Qingdao Garden - New Item Recommendation

[Kenji]

First, let me get my biasses out of the way: I like everything I've tried from the pink sections (which designate the restaurant's specialties) of Qingdao Garden's menu. Also, I really like most (with the exception of cream- and butter-heavy, New England-style) seafood stews.

Okay, there's a new item on Qingdao's menu. I believe it is named: "Boiled Fish Fillet in Fiery Sauce." Of all the delicious items I've had at Qingdao, this one was perhaps most exciting to me. It is presented in a large bowl; I think most Americans would consider it a stew. As I ate it, I thought, "This is like a Sichuanese take on Cioppino" -- though I emphasize that there is one type of fish and a lot of vegetables (cabbage, and another item which I guess is the "Chinese celery" which appears in a few places on the Qingdao menu). The sauce or broth is reddish, thick, and is indeed fiery; I am accustomed to spicy food but this had me sweating and blowing my nose after a few spoonfuls. But there's a lot of different peppery tastes going on simultaneously here; there's complexity to this beautiful dish. I have had it twice now and I can already say I'm totally addicted.

Oh -- maybe non-Qingdao regulars should mention that they like very spicy food before ordering it.

[Dr.Jimbob]

OK, finally made it over to Qingdao Garden and ordered the shui-zhu yu-pian or boiled fish slices. Have to say I was pleasantly impressed -- the sauce was lovely, nice subtle spicy flavor with a strong citrus accent from the Sichuan peppercorns. In the past, I've been disappointed when I've tried this dish with fish, but this particular variety of whitefish works very nicely with the sauce, arguably better than the beef which is standard.

So I'll be getting this dish again, though for something closer to authentic Sichuan flavor, I'd still steer you in the direction of Sichuan Garden in Brookline Village, which gets the right flavor more consistently. And missing New Taste of Asia, which got the flavor right about 80% of the time.

[Kenji]

Thanks for trying the dish, Dr. Jimbob! I'm glad you liked it. We know that Qingdao's specialty is Northern Chinese, but I'm crazy about their Fish in Fiery Sauce.

What does Sichuan Garden call their version of this dish?

[Dr.Jimbob]

I'm not 100% certain since I actually speak (some) Chinese and order in Chinese. If I was asked to guess, I'd guess it was called Braised Fish Filets & Napa Cabbage with Roasted Chilli; for the boiled beef version you would substitute beef for fish filets.

[litchick]

Kenji, thank you so much for rec-ing this item. It was amazing! So flavorful and complex -- the numbing peppercorns were in ready evidence.

We go to Qingdao pretty often, but not often enough (I don't think) for the staff to actively remember us. After tonight, though, that might change. When I asked for the item, the server looked surprised, so I assured her that my friend (that is, Chowhound) had recently had it and had rec'd it to me, and that I was excited to try it. The rest of the orders were similarly spicy items, and once again she seemed to want assurance that yes, we were sure we wanted a spicy dinner. I feel like I've done this dance before with her on previous occasions, but she was definitely pleased by our order of the fish in fiery sauce, and I have the feeling that she gave instructions to the kitchen to do it up right. (I've often surmised that the nature of the meals we get there changes based on how much the various servers believe we know what we're ordering.)

Anyhow, the upshot is: thank you! What a terrific dish! It will absolutely go into the rotation.

[Kenji]

Litchick, now *that* sounds like the Boiled Fish Fillet in Fiery Sauce that I know and love! It is indeed a very flavorful and complex dish. Thanks for trying it and for posting your response!

I remember that, on my first couple of visits to Qingdao, they seemed a little wary of serving me the house specialties. I had the feeling this was based on bad experiences with customers who didn't know what they were ordering -- and who, upon being served, whined and behaved unpleasantly.

Glad you liked my rec!

[litchick]

Funny moment: I forgot to mention that when I said to the waitress that "a friend recently had fish a fiery sauce, and really loved it, and recommended I get it" she said, "oh, is he American too?" That was one of those fabulous moments of two tons of cultural baggage packed into a 5 word sentence. ;)

I actually love that waitress. The time in previous to that I ordered eggplant with black bean sauce -- which I came to love unconditionally in New Haven, but apparently is an anathema to any pure-thinking Chinese person -- she looked at me like I had 7 heads, then asked, "is that good????" I assured her it was, and she reluctantly agreed to ask the kitchen to make it. When she brought it out, she waited for me to try the first bite, I proclaimed it outstanding, and she walked away from the table looking like I'd just said something equivalent to "strawberries, steak, chocolate, and limburger cheese is the best thing I've ever tasted!"

