This Flushing restaurant goes big on authentic Szechuan flavours, serving them up in a venue that echoes a traditional Chinese teahouse, albeit with a contemporary, industrial edge. So why the name? The venue’s design (repeated partitions divided into three areas: a front lane, an atrium and the backyard) aim to recreate the feel of an alleyway in the owner’s home of Chengdu, in the Szechuan Province.
The chef (also from Szechuan) has more than 40 years’ experience in this kind of cooking. That means a menu ranging from sliced pig ear in spicy sauce and steamed chicken with Szechuan chili sauce to dan-dan noodles with chili-minced pork, home-style pork feet soup, and stewed chicken and intestine with a house-spicy sauce. Plenty for adventurous palates, then.
Fusion options show creativity, with the menu also featuring options such as braised pork with hot pepper sauce, a Chinese beef burrito, and West Lake beef chowder. Keep an eye out for interesting desserts, too – the Szechuan cake with black sugar looks ace.