Sichuan Kitchen eschews the high-style interiors of other highly regarded Asian restaurants in town such as Empire Chinese Kitchen, Miyake Restaurants and Bao Bao. Even with their exalted interiors, the latter also provide authentic Asian cooking. Whereas Sichuan Kitchen remains low key, even as a plain Jane dining abode without the hyperbolic elements that the others provide. But once you dig in, that’s when it takes off—into thoroughly exotic territory with Sichuan spices, pickled vegetables and sauces exceeding the umami norm.
This was one of my favorite dishes, sliced beef in chili sauce
When you walk into Sichuan Kitchen what you see is a randomly plain dining room, comfortable without making a statement and you notice that the diners at their tables are not there for the usual visual show of “dining out” but are instead deep into the food that they’re eating. It’s not terribly noisy there because mouths are chewing rather than chatting smartly. It reminds me of New York’s new wave of Szechuan restaurants that populated the Upper West Side in the 1970s, surpassing the Cantonese meccas of the city’s Chinatown. Chinese cooking was finally evolving then beyond the column menus of egg foo young and sweet and sour pork. The cooking of China’s regional fare was making a big play then and we’ve never looked back except in backwaters like Portland where it took a few decades to get beyond chopped suey houses.
This is an older photo of the restaurant taken in the winter; even then the room was chock full of serious diners.
Each time I’ve gone to Sichuan Kitchen the food has been better than the last time. Though in the beginning the dishes were dull looking and brown, the kitchen now presents beautifully arranged plates with meticulously prepared food.
The last visit a few weeks ago was for a Chinese-style banquet. The dishes sparkled with decorous presentation and unique flavors.
Qi Shen is the gracious proprietress and force in the kitchen commandeered by her chef Thomas Zhuo who hails from Sichuan.
Pickled chili and Sichuan peppercorn add mild to wild spiciness and sweet-salty taste profiles. Some dishes are hot or even hotter if you ask for it but not necessarily.
Many of the dishes are prepared in rendered stocks and broths from beef or poultry.
Dragon Must Beef Jerky (longxu niurou)
A soup of split pea in a rich chicken broth featured tofu as a magical element of texture and taste. In fact, according to Qi, split peas are very popular in traditional Sichuan cuisine.
We had 9 dishe, beginning with fuqi feipian (sliced beef in chili sauce and Sichuan peppercorns), served at room temperature. It had all the typical elements of Sichuan sweet-salt-and-spice.
The mound of longxu niurpi (dragon beef jerky) was extremely unusual if not an acquired taste and knack for eating what are finely crisped confetti chards of beef jerky.
Clockwise: striped bass in pickled chilies, braised tofu skin and crisped shrimp
One of my favorite dishes was congyou doupi (braised tofu skin). Nothing like silken tofu, the dish is made by using the skin that forms on top of boiled soy milk. Served in a rich broth it was a taste of Asia that was superb.
The yiuxiang supixia (yu-ziang crisp shrimp) was Cantonese-like in its sweetness. But it was more salt-sweet with garlic and chili sauce that made this fried shrimp dish sing. I loved it since I love anything that’s slightly sweet.
There was a whole striped bass under a layer of pickled chili followed by another cabbage soup called Napa heart in water . The broth is clear like water except it’s really a concentrated stock made with mature hen and duck and then purified. The soup held soft-shell crab and tofu–amazing texture and flavor.
A Sichuan-pepper chicken salad was refreshing and exotic at the same time. It was a complex dish that I’d like to have again just to understand it better.
Pea soup broth with soft-shell crab and tofu
We finished the dinner with Sichuan pork buns, in dough made at the restaurant’s kitchen. These were different from the bao’s that you’ve had elsewhere. The pork is drier and very well flavored without depending on a sweet Hoisin style sauce.
Sichuan pork buns
That we were a group assembled to taste and experience these dishes introduced on the menu I cannot recommend enough to visit Sichuan Kitchen for its new menu offering a different style of Asian cooking than we have here, tantalizing with its exotic spices, chilies and an age-old taste of Chinese regional cooking.
Sichuan Kitchen, 612 Congress St., Portland, ME 207-536-7226 www.sichuankitchenportland.com
Rating: 5-star quality, authenticity of cooking
Ambiance: Friendly and approachable if a bit plain
Seating: Standard seating with two tops and four tops; dining bar, too (full liquor license)
Parking: On Street or neighborhood garages
$$$: Moderately expensive
