Hello, everyone. Today we're here at a famous five-star hotel. We're here to find out how well they do Sichuan cuisine. They say this is the first five-star hotel in Sichuan. Follow me. Squid Flower in Lychee Sauce Spicy Boiled beef 68, half portion. Kia Shui Bai Cai 68. I'll order one first. Half portion of Mapo Tofu 58 Half portion, please. Add another tofu like chicken with bamboo fungus soup Yes. Ji Dou Hua. Half portion camphor tree tea duck. All of them are half portions. Yeah, okay. Did you notice a detail? When the waitress put the bowl down when they pour the tea with you. Did you see? It's almost silent when they put it down. And then the tone of voice is nice. You can hear it good. You can hear it clearly. And it's very soft. Enjoy your meal. Mapo Tofu. Can you feel it? Okay, let's eat. Have a piece of duck. This duck is served with a coating of oil. That's what makes it look good under the light. Reflected light. Hmm. Reflections. This duck meat is very loose. The waitress said the duck is young. It's called young duck. You can also call this fast growing duck. The texture is not good enough. The skin should be firmer. And meat inside need to be more tender. And then you can see from this piece. This part is more red. This part is not so red. It's because the salted time. The longer it is. The redder this meat gets. But you didn't marinate it long enough and it didn't taste good. This is hard find dish in Sichuan nowadays. I've only had a slightly better one. And of course I don't know how to cook this dish Should we look into it sometime? Show everyone how it's done. I will study it. Try this. This is also over 50 RMB too. Try the mapo tofu. It's so numb. Too much Sichuan peppercorns? It's normal to be numb. It's not normal if this is not numb. This tofu is by far the most tender tofu I've ever eaten (Mapo Tofu) But there's not much flavour in it. It's just numb in the mouth. The numbness has overpowered the saltiness. This tofu is still okay. Complete in shapes. It's better than Chen's Ma Po Tofu. But in terms of Sichuan broad bean paste. The choice is not that good. It doesn't smell as good as Chen Ma Po's. For tenderness, it's more tender than Chan Ma Po. And then the shape is better. As a whole in flavour, it's better. But at this price. How much is it? 58 RMB. The portion is not good. I think for small restaurant, 15 RMB will be enough. But in a five-star hotel, you know. Yeah, that's right. Overall the flavour is good. The portion size is low to medium. Okay, try the Twice cooked pork. This Twice cooked pork is made of upper leg meat. This is very traditional. But this garlic sprouts. It's the same problem I was talking about. Five-star hotels is also not good at it. It's over-cooked. This garlic sprouts need to be half-cooked to have the garlic flavour. Let me aat the pork. Eat the meat with some garlic. I think this dish... How much is it? 88 RMB Half portion for 88. 5 6 7 8 Pieces The advantages are that it doesn't have any pork skin odour. Traditional leg meat that's used. And it's not salty. Those are 3 advantages. The downside is that the garlic sprouts are fried too much The pork slice is too big The meat is too big for the proper shape. This is the kind of shape that can really make. Look at this. Isn't it? If you cut it in half This one is a lampshade shape. One more downside. Five-star hotels come here to invite people to dinner. It's impossible to eat such a big piece in one bite. The meat will take a long time to chew. If he gets tired of chewing it in his mouth, he is also embarrassed to spit it out. If he swallows it, it's too big to swallow. Do you agree? Yes, I do. Yes. Okay This dish. If I am scoring for a restaurant in a hotel. My personal opinion 69 out of 100 Let me try this savoury platter. It's very firm. It's a pig's tail. Oh, this tail do look good. You want to eat this kind of tail. A long tail. Taste the flavour first. I just praised them for the good handling of the skin odour on the pork slice. The pig's tail was not handled well. I can tell the cook hasn't spiced up his marinade stock in a long time. This is another piece of pig's tail. It's got a distinctly pork skin odour to it. Plus this thick skin. I can't bite it. Try the ribs now. Although it doesn't taste very good. But it's not pre-made in long time. It was made in the last two days. Spicy Boiled Beef. That's a decently sized portion. For a small portion. The beef slice is a bit too thick. But the cut and handling is good. This beef has been hammered with a knife. There's nothing wired in it. No tenderiser all that. When it bites in, I can feel the texture. It's a bit tough. The flavour is good to me. It's got pure numbness. This dried chilli is also fragrant. But I think it's lacking one important flavour. It doesn't have that rapeseed oil flavour that's splattered on it. Not enough rapeseed oil, not enough spicy layers. How much is this dish? 68 RMB, right? 68 68 is okay, I don't think it's particularly expensive. Because this dish is an expensive dish anywhere. For this much of a portion. It's at least for 30 RMB for any place. That's the least I can say. Because there are different kinds of places to eat, right? It depends on the rent and cost. Look at this dish. There's a sound. Not too loud. Actually, this dish should be much louder than that Crackling, crackling, crackling. That's why it's called a round of applause And then the flavour of the dish Let me try it now. Five pieces of squid. Four of us, there's one more remaining. Extra. Taste it. This squid. I can't chew it. I think it's because the skin of the squid wasn't torn clean. And then the flavour. First the acid. And then sweet. Then the salty. It's the opposite. This dish should be flavoured like "big lychee" Sweet first, slightly sour. Same problem. Besides the flavouring is not that right. The portion is just too small. I'm wondering. They say big restaurants are all about the presentation. You have to sell what is less more expensive It comes to the plating. But look at this. There is not much more in to the plating. Isn't it? I told you all in previous videos. When we visited a beef shop. They got a huge portion. So there is no plating at all is okay. Plating is redundant. Right. But of you don't plate in the small portions is no good. And it's not a good choice of plate. There's something wrong with the presentation. Including this spicy boiled beef If you want boiled beef look good This plate is a wrong choice. This one feels cheap. The serving plates are not that good. For what I said before about a small portion. Apologies for the attention to presentation. It's not presented properly. Overall This dish is actually A bit disappointing. Next How much? 98 RMB, right? 