epicure Indonesia – July 2019

42 epicureasia.com

You once said that Sichuan
food is like an artist’s palette.
How so?
I see many similarities with the way Sichuan chefs look at flavours
and how Chinese artists look at colours. In Chinese art there are
six base colours: black, white, red, yellow, green and blue. There
is variance within these colours, such as pink, maroon and velvet
from red. You could easily just replace these with the flavours that
make up Sichuan’s food; salty, sweet, hot, piquant, sour, bitter.
Sugar or sweet can be combined with other flavours to make
new tastes, such as adding vinegar to make yuxiang, or dried and
pickled chillies to create a lychee flavour, and scallions to form
sweet & sour flavour.

Does that make it difficult for those who want to learn Sichuan
cooking?
Very much so. Even now, my oldest customers can tell when it’s an
apprentice of mine who makes a dish or me. I find myself having

to constantly visit all my restaurants

to ensure the consistency of food. A

competent Sichuan chef should be like

a composer, bringing together all the

complexities found in the cuisine. He

should know every aspect of each taste

and be mindful of the nuances; he should

know how to deepen the colour of sauces

if needed, how to deal with a batch of

chillies which may not be as intense.

That way, he can

ensure that the

same dish served

on two different

days will still taste

the same.

Why did you

decide to serve

baijiu over other

tipples?

Personally, I enjoy

the history behind

it. Way before

the invention of

beer, baijiu or

huangjiu was

all people could

drink. Historically,

Sichuan was also a place of rising industrialisation; many

businessmen were moving here to set up shop, and many ended

up opening restaurants as side businesses where they could hold

meetings with clients. Of course now, whisky and brandy have

become very common in China, and in my other restaurants

we do pair Sichuan food with red and white wines and western

spirits. I wanted something more traditional, which was why we

decided to have our own baijiu bar.

What sets Deng G apart from other Sichuan restaurants?

Our menu is divided not by courses but by their taste profiles.

Also, our servers are trained to identify what customers are

looking out for, and can recommend the dishes to match their

preferences. This way I can introduce much more than just mala

taste to our diners and show them just how nuanced and varied

our food is. Hong Kong is also an excellent place for seafood, so I

made some adjustments to certain dishes. For instance, instead

of using chicken, we make a Kung Pao Prawn dish. e

Braised sliced sole in red chili soup

Supreme cabbage consomme

Deng G’s sleek and modern dining area