Opened since April last year in the heart of the CBD area, Amoy street, Chengdu restaurant is back with new dishes on their menu. Its new menu line-up pays homage to the ever-evolving Sichuan cuisine and showcases the myriad of taste profiles that it has to offer!
First up, one of the new appetisers offered is the Roasted Foie Gras. Get ready to be wowed by the platting when it is being served up. Served on dry ice, this dish looks super whimsical with the smoke flowing down the dish which adds to the dining experience.
This dish is an ensemble of thinly sliced pan-seared golden brown foie gras served on king oyster mushrooms, topped with spring onions and red pepper flakes. The foie gras and king oyster mushrooms are well seasoned in a “Chinese” manner, which is a nice twist on how foie gras is usually prepared in french or western cuisine in general. This dish is best eaten when you take a mouthful of all the ingredients at once!
Another new appetiser or cold dish, which the Chinese locals, like to call it, is the Chicken Feet with Pickled Peppers. Although this dish looks simple, a lot of effort and time went into the preparation. The chicken feet are marinated in peppercorns, ginger, rock sugar, white vinegar, wild pepper, chili pepper, carrots, radish and celery for 48 hours at a cold temperature of 0-5 degrees!
This dish is served cold and taste sweet, sour and spicy. It is a nice dish to have between dishes as well as it helps to cleanse your palette. This dish might look harmless, but the trademark Sichuan spiciness and numbness will kick in after a few seconds. These chicken feet are on the crunchy side hence if you prefer those braised, fall-of-the-bones chicken feet usually served at dim sum restaurants, this dish might not be for you.
Moving on to the mains, there are two quintessential dishes which are “must order” dishes at all Sichuan restaurant if you want to get your Mala fixed! They are the Sichuan Style Spicy Pot and the Fish Fillet in Sour Soup, which are two dishes famous among the locals in the Sichuan Province as well.
The Sichuan Style Spicy Pot consist of black tripe, tripe, luncheon meat, quail eggs, starch noodles, prawns, squid, lettuce, black fungus, garlic, beansprout and celery drenched in the popular mala base which all mala lovers are familiar with. This is like a ready made mala hotpot waiting for your to devour in once it is being served! You should definitely order a bowl of rice which goes very well with this dish and the next.
The next dish is the Fish Fillet in Soup Soup. As its name suggest, it is a spicy and sour soup filled with chunks of boneless sole fish fillet, Sichuan peppercorns, pepper, ginger, preserved pickled vegetables and enoki mushrooms.
This soup is lighter, less oily and slightly less spicy as compared to the Sichuan Style Spicy Pot. You can definitely taste the fragrance of all the spices in the broth. I would highly recommend this dish, if you want to have something different but with the mala element still present.
The next two new mains on the menu is the Salt and Pepper Pork Ribs and the Braised Tendon with French Bean.
The Salt and Pepper Pork Ribs are simmered for 45 minutes with different Sichuan spices before being lightly fried and then tossed in seasoning reminiscent of Sichuan streetside shaokao (barbeque). This dish is very flavourful and the pork ribs are very tender and falls right off the bones although it has been fried.
The Braised Tendon with French Bean is a combination of slow-braised beef tendon, quail eggs, and green chilli in a flavourful piquant sauce. To achieve its fork-tender texture, the beed tendons are braised for approximately 40 minutes.
Moving on to the side dishes which makes very good snacks as well, are the Sichuan Eggplant Claypot and the Beggar Potato.
The Sichuan Eggplant Claypot consist of lightly seasoned strips of deep-fried eggplants. It is savoury and has a hint of sweetness to it as it is also lightly tossed in a sweet sauce. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, this makes a very good alternative to fries. This is definitely a must try on their new menu as it not only taste good but it is something unique and not easily found in Singapore as well.
Lastly, we have the Beggars Potato. This adorable looking dish are fried mini potatoes which are seasoned in a secret 20 spices recipe. These potatoes are definitely seasoned well and fluffy on the inside.
Lastly, if you are looking for a venue to host corporate events, private gathering or more, Chengdu Restaurant’s entire 3rd floor which seats up to 60 guests can be reconfigured into a spacious event venue. The intimate setting at Chengdu Restaurant serves as the stage for an immersive experience of the Sichuan food culture.
So if you are craving Sichuan cuisine, Chengdu Restaurant is worth a visit and give their new menu a try as well!
Chengdu Restaurant
Address: 74 Amoy Street, Singapore 069893
Operating hours: Mon – Sat: 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 11.30pm. Closed on Sun.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chengdusg/
