Karaiya Spice House

Be impressed by Alan Wong’s East-meets-West dishes

The cuisine at Karaiya Spice House, the latest addition to The Village at Sanlitun, can be described as nouveau Hunan – a Westerner-friendly combination of foreign accents on Chinese flavours.

Using quality ingredients is the key to good food, and while many local restaurateurs tend to neglect this aspect, no expense has been spared at Alan Wong’s ninth restaurant.

The Signature Fish (125RMB) is an update of the Hunan classic duojiao yutou, except Karaiya uses a whole fish. And not just any fish, but a Mandarin fish with fat cheeks and tender flesh.

The Spicy Pepper Diced Rib-eye (88RMB), a spruced up version of lazi ji, is made with juicy chunks of rib-eye steak and mountains of dried red chillies rather than tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorns.

The hearty portion of Bridge Spicy Spare Ribs (95RMB) come topped with peanuts, fresh chillies, preserved vegetablesand a pleasing spicy-and-savoury sauce; the meat is so tender it falls off the bone when you poke at it.

Other excellent dishes with earthy notes include stir-fried morning glory on a block of bean curd (30RMB), which has a wonderful fermented bean curd flavour; the country style stinky bean curd (25RMB), in which the spongy tofu absorbs the mild chilli sauce; spicy pork stir-fry (35RMB), a delectable mouth-burner of a dish; and the dry wok bull frog (48RMB) – the delicate frog meat is terrific beyond words.

The sake marinated chicken (32RMB) is perhaps the only disappointing dish. Devoid of sake flavour, it’s seemingly a hasty modification of a southern white cut chicken smeared with some hot sauce.

The stir-fried gizzard (35RMB) is also rather dull, despite abundant chillies.

The two-storey Karaiya is stylish, with wooden lattice window frames across the ceiling and Oriental objects adorning the red brick walls.

It’s also blessed with natural sunlight from its floor-to-ceiling glass wall. It’s a winner. Eileen Wen Mooney

Karaiya S10-30, The Village at Sanlitun, 19 Sanlitun Bei Lu, Chaoyang district (6415 3535) Open 10.30am-2pm; 5.30-10pm daily. Meal for two around 400RMB. 辣屋, 朝阳区三里屯路19号The Village南 区8号楼

The bill

■ Signature fish.............. 125RMB
■ Spicy pepper diced rib-eye............................... 88RMB
■ Bridge spicy spare ribs... 95RMB
■ Stir-fried morning glory... 30RMB
■ Dry wok bull frog............ 48RMB
■ Sake marinated chicken............................. 32RMB
■ Stinky bean curd............ 25RMB

Total 443RMB