Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel

Sim's is a fabulous hostel in Chengdu, but that's now why I'm including it in the 'Eats' blog. Lonely Planet had suggested them as one of the places that offer Sichuan cooking lessons, and we had an awesome time and some delicious food.

We called Sim's the day before -- they wanted us to show up in person to make the booking. The cooking lessons are pretty informal, depending on the chef's schedule along with availability by one of the bartenders to translate. Sim's is a bit out of the way on the northern end of the city, but we had a few beers and walked to ChongQing QinMa Hotpot close by

The next day we returned to Sim's at 7pm for our lesson. Our interpreter (aka bartender) was a Shanghainese who had come out 4 months ago to help out at Sim's. Bob (or Bao) took us to the roof deck (6 or 7th floor) that had a small nook with a small kitchen, where our chef instructor was waiting with our ingredients and equipment ready to go.

We chose three dishes - Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁, Fish Flavored Eggplant 魚香茄子, and Ma Po Tofu 麻婆豆腐

We spent the first part of the class chopping and preparing the chicken (cubed), cucumber (halved and thirded, then seeds sliced off, rest cubed), eggplant (quartered lengthwise then peeled with the cleaver), and tofu (cubed). We also learned to make decorative flowers from pink pickled daikon slices and toothpicks.

Then onto the cooking. It's all about the spices -- minced garlic, ginger, Sichuan peppers (ground and whole), red pepper (ground, whole, and wet), scallion, MSG (yes, MSG), salt, chicken stock, soy sauce, vinegar, and starch, and then oil and water. I figured the blend of spices and sauces, the order, and timing of the cooking was going to be impossible to remember... so it's all on video...

Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁

Fish Flavored Eggplant 魚香茄子

Ma Po Tofu 麻婆豆腐

The biggest difference between the chef's and our creations was the cut and the balance -- I loved the dishes I made, but I'd want to be served his.

After the dishes were done, we carried them back downstairs and chowed down with some complementary Tsingtao. Yum. Fantastic deal for 100 rmb each.

See http://www.gogosc.com/ for more info on the hostel.

Long Chao-shou 龙抄手

May 2010

A chain of hole-in-the-wall local eateries in Chengdu and rest of China, Long Chao-shou was yummy albeit confusing for the two of us who didn't quite read or speak Chinese that well. Tan Tan Mien is the staple Sichuan order for me (or it happens to be the one thing that I can read ona menu), some sort of rou mien (meat noodles) that Ryota could order, and we pointed to a few others. Tan Tan Mien was the best here for sure.

ChongQing QinMa Hotpot

May 2010

Yummy firey Sichuan hot pot a few minutes walk from Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel where we signed up for cooking classes.

We ordered the foreigner-friendly split hot pot, with a non-spicy broth in the middle, though we did end up deciding that the spicy broth was much better. Then we chose several meats and vegetables for the pot. They gave us small bowls filled with sesame oil into which we put spoonfuls of minced garlic and chopped cilantro.

The cooking is much like shabu-shabu. You dip the meat/veggie into the boiling broth for a set time (1-5 min depending on what it is). But then you dip the fiery hot item into the sesame oil, and yummmm...


Fire Pot!

Remember that the more surface the item has, the more 'spicy' it will keep. Large greens are great in hot pot, but REALLY spicy.

Definitely get some beers, helps with the cooling.

All for a whopping 100rmb ($14 USD) for two.

Chen's Ma Po Tofu

May 2010

Seems to be THE famous Ma Po Tofu place in Chengdu, as all hotels and guidebooks will recommend. It's the oldest restaurant in Chengdu serving the local specialty, and it is fiery and delicious.

We walked in for lunch. One order of their mapo tofu, one order of greens, and rice and tea was the perfect amount.