Brunch Mumbai – June 29, 2019

Iwould loveto beable to sayitwas delicious.But actually,

wehated it.

Therest of thefood, however,was magnificent.Adish of

beans and porkwas delicious; thekung paochicken(perhaps

the mostfamous Sichuan dish in theworld, no matter how

youspellit)hadaperfectblend ofsweetness and hotness,the

chunks ofchickenwereexactly cut to the sizeofthe peanuts

and the stir-fryingwasbrilliant.

Thestarofthe show, however,was MaPoTofu,aclassic

Sichuan dishthat has been submitted to manyindignities in

its travels around theworld’s Chineserestaurants.Itconsists

of chunks of tofu inabubbling thinredsauce,bursting with

theflavoursofchilli and themouth-puckeringSichuan pepper,

whichare the distinctivecharacteristics of the dish.Ilikeitany-

way, butmywifewhoisnot atofufanhadaroad to Damascus

moment, discoveringthat shereally lovedit. (Itisnot just the

cooking;thequality of the rawtofuiscrucial too.)

T

hiswasfollowedbymorecomedy. Thestaff did not know

what ‘bill’ or ‘check’ meant. My wife,whoseturnit wasto

do the mime show, made thestandard, can-I-get-the-bill

gesturewith her right hand, onlytodiscoverthatthey thought

shewantedapen. (Well, thegestureisconfusing.)

Then,wediscovered that thewordtaxiis unknownin

Chinese.Soiscab.Finally, aconfident-looking newwaiterap-

peared, indicatedthatheknewwhatwemeant and beckoned

forustofollow. Wewalked behind him till he led us to the toilet.

“Ah?”, he saidproudly. “WC”.

Finally, wejustwalked out onto theroad and hailedacruis-

ing cab. But thatmayhavebeen the best meal of the trip.(The

comedywas abonus.)

Formost of our other meals,NickandKevinsentustofood

streetswheretherewererowsandrowsof Chinese dhabas.Of

course,noone spokeEnglish. But inaway,thiswasablessing

because it stopped me from orderingthe fewdishesIknewwell.

Wechosebypointingatmenusat random,and rarelywerewe

disappointed.Wehad succulent double-cooked pork, thefamous

fish-flavouredeggplant (in Sichuan, ‘fish-flavoured’ isastyleof

cooking thatdoes not involveusingfish), mounds of fried rice,

eachgrain fragranced withegg, little prawnsfloating in lakeof

fragrantchilli oil, bits ofchickenresting onabed ofchopped

redchilli and of course,moreMaPoTofu.

Bythesecond day, wehaddiscoveredthatall servers under-

stoodyouifyou said ‘MaPoTofu’very loudly.Soweordered it

everywhere. Ataroadside shackinLeshan, thewaitresses giggled

with delighttohearussayit andwhen itappeared,inits noisily

bubbling sichuan-pepper oil,thechef came out to seeif weliked it.

Eventually, on our lastday,wewent to thefamousChen Ma

PoTofu restaurant. Legend has itthat awoman called Mrs Chen

invented the dish in 1862.Poor old Mrs Chenhadscarsonher

face,sothe dishwasnamedMaPo(whichmeans ‘pock-marked’)

bynot-very-nice-people.Itisnot clear if thefamousrestaurant

thatbears her name has anything to do with MrsChen (Kevin

seemed confident thatitwas over acentury old),but it isaplace

of pilgrimagein Sichuan with longqueuesat everymeal.

By nowwewereused to the languagebarrier,soIpointed

to various photos on themenuand said MaPoTofu (which,

surely, is thepoint of therestaurant!)very loudly. My serverre-

sponded withastream of Chinese,whichIdid notunderstand,

so Ijust smiledalot while she looked exasperated.

Shereturned with our meal 20 minuteslater (which

includedaterrific Sichuaneggplant) and twokindsof tofu.

Onewas the MaPoTofu that Ihad eaten alloverChengdu. But

the biggerbowl(and theoneeveryone else seemed to be order-

ing) hadasingle hugepieceof tofu (nochunks)in thetradi-

tional sauce andatoppingof fried soyabeannoodles and crisp

soyabeans. It washardnot to think ofchanna-sevormisal

pav.But thegarnishes addedtothetextureandIcould see

whythiswas the mostfamous tofurestaurantinSichuan.

All theothermeals nowfade intoaSichuan-pepperblur,but

Iremember having morefun andbetterfood thanIhavehad in

along time.The hotel gotusinto Chengdu’s most exclusiveres-

taurant, an 18-coverplacein aprivate houserunbyLanGuijun,

calledthe bestchef in ChinabyFuchsia Dunlop,the mostre-

spectedWesternwriteronChinesefood.Ithinkperhapswe were

tooinexperienced to fullyappreciate the excellence of thefood.

And on our lastSaturday,

Kevin droveustothe places he

had been to asachild.Westopped

on the streetandate thelittle

snacksthatSichuan isfamous

for:eggpancakes with savoury

fillings,deep-friedhot dogs,cold

spicynoodles,delicatebut still

robust dumplingandmore. Kevin

did not knowanyofthe English

names (if they had them),whichI

found kindof reassuring.

Wasthefood amazing?

Yo ubet itwas!

Wasitvery different from

Sichuanfood in India?Totally!

Sino-Ludhianvi isacuisineinits ownright and should notbe

confusedwith Sichuan. Asforthe Sichuanfood servedbyspe-

cialtyrestaurants in India, onlytwomakethereal thing.(Both

in Delhi: China Kitchen and ShangPalace.)

So ifyouwantagood Sichuanmeal, then goto Sichuan.Flights

cost less than Singaporeandthehotels arecheaperthanBangkok.

And thereare pandas!

Iwould goeveryyear ifIcould.This is trulyfoodieheaven!

web

on the

Formorecolumnsby

VirSanghvi, log on to

hindustantimes.com/

brunch.Follow Viron

Twitter at twitter.com/

virsanghvi

Theviewsexpressedby

the columnist arepersonal

The Sino-

Ludhianvi

cuisine is

acuisine in

its ownright

and should not

be confused

with Sichuan

local delights

Sichuan is famousforlittle street snackssuchas

deep-fried hot dogs,egg pancakes etc.

classicallychinese

Kung pao chicken, with the blendofsweetness and

hotness, is the mostfamous Sichuan dish in theworld

orientalstar

TheMaPoTofuwith fried soyabean noodles and

crisp soyabeans isareminderofmisal pav

right guide

KevinXueofthe

Ritz-Carlton hotel

in Chengdu helped

us withalistoflocal

eateries to try

made in india

Oneofthe only places that

makereal Sichuanfood in

India is ShangPalace in Delhi

Ph
otos: is

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