Doorley Tom EATS & DRINKS

CHINA SICHUAN

Ballymoss Road, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18 Phone: 01 293 5100 china-sichuan.ie

I’LL never forget my first taste of the old China Si c huan in Kilmacud back in the early 1990s. It wasn’t just the wonderful welcome f or us and our s mall children but the sudden discovery of authentic Sichuanese cooking in an ordinary suburb.

It was on that first visit that we discovered tea-smoked duck with plum sauce and on a slightly later one that I nearly melted when eating Sichuanese simmered beef which carries an immense payload of chilli heat.

These, and other dishes, have become firm family favourites and when we gather, from various points of the compass, in Dublin, we tend to go back and enjoy a sensory skidaddale down the gastronomic lane of memory.

Experiencing the China Sichuan in takeaway form is somewhat different, of course.

We dispensed with the tablecloth and the serving dishes and — having developed a very healthy collective appetite in anticipation of the meal — dug in with considerable enthusiasm.

Of course, as always with takeaways, but especially when it comes to the China Sichuan’s cooking, either on or off the premises, we over-ordered. There is never any hardship in dealing with leftovers next morning.

But let’s pause a moment and say, parodying a certain TV commercial, that this is not just a takeaway, it’s a China Sichuan takeaway.

‘Chinese’ fast food is available in every town and city in Ireland but what we are talking about might as well be from a different galaxy — as they say — far, far away.

China Sichuan’s food ranks with some of the best restaurant cooking in the country.

Let’s just say that your average Chinese takeaway is the 1974 Fiat 127 that was my first car, while China Sichuan is the Mercedes

S-Class that is certainly not my current conveyance.

So, the edited highlights. As always, the pickled beansprouts (€ 5): cold, crisp, zingy, tangy and hot in a chilli sense. These wake up even the most jaded taste buds.

Hon Yu Guozi (€8.75), pork and chicken dumplings in a spicy broth, slicked with red chilli oil, slippery and slurpy and without which a visit here, virtual or real, is not complete. Likewise, the salt and chilli squid (€8.50), that old chestnut, brought to proper heights: crisp, spicy, dry and not oily (even after a 15-minute drive), the squid itself tender and almost nutty.

In the interests of pure decadence we added waltip chicken and pork dumplings (€9), handmade on the premises and so superior to the frozen ones we eat home, with a soy and chilli dipping sauce. Then came ma po tofu (€12.50, pictured above), the vegetarian version, where the silky tofu pieces were bathed in a dark, rich, spicy sauce the intensity of which made this vegetarian dish put on a very convincingly meaty disguise.

Fish fragrant pork (€ 15.50) which, confusingly, has nothing to do with fish, the name referring to its very specific sauce, was a somewhat cooling contrast but —

after all — this is the cooking of Sichuan where the very distinctive Sichuanese pepper and dried chillis are key ingredients. But the spicy element here was more driven by ginger. Haozan beef (€18.50) was perhaps the most conventional dish of the evening, very tender pan-fried slices served in a dark and savoury teriyaki sauce spiked with the almost citruslike zing of ground Sichuanese pepper.

The Chinese restaurants that I knew in my youth did rather limited desserts: ice cream of some sort, banana fritters and fruit salad.

Karen Smith, the very talented pastry chef at the China Sichuan, i n keeping with the kitchen being from a different galaxy, etc, produces works of art to conclude the feast.

We had the best gâteau opéra slice (€ 6.50) I’ve had outside

France: exquisitely executed in delicate, thin layers with chocolate, caramel and coffee elements in perfect balance.

And there was a fun riff on a sweetshop staple, a kind of meticulous Michelin version of the Twix bar (€6.50), and a geometrically spot- on dome of set lemon curd with a fresh raspberry centre sitting on crisp shortbread disc (€6.50).

I rest my case.

THE SMART MONEY

PRICES for food at this level are very fair and the desserts are a snip.

AND ANOTHER THING...

ORDERS strictly online only, up to 7 days in advance, and collections from Friday to Sunday. You will be asked to select a time slot and do note that this cannot be changed.