Yuxin Sichuan Cuisine Shanghai
Oh god, this place is good. Yuxin Sichuan Cuisine is where Sichuaners’ go to eat Sichuan food.
To be honest… I wasn’t a big fan of spicy food, or heck mouth numbing spicy sichuan food, before I moved to China. But after awhile, I realized that spicy food is actually pretty good. I almost crave for it. The thing about Chinese food is that it is all about taste. Not presentation – like the Japanese, nor heartiness, as Korean cuisine is. Hence, the delicate flavor, as I have said many times, and mouth feel experience, with the variety of different textures, has been the key aspect of Chinese cuisine.
Though a friend recommended this place, I still felt I had to do a little background research. Some of the expat sites indicated that people from Sichuan would go to Yuxin for a taste of their hometown cuisine. After reading that, it was determined. Oh this occasion, with some out of town friends, I found my reason.
The modest restaurant, located in an indoor shopping center, didn’t have the opulence of South Beauty or Lan. But on this weekday evening, the mostly Chinese and non-expat crowd, had filled the restaurant. I think Yuxin also has a couple other locations in and around the city.
The speciality of Yuxin is the famed mala spicy fish. Served in a big bowl, with vegetables, red peppers, and sichuan peppers swimming a oily clear broth. Though it seemed oily, it didn’t have the gross oily taste. The sliced fish, with only a few bones, decorated this great presentation. Lookingly spicy, it really was more Mala – meaning more mouth numbing that anything. The fish had the melded taste of the peppers, sichuan peppers, and vegetables. It was the long awaited last dish of the night.
In explaining what Mala from the resulting Sichuan pepper, it is a taste sense or almost a new flavor profile in itself. The sichuan pepper is slightly larger than a black peppercorn. Though only the husk is used, rather than the inner seeds. The husk produces a slight and temporary mouth numbing feel. In fact, I kinda like that mouth numbing feel. It almost mimics drug like addiction – since it is a sensory feeling.
Another dish that I liked was the steamed chicken in the spicy red sauce. The light chicken contrasted well with the thick spicy sauce. Known as Poor People Chicken, was served with mostly white meat.
I hope to return, soon. Yuxin is great for groups that like the spicy and numbing Sichuan food.
渝信川菜 静安区成都北路333号招商局广场3楼(近威海路) yuxin1997.com
