Tags
Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Belconnen, Chinese food, dinner with friends, Sichuan restaurant
Chinese food that tastes like Chinese food
I absolutely love Chinese food! My two gorgeous Chinese friends took me and my friend Jon to a Chinese restaurant here in Canberra. It’s a Sichuan restaurant actually called Sichuan Chinese Restaurant which means that the dishes are all pretty spicy and clearly no great thought put into the name; guess you know what you are getting!
The restaurant is located in a suburb about a fifteen minute drive from my home and on Lake Gininderra which is lovely to walk around during the day.
My friend Peter selected this restaurant as it serves genuine Chinese food. No crazy Aussie versions of Chinese food to be found here and thank goodness. Peter always orders for us as he knows what dishes both Jon and I like. I love the beans which are usually dry fried with garlic and chilli – yum!
I also loved the chilli dry fried cauliflower and as you can see it certainly did have a lot of chilli. Peter also ordered a plate of white and brown buns (Mantou 馒头) which are steamed and soft; popular in northern China. They came with some sort of creamy sauce but I didn’t have any of it. 
A beef and chicken dish was ordered; the beef made with an enormous amount of chilli (loved by Jon).
The fried potato dish was so good; a bit too spicy for me as it made my lips numb but I couldn’t stop eating it.
And something I absolutely love is the black sesame glutinous rice balls (tangyuan 汤圆) and glutinous rice sticks in soy…again delicious. 
What a great meal. I really love the food at this restaurant. So much that I have been back about five times since my first visit.
Unfortunately I cannot eat too much chili maybe 1/4 of it is already too much for me? haha! The food looks delish nevertheless, and the view is amazing!
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It’s been a while since I’ve eaten out Sue. I hope when all this is over, the place is still open for me to try.
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It really does look delicious Sue and places like this are what we will all look forward to returning to once this nightmare is over. Take care and do please keep in touch – it’s especially important now so that we don’t all go stir crazy stuck at home. Marion
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Looks very yummy. 😋🌿
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Oooh. I would like the beans, and the cauliflower, and the chicken, and and… 👏😜
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ha ha John…
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thanks so much Gail…food really is so good here.
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I know Marion – I don’t think we are far behind you in the UK…am sure we will be closing restaurants etc soon. I see you are playing board games from your Instagram – that’s so lovely. You take care please.
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I hope it is Gary so you can go and try the dishes. Incredible times aren’t they at the moment.
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thank you Vinneve. You are a bit like me – not too much chilli as it really does feel like your mouth is burning. I hope you are doing OK in these dreadful times and staying safe.
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I wasn’t expecting this year to be like this.
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Yes we are fine thank you. It’s starting here in NZ and good thing the borders closed now to prevent covid 19 spreading like what happened to Europe. Positive thing is I can now blog more! will post some backlogs.
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Thanks Sue, it’s a sunny morning here so we’re going out for a walk soon. So sad we can’t enjoy brunch out as usual but it hopefully won’t be for too long. Marion
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Ohhh I want those rice balls!!!
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Ok this looks legitimately spicy!! Can’t wait to visit restaurants again since everything is locked down here… Stay safe!
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The food looks great although I’m not a big fan of the spicy soups like that beef dish. The potatoes on the other hand, I would be addicted to them too haha.
How are things there, Sue?
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Just found a site, http://www.feedfeed.com.au It lists all local ACT eateries which offer preorder, takeaway and home delivery. I know you’re vegetarian and this is only of limited help to you, but it may help your friends.
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Thank you so much. I am going to order some meals on this for myself and my friend in Quarantine
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You too. I know the US especially NYC is hurting.
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Mouth watering… So delicious. I love tangyuan 汤圆!!
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My sister can attest to the fact that I once proclaimed, “I hate Chinese, I don’t want Chinese”. And, its true. However, I dislike what it’s become in the U.S. For some reason, someone, somewhere decided that Chinese should be served buffet style. People would go in masses and gorge themselves. It was always my dads favorite place to be. After awhile, all of it began to taste the same and that’s when I decided, I didn’t like Chinese food.
When I was a young woman, I loved going to what I thought was an authentic Chinese restaurant and order a la carte. The food was vastly different then.
What you show and talk about sounds more like what I’d love to see here. It actually looks yummy and I can imagine the flavors. I guess I’ll have to travel… once they lift the bans, to a place where I can get that.
Thanks for sharing.
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Great comments. Completely agree with awful buffet food. Yuck!!!!
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Glad to be of help. I hope you’re doing well. As I recall, you got a dog last year. That was a fortuitous decision back then.
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Hi. Good memory. I did indeed get a rescue dog to be a sister to my other rescue dog. We have a lovely family. Tonight on the lounge watching TV cause can’t go out of course. Hope you are doing ok!!
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As Indian as i am, i will pass on the chilli, a smidgen yes.
That green beans… I know what im going to do for lunch tomorrow!
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Looks delicious, I never tried a lot of those foods.
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Thank you. They are definitely worth trying.
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Love Sichuan food, especially those green beans!
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Yes aren’t they just fabulous.
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