Dainty Sichuan

Well you folks were so unhelpful with finding somewhere for me and penpal Steve to drink. So I took him to try Dainty Sichuan. I think I almost killed him. Damn that food is hot. We were sweating under our eyelids.

But you know how I’m a little obsessive? Well right now all I can think about is when I can get back to Dainty Sichuan and get some more of that Chilli Eggplant. I’ve only eaten there twice. Not enough. Want more.. True it’s kinda painful dealing with the chilli there but I’m in love and I know that means pain. I’m not even sad about dumplings closing down. I’m on a restaurant rebound and I’m just thinking how if I eat there often enough my chilli tolerance will build up and the pain will be less.

If you’re not down with Sichuan (or Szechuan) cuisine then basically what you need to know is chilli. And szechuan pepper, which gives you that great tongue tingling strangeness. Dainty Sichuan is not particularly dainty – I saw plates heaping with food mountains – but damn is it good. There’s a pretty good vegetarian range and the staff are sweet once you finally get their attention. I think really they just avoid taking orders from honkeys cos they know we don’t speak good Mandarin.

So far I have eaten and loved the chilli eggplant, red hot tofu threads (!), garlic cucumber and red hot radish threads. The cucumber is a good refreshing break. A favourite among our party was the green bean jelly noodles. When our waitress read our order back to us she said “one jelly bean”. We loved that. They are thicker than your average mung bean noodle so you really get to appreciate the jelly texture – firm to the bite, yet giving. What else? Well they’re cold and there’s spicy sauce on them. Go the jelly bean. Just don’t make the mistake me and Steve did of thinking that because we ordered noodles we didn’t need rice. You need rice. And cucumber. Now go.

(It's on Corporation Lane, off Little Bourke. Where David & Camy/Winston’s used to be.)