Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), Ngee Ann City

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), Ngee Ann City

In the span of the past year or so, we've walked by this Szechuan styled restaurant (#05-06/07 Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6734 4216) a few times and have always wondered if they were any good. They have quite a variety on menu and some of those items have been such a common find here that I wonder if this was truly Szechuan or localized Szechuan.  

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), lettuce sesame dip

In an attempt to get some greens and fibre into our diet, rolls of lettuce leaves bound with strips of cucumber with a sesame dip. The thick nutty dip was unexpectedly sweet. For some reasons, I had been expecting something savoury. Tasted better after it was mixed with some vinegar and chilli oil.

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), spicy chicken

I forgot what this was called but it's marinated chicken in chilli oil. Kinda like the spicy version of Shaoxin marinated chicken with the aroma of Szechuan peppercorn.

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), dan dan mian

Dan dan mian. Nutty, meaty and I suppose it was okay-ish.

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), spinach three eggs

That's spinach with three eggs. Albeit a slightly different rendition from what's usually available. This one had century and quail eggs. The salted egg component came in the form of the sauce. 

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), steamed dumplings spinach

We tried their steamed dumplings with pork and spinach. Apart from the spinach component, these tasted like xiao long bao sans the "juice". I found them agreeable.

Tian Bao Szechuan Kitchen (天寶閣), gong bao prawns

And then there was gong bao prawns that came with loads of cashews. Cashews that I wished had been toasted for their aroma before they were stir fried into the dish. Wasn't bad at all but I had been imagining a more luxuriant sweetness and heat that this one didn't quite live up to.

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