PETALING JAYA, Oct 1 – I have always had a soft spot for authentic Chinese food especially Dong Bei and Sichuan cuisine. Hence when I saw Chef Jiang's food offerings on MY Food Directory and Delivery C19, I decided to order their dishes.
The home-based business by Chef Jiang who is from Dong Bei or Northern China, was started back in December last year. Initially they only sold handmade dumplings or jiao zi.
They then slowly branched out to offer fried skewers and BBQ items that are popular snacks paired with beer. This year, they introduced cold items, chef's specials, stir fry dishes and stews.
Each month, they offer special deals for selected dishes. Last month, it was for the classic Dong Bei dish of hot and sour shredded potatoes and stir fried shredded pork.
Traditionally the food can be incredibly spicy and salty. As their business caters more for local tastebuds, you can request for the food to be tweaked whereby heat levels are adjusted. Even the saltiness can be reduced.
My food order arrived on a rainy day, which was the perfect weather for the piquant, spicy flavours. Rather than order my usual Sichuan favourite fish dish aka sui zu yu or boiled fish, I decided to try suan cai yu. It's quite similar to the other dish with boiled fish except this one included crunchy pickled cabbage or suan chai which is commonly used in Dong Bei cuisine. The crunchy vegetable mellowed out the broth and gave it an appetising taste which you cannot stop drinking.
I also enjoyed every piece of the fish as the texture was silky smooth and perfectly cooked. They use tilapia fish which is cut into slices while the belly is cut into bigger pieces. They also threw in the bones and the fish head, which was a special treat as the area around the eye was cooked to a lovely jelly like texture.
Similar to the Sichuan dish, the top layer of the soup has oil so use a ladle to scoop the broth under the oil. You will be rewarded with a lovely appetising broth, thanks to the preserved cabbage. The portion for RM58 is huge and can easily feed a family of six people or more.
I decided to try one of their stews as well and selected the braised pork ribs with potatoes and long beans (RM42). You get tender pork ribs braised with a soybean paste sauce that is incredibly tasty.
The best part is the soft, fluffy potatoes that absorb the sauce. On its own, the dish can be quite salty. If your salt tolerance is low, pair it with a bowl of rice or you can ask them to reduce the salt levels. Similarly this portion is huge and can be shared with six people.
As cold dishes are an integral part of Chinese cuisine, I ordered their new dish, the ma la liang pi which was available for the promotional price of RM15. These mung bean noodles have a slippery texture that you can slurp up. Each strand is coated with the sauce that has the aroma of smoked chillies and vinegar to give it a nice oomph.
Since I ordered quite a few items, they threw in the cold cucumbers with garlic (RM12). These were crunchy and so refreshing with that spicy hit and the piquancy of chopped garlic.
Last but not least, there was the saliva chicken or poached chicken thigh with Sichuan sauce (RM26). I love the smooth texture of the chicken paired with the smoky chilli, vinegar and chopped garlic sauce. It sits on a bed of crunchy cucumbers.
As I had leftovers in the refrigerator, these made the perfect accompaniment for my salad. The piquant flavours boosted the greens tremendously.
You can order the food at least a day in advance. The food can be picked up from Bandar Utama or they can arrange for delivery with a third party provider with the condition that you pay the delivery fees.
蒋好吃 Chef Jiang, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya. You can WhatsApp +6011-10013939 to place an order. Facebook: @chefjiangx
