Today Friday March 2, 2012 T4 wine & dine Two Chinese restaurants hope to pull in the Heating Up Katong crowds with fiery Szechuan and Cantonese fare Poached luffa gourd Canton Paradise in pork bone soup Xiao La Jiao Chuan style spicy chicken BBQ pork belly with honey sauce Crispy BBQ pork Chengdu fried rice Mixed sugar guokui Over the last few months, those living been deftly conceptualised to bridge any It was also potently spicy, which one I was pleased to see the bowl of dan in the Katong and Marine Parade area generational gaps that might appear around supposes is the point of Szechuan cuisine. dan noodles (S$8) appear at the table, but have discovered the joys (and the parking its tables. For instance, retro meets quickly felt let down by the dry and bland woes) of the new I12 Katong mall. For this modern in its interiors, with walls lit Spicy is nice-y peanut sauce that coated the roof of my proud fine food enclave, I12 Katong is like purple beneath black latticework screens. Certainly, Szechuan cuisine has gained mouth. At least that helped to temper the an unexpectedly new and large jewel in its Its chairs, straight-backed and rimmed in popularity here. In the last few years, a hum of the Szechuan peppers. already sparkly crown. metal, are a throwback to the 80s. good number of Szechuan restaurants have What was surprisingly good was the Adding to the heritage fare that The more contemporary creations on sprouted across the island, and Singaporeans hot and sour soup (S$5.80). It had none abounds in the neighbourhood are an Italian the menu — like a steamed cheong fun have embraced this spicy cuisine. of the gooey starchiness that I’d come to cafe, a stalwart American chain restaurant, stuffed with preserved turnip, the same Xiao La Jiao, on the third floor of 112 know from the Chinese restaurants of my an Aussie chocolate bistro and a whole lot topping used in chwee kueh (S$4) — are Katong, is dedicated to the food of China’s youth, and had a lovely balance of flavours of other establishments that people used new but still familiar, which will delight the Szechuan province and its capital Chengdu, — not too hot, not too spicy, no Szechuan to have to traipse into the city for. young and satisfy the elders. which was the first Asian city to gain peppers. Hurrah! Yes, the big guns have arrived in the One dish that may not go down so well UNeSCO listing as a City of Gastronomy. Like Indian food, Szechuan fare is one east and they’ve established dominance with the healthy eaters is the Canton crispy Xiao La Jiao’s setting isn’t as snazzy of those cuisines that demands dessert at over our ever-willing army of foodies. Take BBQ pork (S$15.80). Char siew immediately as Canton Paradise’s. It is a humbler affair, meal’s end so that the sugar can calm your the Paradise Group’s Canton Paradise comes to mind when hearing the dish’s with clean wooden furnishings and a palate from all that spice. Both Canton restaurant, tucked away in the mall’s name, but it’s really pure lard marinated bright view of the bustling traffic below. Paradise and Xiao La Jiao don’t disappoint teeming basement, for example. Come in char siew seasoning and slow-roasted Our meal began with a cold dish of Chuan- in this department with classics. Xiao La here without a reservation during weekend until it is intensely crisp and caramelised. style spicy chicken (S$6.90) that immediately Jiao has the mango-pomelo-sago soup peak hours and you risk disappointment. Bite down on the little squares of walloped our taste buds with the full-bodied (S$4.90), while Canton Paradise offers the it and the oil and flavours literally burst sambal that blanketed the poached meat. more contemporary glutinous rice balls One for the family in your mouth — the very same thing experiencing that taste bud-raising filled with oozing custard (S$4.80), a play For a restaurant group that made its that might happen to your arteries when sensation of Szechuan peppers again got on the traditional liu sar bao (steamed name purveying a wonderfully refined the lard slides down into your system. me thinking about how almost every dish custard buns). ANNETTE TAN take on classic Chinese fare, the food at even as a firm believer of fat equating to in the Szechuan repertoire seemed to be in Canton Paradise is surprisingly rustic. Its flavour, this was a little much for me. My possession of it. And how that one flavour Canton Paradise executive chef Hu Shu Sheng is a native dining companion, however, disagreed and note (if you can call it that) seems to have Where: #B1-15 I12 Katong, 112 east of Guangzhou, and accordingly, is a deft sneaked a few squares more than would carried the cuisine to UNeSCO greatness. Coast road hand at dim sum and the specialities of have impressed his cardiologist. It was there in the surprisingly Tel: 6344 8201 Shunde, the district regarded as the seat Apparently, chef Hu also has a thing delicate boiled toman (S$17.90), which Opening hours: Monday to Friday of Cantonese cuisine. for Szechuan cuisine, which explains the was much like Canton Paradise’s poached 11am to 10pm, Saturday, Sunday & public His poached luffa gourd with salted selection of those dishes that run on the sea bass, and in the griddle-cooked tian holidays 10.30am to 10pm pork bone soup (S$12.80) is robust and menu. I tried the poached sea bass with ji (S$16.90), slippery frog meat sauteed peppery, and tastes almost exactly like the pickled cabbage in fish stock (S$28.80) with soft, slightly sweet potatoes. While it Xiao La Jiao pig’s stomach soup that my mother and that came in a bowl enormous enough didn’t overpower the other flavours of the Where: #03-05 I12 Katong, 112 east grandmother used to make. Perhaps this to feed at least six. The spicy broth was dishes, the peppers left a lingering buzz in Coast road dish encapsulates the appeal of Canton laced with those tongue-tingling Szechuan my mouth, which after a while, started to Tel: 6636 3736 Paradise, whose food and decor have peppers and full of tender fish slices. get numbingly old. Opening hours: 12pm to 9.30pm daily.