Chuan Xiang Ge Szechuan Restaurant on Westminster Highway, Richmond

Update 15-Feb-2011: Sadly this restaurant had closed.

There is this thing about the Mao Tai Restaurant (with its distinctive garlic bulb and chili pepper logo) that I was curious about.  No, this post is not about Mao Tai but the new restaurant that is now in its place.  As far as I know there were at least three Mao Tai’s in Richmond throughout the years.  I think there is one last one still operating on Park Road.  Something tells me they have a colorful story behind that name, you know like the saga of Koon Lok and Koon Po restaurants in Vancouver.  Does anyone know about the people or story (if any!) behind Mao Tai?

chuanxiangge-38-600x400

We had on our list to visit the Mao Tai on Westminster Highway but it’s gone now.  In its place is a new Szechuan Restaurant called Chuan Xiang Ge Szechuan Restaurant.  At one point they were called Mascot Enterprise until the signboard came up.  This is located in the same strip mall as Tsim Chai Noodles and Banzai Sushi House.

Parking had always been a challenge here for us.  However, the turnaround time is quite quick because most people who parks here goes for shopping groceries, meat, fish and produce.

chuanxiangge-30-600x400

Chuan Xiang Ge is new — they are four months young.  The decor is simple but importantly it is clean and organized.  Being organized and having everything in its proper place is a sign that gives us confidence that it is also the same in places we do not see … the kitchen and storeroom.

They were not extremely busy when we were there.  It was half full at its peak.  I thought that perhaps that they are new and many people does not know of this place yet.

chuanxiangge-31-600x400

They speak perfect Mandarin and had trouble communicating in English.  That is quite fine by us because their menu was quite user friendly anyway.  The translation on the menu was pretty good and does describe accurately what the dish is.  They do feature their specialty with pictures at the bottom of every page.  Our selection was based on those pictures.

Most of their main dishes like meat, fish, soup, and tofu ranges from $10 to $13.  A number of them ranges as high as $30.  However, they do have a lunch menu too which is really cheap — just $6.50.  So the lunch menu should be worth checking out but not for this time.

chuanxiangge-1-400x600

We had chrysanthemum tea as our choice of tea this time.  I like their plates and cups.

chuanxiangge-32-600x400

They recommended this dish above.  It was absolutely superb.  They call this the Marinated Chicken with Spicy … yup, you read it correct.  It is called “Marinated Chicken with Spicy” on the menu.

It is listed on the Appetizer section.  I thought the dish is more of a main than an appetizer.  It came in two serving sizes, small for $9.50 and large for $17.  We ordered the small one expecting it being a small appetizer.  It was more of a main dish.

chuanxiangge-33-600x400

The chicken is served cold.  Perhaps that explains why they consider this an appetizer.  They told us they only use free range chicken for this dish.  Not only is the boney chicken delicious, but the main character of this dish is …

chuanxiangge-4-400x600

… the appetizing (no pun intended), peanuty and especially numbing spicy sauce.  It was awesome.  It was so good that I could just have the sauce with steamed rice alone.  Very, very good.  If you go to this restaurant, this is a must-try.

chuanxiangge-6-400x600

Besides the pictures on the menu, we asked for their recommendation.  They recommended the fresh Steamed Fish Head with Pickled Chili.  This is one of their more expensive dishes, $22.50.  They steam the whole fish direct from the tank.  So this is fresh fish we are talking about here.  We were warned that this will take a while to cook — we were OK with that.

chuanxiangge-35-600x400

The dish is quite oily, just like a lot of Szechuan style dishes.  There were lots of pickled chili — not spicy hot.  From the looks of it, it does look really spicy hot doesn’t it?  It was not at all.   We felt the fish was kind of small.

chuanxiangge-7-400x600

OK, a little trivia for the non-Chinese which I think you will find interesting.  Do you know that the Chinese will serve fish dishes in a way that you don’t have flip the fish over to get to the other side.  It is a taboo because if you do that, it signifies the overturning of the fishing boat … something like that.  Anyone can expand on this?

chuanxiangge-34-600x400

We had a lot of left over sauce.  At the end of the meal, the waitress insisted that she put the sauce into a container for us to bring home.  She said that the sauce is great to make tofu.  Suanne used the sauce at home  to make a simple tofu dish.  It was really good.

chuanxiangge-2-400x600

We wanted some soup.  We selected the Pickled Cabbage and Shredded Pork Stomach Soup.  We love pork stomach soup and Suanne makes it often at home with black peppers.  This one here is made with pickled cabbage and so it is salty and lightly sourish.  They were generous with the pork stomach in this soup.  At $6.50 for a small portion, it was one of their cheapest dishes.  Even though it was a small serving that we ordered, it was sufficient for the four of us in the family.

chuanxiangge-5-400x600

For some reason, we had never come across this vegetable before.  It is called “A-Choy” which we thought that they made up the name because there is no proper English word for it.  The Chinese name sounded like “tong hoe”.  They recommended we try this one.  We did … and we like it.

