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Battle of Sze Chuan & Yunnan Noodle – 譚仔雲南米線(三哥) x Barchua House (巴蜀軒豬扒酸辣米線)
Posted by admin on June 6, 2010 · 3 Comments
As a Wan Chai resident, one cannot doubt the area is a mega-food hub along with Jordan in Kowloon, with uncountable number of good cheap eats & very relatively unknown restaurants which serve up simple yet wonderful food. It is a privilege & honour to be part of Wan Chai neighbourhood for sure.
As always, our usual leisurely walk on Wan Chai Road on a fine Saturday led us to the relatively new-ish opened 譚仔雲南米線(三哥) (badly translated to Mr Tam’s Yunnan Noodles) & what a good way to cure a minor hangover with some serious spice, heat & sweat. Yunnan Cuisine & dishes can be extremely spicy & the spicy flavour is not your average spice kick, it is the Mala flavour (麻辣) which does the most damage. Similar to other Sze Chuan noodles shops in my previous visits (http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=841), you can choose Mala Flavoured, Spicy Sour Flavoured or Boring Original Flavoured Broth to pair with your noodles & on top to show that you are true warrior, pick your level of spiciness ranging from 5 Mini Chilli Level, Low Chili Level, Medium Level Chilli & High Level Chilli but of course, if you are such a macho-man, you can secretly request for the Extra Hot Chilli Level which I advise you purchase a few packs of tissues to wipe off your sweat during the course of your meal.
What we liked?
Chilli Oil Infused with Millenium Egg - These are not Sze Chuan Millenium Eggs due to the difference in colour but are the regular millenium eggs you have in regular Chinese restaurants which were well infused with spicy chilli oil with a good handful of garlic & spring onion! The bright red chilli oil was spicy, not to the level that it wasn’t edible but was extremely flavourful & delicious which warmed up my digestive system prior to the bowl of noodles.
Medium Level Spicy Mala Flavoured Noodles with Chicken & Fried Tofu – I have always believed in one phrase, “what doesn’t kill you simply makes you stronger” – this bowl of noodles is the perfect illustration. Not the most frightfully scary coloured broth it was, you kind of have a sense on the spiciness but nothing crazy was gonna happen. I was wrong & by the time I was half way through my bowl of noodles, my T shirt was soaked & droplets of sweat was steaming down my forehead. The noodles, chicken & fried tofu were ordinary & the key focus for the noodles should be on the Mala Flavoured broth. By the time I finished my bowl of noodles, there was a sense of accomplishment & yes it was damn spicy & the flavour & heat remained in my system for the whole day. This bowl of noodles didn’t kill me but certainly made me stronger in my immunity towards spicy dishes!
Regular Broth Noodles with Fried Tofu – For those that cannot handle the intensity of spicy flavours, go for the low chili level broth noodles with your choice of food pairings which you can choose including fish balls, squid balls, beef, chicken, ham, Yunnan Fungus, bean curd & bean sprout etc. Colour of the broth was pure milky white, tasted like a very sweet Chicken Broth & it was totally the opposite to our bowl of noodles above. Highly recommend to those that cannot handle spicy & mala flavours!
What we didnt like?
Tribal Thief Chicken Wing (土匪雞翼)- One of the signature snacks at 譚仔雲南米線(三哥) & a dish with a rather interesting historical backgrond to it. History goes that the tribal thieves used to raid villages & the dish was created when they marinate the poultry products using a combination of herbs & seasonings which they stole from the villages. According to the Chefs at this place, up to 42 Herbs are used to marinate their chicken wings which I highly doubt & the most common way to make this type of chicken wing is to combine cumin + black sesame + garlic + Shao Xing Wine. Since it is one of their signature snacks, I expected this to be special but somehow, it lacked an edge & maybe I had a bad day at the restaurant, no way on earth could I have tasted “42 herbs” on this as it was bland, very bland which was disappointing. There are other selections of chicken wings on the menu such as Mala Flavoured & Spicy Sour Flavoured Chicken Wing which you must also try out.
I made a 2nd visit to 譚仔雲南米線(三哥) yesterday & ordered a few different dishes to try out & it was a shame that my most important companion, my camera was not with me. Nonetheless, the food at this place is simple but yet full of great flavours & also surprisingly decent environment not too shabby & loud. Do not put your emphasis on the quality of the ingredients, just visit & enjoy the enjoyments of the spicy flavours. Afterall, a meal for 2 was less than $100, what a bargain.
Rating: 3/1/2*
Address: G/F, 205 Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai
Tel: 2836 3118
So Saturday was about 譚仔雲南米線(三哥), I wanted to enjoy something along the same lines & found Barchua House (巴蜀軒豬扒酸辣米線) within 500 yards of each other. In Chinese, the name of the restaurant means Sze Chuan Province Pork Chop Spicy Sour Noodles, unusual name for a restaurant to use name of a dish as a restaurant meaning that this dish has gotta be good. This place was shabby, could seat 4 tables max with AWFUL quite possibly one of the worst services I have ever witnessed in Hong Kong. I am not the type of customer that really gives a toss about service because the most important thing for me is food but WHOA, these guys & girls obviously have never been trained & the mannerism in taking orders was a pure joke!
Anyway, back to the food & we ordered 2 sets of Sze Chuan Province Pork Chop Spicy Sour Noodles, one with the deep fried pork chop in the broth & the other was on the side. Comparing to the Mr Tam’s noodles, Barchua House was distinctly poor & branded as Sze Chuan noodles, it was barely spicy despite my ordering of a medium level spiciness as well as the disturbance with the layer of the chilli oil floating on the top. Spring onion condiment on the side was so unfinely chopped that it made you wonder on the skill sets of the chef as there were various bits of spring onion all in uneven sizes. The broth was tasteless, quality & texture of noodles were ordinary & the mince pork paste loacked flavours. Despite the mediore presentation, surprisingly the deep fried pork chop was pretty decent with a layer of crispy batter, tender meat & wasn’t too greasy at all. Aside from the Pork Chop, this whole dish was a nightmare & was largely disappointing despite being a signature dish. A very forgetable experience for sure.
Next up was the Sze Chuan Hand Tear Chicken in Barchua House & definitely amongst one of the worst Hand Tear Chicken I have had in Hong Kong before. Dry texture of the chicken, flavour of the sauce was very strange as it was neither spicy / sour / sweet but contained a slight taste of Mala flavour & above all, the lack of sauce didn’t help the dry texture of the chicken. Baffles me on how this could be served to a paying customer when obviously the chefs did not spot check on whether there was enough sauce with the chicken!
We were still relatively hungry after the bowl of noodles & hand tear chicken but as the 1st two dishes were relatively woeful, we just couldn’t bear ourselves to try out other dishes for the day. Sadly, Barchua House was a big miss as I had high hopes for it after reading articles from local food magazines which again justifies the credibility of such writing!
Happy Eating!
Geoff
Rating: 1/1/2*
Address: Shop G1, Pak Ling Building, 368 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
Tel: 2574 6222
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Keep up the good work, I like your writing.
Great post. I think that you bring out the great hidden gems in wan chai.
Rayfil
Just checked out the Yunnan place. It was good, but not really authentic. At least I didn’t have the MiXian that way in my three years living in Yunnan … Anyway, still a good eat