Spicy Sichuan Sensations
One
of the best things in life today is that you can practically enjoy cuisines
from other part of the world without having to be there in the country itself.
The world has become a melting pot now with people traveling constantly and
bringing in cuisines from their travels.
One
of the latest Sichuan restaurant to open in our metropolitan city is Da Gan Guo Restaurant. Located in a
heavily populated area of Jalan Genting Klang, the Sichuan restaurant is housed
in a fairly new building of MH Avenue. Barely few months old, Da Gan Guo hopes to introduce the
flavors from Hunan served in big trays and claypots. Food from Hunan are
generally renowned for the nostril tingling and lips numbing sensations.
Foodies with penchant for such heat will surely enjoy the dishes at Da Gan Guo.
Ganguo (干锅) or dry pot is a variant of hot pot. It differs slightly
from our standard hot pot in the sense that this is not a soup base hot pot but
rather more of a sauce based hot pot. The idea is to order your choice of hot
pot meat or seafood cooked in various sauces and then add in additional order
of side ingredients to add on to the hot pot to be enjoy slowly like a regular
hot pot.
The
décor is minimalist and one can enjoy the cool dining area or the alfresco area
at the spacious restaurant. Plus point for Da
Gan Guo is that their air-conditioning is pretty awesome because we barely
broke out any sweat while enjoying the lip numbing dishes. Since the dishes are
also cooked gently over heat on the table, the coolness of the dining room
really helps to make it really comfortable for slow savoring of the hot and
spicy food.
The
menu is filled with a substantial list of dishes. Pictures help of course and
while the name of the dishes doesn’t really give out much to the flavors of the
dishes, it helps when one can see what the dish looks like when ordering. What
we also like was the fact that Da Gan
Guo offers various levels of heat so one can order to one’s enjoyment. We
thought we would go easy with 10% heat level and even that, it was enough to
make us chase our dishes with water.
There
are plenty of signature dishes to choose from but perhaps the most outstanding
one would be the Sour & Spicy Grilled Fish with
Seafood (RM158 – Ma
Yao/Snapper | RM168 - Grouper).
A
whole fried fish of your choice together with an abundance of seafood
ingredients are served in a large wide tray with a piquant sour and spicy tomato
based broth. The whole grouper is fried so that when the dish is cooked slowly
over the heat in the broth, the fish retains a lovely firm texture. The flesh
is nicely fresh and sweet too.
Seafood…
the whole clan from huge prawns to regular prawns, clams and squid, it’s
literally a succulent seafood treasure pot. Gloriously fresh and sweet, the
prawns are such a treat. The clams and squid are best enjoyed fast before it
cooks too long in the broth. Perhaps what made the dish so unique is the
addition of beansprouts, pickled radish, pickled Xiaomi chili pepper or millet
pepper, lotus root, whole garlic cloves, preserved vegetables and lots of
coriander.
I
know it doesn’t look that spicy but trust me, the heat is there. The sour broth
is very appetizing and I kept going back for more. We ate the dish slowly and
the more it boils, the tastier the whole dish becomes. This is also where one
can order extra ingredients such as meat slices, fresh seafood, leafy greens or
root vegetables, assorted mushrooms to add into this broth. The dish is large
enough to feed 4 or more.
The
next dish is a piping hot and peppery Pork
Tripe with Chicken Soup (RM35 /RM55 /RM85). The cloudy soup may not look as
appetizing in color but the flavors are robust with a big oomph of peppery hit.
We could taste the meaty essence in the soup. There were also lots of tender
pieces of chicken and pork stomach pieces that are delicious. Just like the
first dish, one can also order extra ingredients to add on to this soup.
The
next dish is another spicy one that will guarantee to numb your lips. The Grilled Fish with Spicy Sauce (RM88) is
laden with lots of dried chilies and the Sichuan peppercorn at first sight. The
red snapper is also fried and smothered in a pungent Ma La sauce flavored with
black beans, more chilies, garlic, onions and more. There were also some sort
of soft pieces of gourd and cucumber and beansprouts that had soaked up the
flavors of the Ma La and tone down the heat when one savors them.
The
more the dish boils down, the heavier the flavor intensifies. Since the few of
us can tolerate heat pretty well, the dish was very enjoyable for us. The fish
also soaked up all the flavors of the sauce well and is very tasty and savory.
It’s a dish that truly signifies the Hunan cuisine on their liberal use of
chilies.
The
Hot ＆
Spicy Chicken (RM35
/RM55 /RM85) is similar to Lat Chi Chicken and the dish is cooked very well. I
have had many versions of this elsewhere and so far, this is one of the better
ones I have had.
Besides the mount of dried chilies, there were also plenty of
boneless chicken cubes that has been coated with light batter and seasoned
well. There is also lots of onions, and cucumber to give it more aromatics and
textures. The dish is wondrously aromatic and pungent with a bold chili note.
It is moreish and salty, perfect with steamed rice and beer.
Then
there’s more seafood and more heat with Stir-Fried
Baby Lobster with Ma La Sauce (RM108 /RM158). Technically this is crawfish
but I guess it does resemble a baby lobster. This one is also bathe in a deep
red and ferocious looking Ma La sauce too. There is also lots of beansprouts
beneath the crawfish and the sauce is basically garlicky with lots of Ma La
numbing heat. I seemed to prefer the fish over this one because it takes quite
some work to pry the meat from the crawfish but the flavors are still pretty
good.
The
last dish is the dish that I least expect to like since I am not a frog fan.
However, one taste and I love it. It’s the least spicy dish of the lot. The Signature Deep Fried Edible Frogs (RM58
/RM88) also has lot of ingredients in the dish. Pieces of tender frog, creamy
slices of potatoes, crunchy lotus root, crunchy stem lettuce pieces and lots of
aromatics all sautéed in a tasty spiced oil. The flavors are just sublime,
gorgeously savory with moreish notes. I kept savoring the vegetables because
they were so yummy and that frog was so succulent.
A must-order dish at Da Gan Guo!
You
don’t need to order as many main dishes as we had because the servings are
generous. I would recommend to order less main dishes and add on more side
ingredients because some of the main dishes goes a long way to feed a family of
four. There’s plenty more dishes to choose from a lavish Under The Sea pot filled with crabs, prawns and more seafood to Stir Fried Roasted Pork with Chive, Premium
Stir Fried Prawns and Ribs with Spicy Sauce, Oven Baked Crab with Rock Salt
and more. The best part of dining here is that flavors are never boring or
mundance so expect fireworks of flavors from the humble kitchen of Da Gan Guo.
DA
GAN GUO RESTAURANT
G-2, MH Avenue,
Jalan Genting Klang,
off Jalan Bunga Babbler,
BT 3 1/2, trail,
53300 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 – 4031 7823 |
010 – 824 6000 | 017 – 343 1869
Business Hours:
Mon - Sun: 11 am-3 PM |
5.30 pm-11.30 pm