They stir fry this anyway you wanted it.  We asked that it be made simple with just garlic.  This dish is $9.50.

chuanxiangge-36-600x400

It was a very crunchy vegetable — even the leaf was crunchy.  I could hear the crunch from Suanne and the boys as they eat this!  A-Choy has a very thick stem.  It was like three time the size of a good size Gai Lan (Chinese Brocolli).  If you have never tried A-Choy before, you should give it a try.

chuanxiangge-3-400x600

Steamed rice came in a bucket for four and was $3.50.

chuanxiangge-8-400x600

The total bill was $54 before tips.  Actually this is a cheap meal if not for the steamed fish.

chuanxiangge-37-600x400

Guess what?  They gave us a $10 discount for our next visit.  I am not sure why they gave us this.  Maybe they thought we were food journalist or something.  They were really curious alright with us photographing our food but they did not quite know how to ask us about it.  They seem quite pleased we we told them that liked their Marinated Chicken “With Spicy”.

We will certainly be back.  They proudly told us their chef is an experienced chef from the city of Cheng Du.  It looks like this is one restaurant that could make it good … except that they have a lousy location.  Otherwise, I think they just need to get the word out that they are there.  Go check them out if you have the time.

chuanxiangge-9-400x600

Oh … after the meal, we walked across the parking lot to the Asian grocery stall and lo and behold … see what we found … A-Choy!  Gosh, this is only $1 per bunch and they stir fry this with garlic and serve this to us at $10.  Good profit huh?  LOL!  We bought a bunch to cook at home.

Chuan Xiang Ge Szechuan Restaurant on Urbanspoon

This Post Has 0 Comments

  1. Phil

    That photo of the spicy chicken and fish is enough, I am gathering my foodie troops and heading over next weekend!

  2. fresh_one

    Great post Ben! Thank God you didn’t get to try Moutai. I used to go there quite often for their $2 dan dan noodles. One day I got a dan dan noodle and a vegetarian goose to go and at first I didn’t notice but there were many little worms in my vegetarian goose. I had already ate half of the dish when I noticed and almost threw up after the discovery!!

  3. Nancie

    hi suanne, i think the vege’s name was not “tong hoe”. it should calls as “yau mak”, am i right? hope i didn’t make the mistake…

    1. Suanne

      Hi Nancie, you are right, the ‘Achoy’ is called “yau mak” in Chinese. When I take note in the restaurant, I have no idea what ‘Achoy’ is and it tasted like ‘tong hoe’ to me. You have to forgive us who are Chinese illiterate 🙂

  4. glory

    I have only seen achoy in taiwanese restaurants…

  5. Katy

    I eat at Tsim Chai Noodles a lot… I’ll definitely check this place out!

  6. Opus

    You gotta try the “Water Boiled Fish” (Shui Zhu Yu), google it to see what it’s like; it is one of the most famous Sichuan dishes. Also you may want to order “Husband and Wife Lung Slices” (Fuqi Feipian), a pretty good cold appetizer.

  7. Lyn

    The $10 discount on next visit is a promotion they have. Not sure if it’s permanent or temporary but my mother actually saw their ad on Chinese TV & being traditionally (frugal) Chinese, the $10 was enough enticement to give the restaurant a go. Wish I knew the names of the dishes we ordered, but my mother ordered in Mandarin. Food was definitely great tho, not sure why they are not more busy. When your 60 yr old Chinese mother asks the restaurant for a take-out menu, it’s GOOD!

  8. Tim

    The A-choy is actually very popular in Taiwan! I don’t know if it’s indigenous Taiwanese or just came over with folks from Cheng Du during the 50’s tho.

    Funnily in Taiwan I’ve only ever heard it called “A-choy”. The “Yau Mak” name is completely new to me and caught me by surprise when I came over here.

  9. neige.tyro

    we were going to try some shaolin noodle place around here tonight but i saw this sichuan place and gave in.
    googled this place up and saw a site fmed posted on (egullet) and decided to give it a go.
    after the meal, it would seem that u didn’t take quite an adventurer’s route through this place hehehe.

    dan dan noodles were great altho it looks different from march 2010 pix. shared it between 5 people so it was just a mini appy – what a feeling it is when you have a bowl of noodles and enjoy the dish for the noodle itself rather than whatever’s complimenting it!

    xiao long baos were up to standard.

    we got twice cooked pork and it was ok, agreed with other reviewers that it could be better but it’s not my type of dish anyway.

    they didn’t have the Braised Pork Belly with Preseved Vegetables i saw from egullet either so i didn’t wanna take a chance on another dish. the most expensive dish was this beer cooked duck. it’s a huge pot and comes with some tasty mushrooms. not that spicy. didn’t really like this dish.

    winner out of all this was obviously the one that murdered our tastebuds – boiled beef with cumin. this dish was laced with redness but the beef was oh so good!! there’s siu choy and bean sprouts as filler. definitely one to try if ur tastebuds are ever in need for a whipping. u need at least 3 people though.

    chinese restaurants always have cheap beer – i dunno … $10 for 4 bottles love it!

    1. fmed

      If you want to take a more adventurous route – try their fire exploded kidneys and their deep fried rabbit heads in spicy sauce: http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7DNl7oAyDI0/TEEsYCOnCaI/AAAAAAAAd8A/51rhmdC8vQk/s640/DSC08023.JPG (not really my kind of dish either…but hey, it is pretty adventurous).

      Other worthy dishes to try there: Sichuan Prawns, kou shui ji – “mouth watering chicken”, la zi ji – “thousand chili chicken” or “chongqing chicken”, sichuan style rabbit or “morsels of lapin”, and their sichuan potato shreds.

Leave a Reply