Sunday, August 17, 2008

Gonna make u sweat....

Sichuan Cuisine, one of the major cuisine styles in China, originated from the states of Ba and Shu in ancient China. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, because of the introduction of peppers, Sichuan Cuisine formed its own unique taste and shape, and began to influence the surrounding areas.

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I don't know about you, but when someone says Sichuan, I normally think - oily and super spicy food. Well guess what... In the past Sichuan Hot Pot was indeed very spicy. Now a days the edge has been taken off the chili and people can either taste the hot pot as a spicy soup, or, a milder milky soup. In Malaysia, it has been adapted to the “steamboat” version.

At Jin Shan Cheng, the steamboat is divided into two parts, and a customer may instant boil food in the spicy pot, or the milder herbal/medicinal pot. This kind of steamboat is suitable for both local folk as well as foreign customers because, obviously, it’s not so spicy .. and one can actually pace oneself by intermittent dunking of food into either the fiery hot or the herbal cool... Or, you can even go 50-50% with your soup - How ingenious!
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A really marvelous concoction of 3 types of sauces are available for you to mix and dip your food into. This truly brings out the taste of the food! So, the dip consists of 2 types of peanut sauce (one roughly ground , the other more like a peanut butter consistency) chili oil and fermented tofu. Killer amazing – lets just say it’s got this stinky fermented yet peanuty, sweet saucy taste to it. Not that spicy as a sauce in itself, but wait till you eat it with the contents from the hot pot – gives new meaning to the word .. slow burn! Tres, tres yum!
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The Sichuan Frog's legs are a must!(bottom right). Apparently they make you jump higher at basketball.. harhar.. fact or fantasy.. you tell me.

We were a little disappointed at the frogs legs served here though, because the legs were smashed up into smaller pieces and as a result, the bones were smashed up too. It was hard to eat without stabbing your gums on some bone! However, the taste was pretty good.

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This was one of my favourite dishes - century egg with chilli - delicious!

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So, back to the spicy steamboat...

For the hardcore, a bubbling pot of fiery oil sits on a burner at the center of every steamboat pot. Chiles and Sichuan peppercorns bob thickly on its surface. Diners dunk chunks of vegetables, meat, and tofu into the steamboat while they chat and laugh throughout the night. We were no exception.
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I dipped my chopsticks into the pot, all gung-ho and all.. and pulled out a huge juicy prawn, glistening with spicy oil. My mouth and tongue began to burn. My eyes watered. With every bite, I got hotter: my tongue started throbbing, my lips tingled, and sweat poured from my forehead. Reason said to stop, but that greedy masochist in me just kept right on going… feel the burn baby… ooooooo… yea...

We ate, cried, chatted, cried some more, ate some more.. Before we knew it, the clock struck 10.00 and we were the last patrons at Jin Shan Cheng.


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We had a grand old time that night, we did. What's more, when the bill came, the steamboat plus all the side dishes cost us only RM47 per head.

What a night. One cannot ask for more. Good friends, good food.. and a good sweat.
It doesn't get much better than this;)

Add:
No. 42A-2, Jalan PJS 8/2

Dataran Mentari, Bandar Sunway,
56301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Food:7/10
Spicy Factor:8/10
Peanut Chili Sauce:8/10
MSG levels : nil
Service:8/10 (owner even serves up the soup!)



23 comments:

J2Kfm said...

haha ... a good work out I supposed? with food provided.
2 birds with one stone? :)

MochaSourcream said...

Ooo... looks yummy... will consider trying it on the days where I crave for chillies... hehehe

backStreetGluttons said...

considering that its only a paltry 4o something = 1 jug beer or so , and the amount of Happy eating that you had it is a really good sichuan!

from some angle some of the pixs got some flashes of northern indian cuisine. The only rare sichuan we have tried was some forgettable orangeee soup in some corner which tasted sourish

minchow said...

Oooooh... I feel the heat just looking at the pix. Guess you folks got rid of plenty of toxins!

Julian Si said...

SLURRRP! Looks good :-)

Thanks for your very kind comments on my blog ... you guys keep up the super work too!

Ciki said...

j2kfm:
i don't know if we burnt more calories than we put in.. so... haha

mocha:
you need the stomach for it, i tell ya..

bsg:
yea, i never looked at it that way before - one jug of beer!
Also, there wasn't any northern indian - i think what you saw was the chili sauces - the cream colored one was the peanut, and the red would be the chili oil. Or maybe you saw the dried chili pork dish?

faith:
not sure if we got rid of toxins only to replace it with red chili oil?!

julian:
thank u :)

Anonymous said...

Chillies with century egg? So kewl!

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

sometimes its a world wide mystery that humans torture themself silly with food..hahah spicy food that is.. seriously for a good workout?

Ciki said...

jason:
yea.. a 1st 4me:P

joe:
no pain no gain!

Anonymous said...

Seems like a good place for steamboat, may I ask if the foods are ordered ala carte, or they come in a set? How much is it for the set?

myCoffee said...

Not until I ate Sichuan food did I truly understand what "mind-numbing spiciness" meant. Like you, I was all "gung-ho" initially. Thought nothing could be spicy enough for someone like me who gets nickname like "cili padi". Needless to mention, I was dead wrong. *LOL*

choi yen said...

no sesame sauce dipping? I like that with~~

HairyBerry said...

and they say cardio is the way to sweat...

bring on the numbing hot sichuan soup, i say! hehehe...

Ciki said...

vkeong:
the steamboat set is between 20-35 per head. So the other dishes are add on.. (bringing the total up to RM47 per head).

mycoffee:
the slow burn is what kills ya!

mimi:
don't think so

nic:
agree

Shell (貝殼) said...

never tried century egg with chilli before~~new thing 4 me^^

Anonymous said...

*whines*

I love Szechuan cuisine normally since I'm a huge fan of spicy food, but I've been nursing a sore throat recently, so looking at these gorgeous pics is like torture: See, No Eat. :(

Ciki said...

shell:
it's pretty yum!

kenny:
oh no.. get well soon:(

fatboybakes said...

hahah, my thoughts exactly, echoed by nipple joe. good hor, eat and workout at the same time. my kinda meal. how often do you get to burn calories doing something pleasurable.... ! (forced angelic cherubic look)

Ciki said...

jackson:
ya lor.. !

fbb:
lol.. but maybe something like eat 2000 calories, burn 100 calories.. :( hehe

Anonymous said...

I think Sichuan Frog's legs are wasted on me. There is no hope anymore. lol. Hey the food looks good. I wanna try it soon man.

Precious Pea said...

Woah...HOT HOT HOT! I remembered I used to tried the steamboat in Melbourne. Dip the spinach in and it soaked all the chilli oil. When i put it into my mouth!! Fuyoh...my lips became as thick and red as chinese sausage. WUAHAHAHA! But syiok la. Long time never had this..will go try this place soon.

Ciki said...

lemongrass:
why are they a waste on u??!! lol

pea:
fuyoh indeed! hehe.. u got free lip job:P

Big Boys Oven said...

I love HOT food, even better if there are also HOT chicks! lol! I think this is a place to drop soon! :)