My favorite dish was also the water boiled fish which the waiter indicated was indeed available on the regular menu. If there is confusion, it is 水煮魚. This dish appears at every Sichuan restaurant around the area, also in a version with beef and sometimes even shrimp. For me, this is by far the best version I have had and it will bring me back to Chili House. It seemed to be done with a lighter hand though in no way holding back on the complex spices.
I doubt that this dish actually appeared on Imperial Banquet menus. I certainly do not recall it at a lake side pavilion in Bei Hai park in Beijing in the early 1990s where a restaurant served “imperial banquets” even to parties of 2. In fact, several other dishes did not seem to me to be likely to show up at imperial bashes, including the dongpo pork, the Beijing dumplings and duck, etc.
Nonetheless, several items did have the elegance and visual splendor that spoke of such dinners and of the skill of the chef at Chlli House. Prime examples were his work with pastry such as the amazing chicks and eggs that finished the meal and the crabs that confronted the prawns in an amazing display. My other favorite item also could be imagined in such a setting, the excellent squash and corn and scallop soup in a coconut shell, slightly sweet. As one scraped off fresh coconut from the shell into the soup, there were delicate fireworks of brilliantly balanced flavor.
Maybe not dating back from the days of the imperial table, but certainly very Beijing in character were many other dishes that were brought more recently to the sophisticated gourmet capital from all over the gastronomic empire. Some were very interesting and done in new ways. The Uyigur influenced lamb sticks were very meaty, probably slow cooked and then fried with more gentle spicing than we usually see for Cumin Lamb. The bitter melon thinly sliced with honey was brilliantly presented. This dish appears in smaller portions at several other local Hong Kong influenced places (Dragon Beaux is one). Very refreshing with the flavor of bitter melon appearing in a more subtle way because of its iced temperature.
The Peking Duck, served (correctly as in Beijing) with pancakes, was quite good with a marvelous home made (not really hoi sin) sauce. Little ribs marinated with mint (?) were delicious. Less exciting despite their interesting presentation flowing out of a cup of opulence and good fortune were the little meatballs which had a crispy outer layer but not much flavor and an uninteresting texture inside.
I am not sure what to say about the dong po pork. It was beautiful in appearance and more like the famous jade piece now showing at the Asian Art Museum than any other I have seen. Maybe it was by intention, this version seemed less flavorful than the soy braised Hangzhou cooking we usually get. Seemed like this was first boiled in a spiced non-soy broth and then brought together with its red sauce. Beijing style?
All in all a very fun banquet at a very reasonable cost and mostly quite excellent if not totally imperial.
As usual the company was fun and I learned a lot from them. Many thanks to sck for thinking of getting us together and organizing!
… and you are right, Tom Hilton, I did not get any work done afterwards – I had to delay by a day writing my report…
