Dainty Sichuan – Did I end up with fat lips?

Dianty Sichuan
176 Toorak Rd
South Yarra, 3141
(03) 9078 1686
Google map

There has always been talk about Dainty and how good and spicy it is. Ex-colleagues used to brag about the mountain of chillies they consumed and I always missed out on joining them because of meetings or prior lunch dates. Dainty Sichuan used to be situated in the city on Corrs Lane. It is also home to one of my favourite Japanese hideout. And they decided one day to pack up and move to South Yarra. I am girl from the North and so I didn’t bother to venture out to the South. And from my previous posts, you understand my hatred for traffic From South to North.

Just wanted to thanks Ms Zhang for organising this Dainty dinner. We decided to head down to Dainty once @tomatom got back from his lovely stint in Sydney. Forgetting that he was the first to inform us of the move a couple of months ago, he actually went down to Corrs Street and realise his mistake. Funny! He must have had too much fun in Sydney. And best of all, he brought the coconut grater. I may try to grate some coconut this weekend for a curry dish

The 3 boys ordered Tsingtao to share and the girls ordered cool and refreshing coconut drink. It is sweet and I quite like it. However, we noticed chilled soya bean seems to be the popular non-alcoholic drink on many tables. It must be the recommended accompliment to the hot spicy dishes.

Coconut drink in a can

It seems like most of us were quite fearful of the hot chillies and so we decided not to be too adventurous. The String beans with minced pork and garlic had no heat. The garlic was surprisingly aromatic and sweet. This dish had a nice flavour and I was quite happy just munching one bean at a time. It is a simple home cook stir fry dish that used soya sauce and a touch of brown sugar.

String beans with minced pork and garlic

I love the next dish – Fish flavoured eggplant (Rated 1 chilli) This is not a easy dish to prepare. I was surprised by the textural combination. Crunchy exterior and then soft on bite. It had a strong vinegar taste that was well balanced by the heat. I kept going back for more. It was a clear winner amongst the group.

Fish flavoured eggplant

Surprisingly the Spicy duck tongue (Rated 2 chillies) was not as spicy or scary as we thought it would be. It was drenched in chilli oil but the heat was quite mild in comparison with the eggplant. It did not have any other flavour except the spice from the chillies. The texture was crunchy and a little disappointing. I will not recommend this at all.

Spicy duck tongue

Braised sliced beef was another of the non-chilli dish that we ordered. The beef was very thinly sliced and braised. It was very tender and almost melt in the mouth texture.

Briaised sliced beef

This is my favourite dish. I know I am in a Sichuan restaurant but this simple and unpretentious dish wins. Tofu with preserved egg. This tofu doesn’t seem like the usual tofu that we guy from the markets. It is alittle more dense, very smooth and a nice fresh taste. The simple sauce is made from soya sauce, sugar and sesame oil. It is topped with diced preserved egg. So simple and yet very memorable.

Tofu with preserved egg

Mister ordered one of his all time personal favourites – Braised preserved vegetables with pork belly (Moi Choy Yoke). This dish came out later then the rest as the waitress that took our order missed it the first time round. The food that we are ate were settling and we lost the momentum of eating by the time this dish arrived. The pork belly must be cooked for a very long time in the juices of the preserved vegetables (usually salted), sugar and soya sauce. The texture is very delicate and should just fall apart. It was one of those dishes that I would usually order with rice congee.

Braised preserved vegetables with pork belly

This place only served 1 type of dessert and so we decided to finish off by ordering a bowl of cold white fungus to share. The texture was too soft and I actually mentioned that it tasted like thick silivia. Not very appetising at all. The usual white fungus that I had and cooked has a slight crunch and slightly sweetened with rock sugar ith added gingko nuts. This bowl was quite bland. It was a good thing that we only had one bowl to share!

White fungus dessert

Do not expect great service here. Actually, keep the expectation low. As @tomatom was running late, there were only 4 of us when we sat on our table. The waitress told Ms Zhang that she needs to tell our friend to hurry up. We were quite offended. We just got there! I understand the “whole turn around table” concept so that more business can be made but we did make a booking. To add to the insult, we were given the bill ( I hope unintentionally) before we finished our meal.

Having said that, we will still come back because some of us will like to try the chilli hot pot, rating 3 chilli dishes like the Chongqing chicken and the BBQ hotplate. The food is good. The taste is surprisingly clean despite the heat. And it is a myth that sichuan food is just drenched in chilli oil. They have well balanced dishes and not much MSG. No fat lips this time.

How spicy will you go? Will you take it to the next level?