3 chillies challenge at Dainty

Dainty Sichuan
176 Toorak Rd
South Yarra, 3141
(03) 9078 1686
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Every now and then, we like to set ourselves challenges which may cause us some pains. After our last outing at Dainty, we did disappoint ourselves by not going all the way and trying any 3 chillies dishes. Dainty Sichuan is famous for its super spicy hotpots and dishes covered in more chillies than meat. So we decided as a group that we shall have a “3 chillies challenge” at the Dainty.

Beer was the drink of choice but as I have a low tolerance to beer, I opted for the papaya milk drink to cool the heat that was to come. Soy bean milk drink is another good “cooling” drink to put off the heat.

Papaya milk drink

The first 3 dishes are similar to what we ordered the last time so I am not going to run them through in details but you can read the reviews here.

Tofu and century egg – Very refreshing and cooling dish to have! Highly Recommended.

Tofu and century egg

String bean and minced pork – Just another classic favourite

String bean and minced pork

Fish eggplant – This is a MUST have dish. Think about eggplant chips. A big hit with everyone on the table.

Fish eggplant

And since there were 11 of us, we ordered 11 dishes. Over-whelming? I think the staff were a little taken back by the amount of food we ordered and ate. This is not going to be the regular review because by the end of it, I was definitely over-whelmed by the heat. Plus, I forgot to take any notes. So I shall briefly introduce what we ate and the general consensus around the table.

The spicy tofu threads – Well liked by all. Not overly excited but it has a nice gently kick.

Tofu Threads

The green glass noodle – Green glass noodle are usually made from either green beans, broad beans or pea flour and makes them gluten-free! This is not spicy and gives a great cooling contrast to the heat that we were experiencing.

Green glass noodle

The spicy beef tendon – Another thumbs up from the table. It was well cooked, not chewy and very tasty.

Beef tendon

The beef tripes – I think by now you think we were just a bunch of carnivorous. I have to admit we love our meat. This dish may look tame but it did bite.

Beef Tripes

The BBQ chilli pork ribs - This was a thumbs down from all of us. This dish sat right in the middle of the table and took up too much space. We are unsure why it needed to be on a portable stove. It is a 3 chilli dish. It was really spicy but some of us thought that there may be too much five spice in it and the meat was too dry and a little chewy. I did take a doggy bag home and thought it might taste better the next day. No, my opinion did not change.

BBQ chilli pork ribs

The chilli prawn was our next 3 chilli dish. Temperature were rising very quickly. We kept ordering bottles of Tsingtao and drinking it as water. The prawns were deep fried and sauted again with all those chillies. By this time, I had soaked up a few paper tissues and was asking for more.

Chilli prawn

The chongqing chicken – It was served with a mountain of dried chillies. The chicken pieces were deep fried. Do not deceive by the size of each piece. My lips were burning at this stage. My eyes were starting to tear. And my nose was starting to run. I was a total mess. Eat, sniff, sniff, sniff, drink liquid, wipe perspiration.  Most of us on the table had very glassy eyes and conversations started to dwindle to nothing. We were definitely feeling it.

Chong qing chicken

The spicy fish hotpot - When this hotpot was placed on the table, I believe that most of us were feeling quite intimidated. All we saw was a almost boiling hotpot of floating chillies in chilli oil and sichuan peppercorns. This was the star dish. Just make sure that you do not attempt to eat any of those chillies and drain the liquid off before consumption. The pieces of fish was swimming deep int the hotpot. I do like this dish despite the burning sensation and half a dozen of tissues that I had to go through. This is hot. Very hot. But very addictive.

Spicy chilli fish hotpot

A special shout to @stickifingers – Great job on the sweatband, headband and tea towel! We were all talk but you actually had yourself fitted out for the occasion. I do recommend at least a sweatband. I ended up with paper tissue bits sticking on my face. But I have to say that kudos to @Rippingyan for being and looking so calm, cool and collected throughout the whole meal. And another shout to Ms W. She was the last one standing and claimed that the fish hotpot was not as hot as she liked it to be! And of course, big thumbs up to everyone that rose to the occasion – @tomotom, @th0i3, @divinepurple, Ms I and all the partners that came along. We did well.

I was not sure how many bottles of Tsingtao and Papaya milk we went through that night. And for these dishes, it came to about $30 a head! What a hot and affordable experience. It was hard for conversations when our lips felt like it had grew and burning at the same time. Will I do it again? Hell yeah!

What is your most food challenge to date?