (albeit not spicy) but sorry to say the chicken was a complete let down. Every piece of chicken has bones in it, which is annoying and is also fried – now I’m sorry but dried chillies have never been and never will be as hot as fresh chillies. The drying process takes most of the natural oils and juices out of the chillies. The only way to get any heat out of dried chillies is to cook them in liquid to rehydrate them and let any last little bit of hot taste come out into the soup or sauce you’re cooking them in. This dish had no sauce and no effect from the dried chillies – I found myself eating a few of the chillies with every piece of chicken to try to get some heat – but this doesn’t work, cause the chillies aren’t in your mouth long enough to soften up and start releasing any heat. I did see a few other dishes coming out of the kitchen that were soups and sauce based dishes with chillies in them – I may go back and try a couple more with some hope. But again, you’re only going to get a dish so hot using dried chillies so I’m not holding my breath.
Sorry guys, but having read your reviews I think that it’s obvious why asian and mexican restaurants in western countries tone their foods down.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
G’day Stuart. Thanks for your comments
I think you’re right in that many places definitely tone down their spice level to appease Western palates. Food in Australia is rarely as spicy as they are in Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, etc..
We haven’t been back to Dainty Sichuan for a while, so many things might have changed. Sorry to hear about your disappointment with the chicken, however, in all fairness, the recipe for Chongqing Chicken does call for dry-fried chicken pieces with dried chillies and no sauce. I know of no alternate receipe, unless someone can advise me
Also, I guess that people have different spice tolerances so some will find the dish too spicy and others (like yourself) won’t find them very spicy at all.
Good luck with your search to satiate your spice need, and let us know if you find some places so that we can share this with our readers
Cheers, Dan
February 6th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
oh, by the way, we did remember trying a fried pork rib dish, with no dried chilli, that we thought was even hotter than the chicken so if you do go back, maybe give that a go. Or maybe tell the staff to bring you the hottest dish they have!
I admire you; you must have an iron stomach :p
February 9th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Thanks for the response ElegantGourmand, I do plan on giving it another go so will choose my dishes with more care next time, thanks for the tip on the pork dish….and I’ll definietly let you know re my continual search..happy eating!
February 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Hey Stuart
U should try the Kung Pow chicken, it hasni bones and is by far the best spicy chicken dish I have had. Also since u love the chilli u should try the spicy prawn, they are magnificent and hot as hell. The trick to actually experiancing all the spice is to order just 1 bowl of rixeand try finishingthe dishes with that bowl and a water( no milk or any other drink), then u really feel the spice rip through your tastebuds.