98 98 is expensive. Let's taste both soups together. Okay Let's try the "Kai Shui Bai Cai" first. Try the soup first You can tell the dish is good by tasting the soup. The soup is got some flavour and freshness. But it's not quite enough. There may be some material missing in the middle. This soup is supposed to have pork knuckles in it. Pig's trotters Old Age Chicken and Duck And Jinhua cured meat I've tasted it a few times and I don't taste the cured meat. No cured meat flavour. The Chinese leaf's flavour is quite strong. Okay Let me take a look at another thing. Did they add enough pork knuckles? It's easy. Get a drop of soup. On top of your finger. Let's feel it. Trying it's gelatinous. When it's almost dry you look at it Does it feel like your hands are sticking together? If it doesn't It means there is not enough ingredients in it. You see? It doesn't stick. Not sticky at all There are knuckles. But not enought of it. In one sentence. Compared to an authentic "Kai Shui Bai Cai" It's just too plain for it. It's okay to drink it as an simple soup. Try the chicken curd now. This chicken curd is submerged. Sinking means this is not going to pass. The standard is floating up. Bean cured They all float, don't they? Yes, yes Right. I just said it's the same shape as the bean curd. The chicken curd is not really a soup. It's mostly about the curd (minced chicken) It's actually chicken breast and egg white It's actually chicken breast and egg white With some starch. Mix it and pour it into the soup Let it float on its own Taste it first. Whiteness is good. I can feel the egg white is a bit too much And then look at this bamboo fungus Have you ever eaten it fresh? No If use it as a fresh ingredient It's even better. Taste it. This is dry soaked Just so so Take a look at this soup This soup is the same as this one There's nothing to talk about. Chicken cured soup is different. Actually Don't you have to take the breast off the chicken for this dish? Once the breast is removed, we'll just use the chicken to make a chicken soup. But this soup is similar to that one, which is wrong. It's just the soup from "Kai Shui Bai Cai"? Right. Now all the dishes have been tried. Let me tell you all why I came here to check out this place. It's because 14 years ago Once a chef He was going to Macau to work Then he had to wait for more than 20 days for his visa And he ended up in our resteraunt in Zhuhai. He worked part-time for a while. Then I learnt a lot of dishes from him. I think this chef's craftsmanship is top. Very, very, very impressive. He used to work in this place. He worked at the Jinjiang Hotel. And he's one of the best in the business. But I don't know why he left here. I learnt a lot of dishes from him. Including this chicken curd. He done this dish so well. So I was interested in this Jinjiang Hotel I had a certain yearning for it. I tell myself at that time I was thinking I'm going to work there if I ever get the chance. Because it's full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. In that era. But as a result, the feeling I got after visiting here this time around I wonder if time has changed? All those dishes we eat. There are some home style dishes. Twice cooked pork, mapo tofu, spicy beef. There is not much of a difference between this and other restaurants out there. There's no distinction. There may even be dishes that are better than this At least more than this. It's home style dishes are just soso. It's average. How about the upscale dishes. Like this chicken curd "Kai Shui Bai Cai" The price is not expensive at all It's really not that expensive. But they are just a little bit perfunctory. First of all, the soup. You know The soul of our Sichuan cuisine Clear Soup Except for Lu Cuisine, there's clear soup, and milk soup. Sichuan cuisine, too. This clear soup and chicken soup They use the same thing. For flavour It doesn't have enough ingredients For chicken curd It's sinked to the bottom. I don't think Jinjiang Hotel is this kind of level. It must have been done in advance Left it for a while (causing it to sink) Okay Let's finish the meal. Together Feel it And then The waitress just served a fruit plate to one of us. For free This one is quite exquisite. It's a nice plating. It's numbing. But the flavour is good. Try this one. It's not just the taste. It also smells fishy. Frozen fresh squid Frozen fresh squid There's a smell. Try it later. This one I think rice crackers are good. This one is so disappointing This shouldn't have been served as a dish I'll sell you some rice crackers for 98. Do you want it or not? Actually, those flavours are quite good. It's so spicy. It's spicy, isn't it? Yes, it is. This tofu is numbing. The price is also numbing. Now we're done eating. For this table of dishes. If you happen to be travelling in Chengdu Stay in this hotel Come and try it out. There are two dishes are good Recommended The first one is this Mapo Tofu This Mapo Tofu The crispy crumble I think this is the best I've had so far. The first time it's really crispy And then the tofu I think it's the most tender one The most tender tofu I've had so far It's pretty well done. And then there's this boild beef Spicy Beef. It's made some modifications as original. It's a different way of marinating beef. It's similar to the hot pot restaurant's spicy beef. It's got a lot of dried chilli on it But it's good to eat. These two dishes without considering the price Recommended All right. That's it for this episode. Bye bye!