[Dr.Jimbob]

Going back to the original query -- I'm assuming you're talking about H23 on the menu, or shui-zhu yu-pian. This is a fish variant on what I call "boiled beef" which is H22 on the same menu. I haven't had the fish version of this but have ordered the beef one a fair number of times. I've noticed a similar variability of spiciness and complexity of the flavor. There have been times when a few of us at the table have fought over the sichuan peppercorns drifting in the sauce, and other times when it's been flat cabbage soup.

I suspect caper25 is on the right track about there possibly being an influence based on which chef is working on a given night. Having said that, I do think the waitress at this point knows who I am, whether I walk in or phone in an order to deliver to my house, and I've been getting more consistent spice when I've been ordering of late. (BTW I have only ever seen one waitress at that place -- assuming we're all talking about the same person.)

Not sure why eggplant with black bean sauce would be anathema -- seems to me to be more or less along the lines of eggplant hot pot, which I've had in a few places and enjoyed in the past. (There's actually a part of me that wonders if eggplant could bring off a ma-po sauce taking the place of tofu.)

I've also been doing a little more ordering of new stuff that I haven't tried before. I can now vouch for their duck egg and bean curd (pi-dan dou-fu, though I'm actually not seeing it on the takeout menu that I have at home). They add two nice touches to this fairly standard appetizer: sesame oil (which I've seen before, adds a nice nutty contrast to the sharp saltiness of the egg and the soft creaminess of the doufu) and cilantro, which seems to figure a lot in their cooking and does add something else interesting to the result.

Even more than the shredded pork with dried bean curd (xiang-gan rou-si, N4) I like the leek with same (jiu-cai xiang-gan rou-si, H29) where the same dish has a generous helping of Chinese leeks (sort of scallion like) added to the mix. Yum. I've been surprisingly pleased of late by the szechuan chicken with chili pepper (ma-la ji-ding, H24) which is fairly light on the chili peppers and surprisingly dense on the sichuan peppercorns. Not that I'd confuse it with the best offerings at Sichuan Garden, but it's a quite tasty chicken alternative. Jury's still out on the tofu with black bean sauce (jiang-zhi dou-fu, N22) which is cakes of medium soft tofu with a peculiar black bean and scrambled egg topping. There have been nights that this has been very interesting and nights that it doesn't come together. My wife isn't so keen on this one. A major disappointment in the spicy salted tenderloin (jiao-yan li-ji, N18). N17 is apparently Chinese style sweet and sour pork (which when it's done right doesn't have the nasty fluorescent red hyper sweet sauce but a tantalizing balance of sugar and vinegar). N18 is bits of pork tenderloin coated in salt and pepper and fried sort of like the salt and pepper shrimp (H11). But where the former can be quite tasty, this one came off sort of bland and flavorless. It's possible that it's the Cantonese places that bring this off better.

I'm also a big fan of the baby shrimp with bean curd (xia-ren dou-fu, N2), the diced chicken Peking style (jiang-bao ji-ding, N6 which is sort of a hoisin-inflected sauce) and the shredded beef with hot pepper (jian-jiao niu-rou si, N11 which is a bit on the spicy side).

[litchick]

Thanks for the excellent list of things I can't wait to try, Dr.Jimbob. The dishes we love, we love a lot, and it's sometimes hard to branch out from the regular rotation unless someone makes a specific recommendation. I will be taking the Dr.Jimbob tour of the menu sometime soon!

[Kenji]

My Qingdao takeout menu is obviously out of date; it doesn't name some of the items you mention, such as the dish that adds leek to the (delicious) Shredded Pork with Dried Bean Curd. It sounds really good.

I like the Szechuan Chicken with Chili Peppers (it is indeed generous with the Sichuan Peppercorns) and the Zhongking Fried Hot Chicken.

I haven't tried the Tofu with Black Bean Sauce, but I have enjoyed the Fried Tofu with Pork and Black Bean Sauce.

Yours is the first negative review I've heard of the Spicy Salted Tenderloin, but I haven't tasted it.

I'll have to try the Baby Shrimp with Bean Curd and the Duck Egg and Bean Curd -- once I get over my obsession with the Fish in Fiery Sauce.

[Aromatherapy]

New Taste of Asia had mapo eggplant on the menu at one point. Don't see why not.

[galangatron]

what was wrong with the chinese style sweet and sour pork?

[Dr.Jimbob]

I actually haven't had the sweet and sour pork (tang-cu li-ji) yet. The salt-and-pepper pork (jiao-yan li-ji) is simply a little bland and uninteresting.

[Kenji]

Hmm, maybe they're trying to ascertain whether Americans can handle the full-throttled version of the Fish in Fiery Sauce. I'm convinced that's what you and I were served. But in my case, they didn't recommend it till after I had enjoyed many of the hotter items (as well as the milder ones) on their menu -- and had specifically demonstrated an interest in Sichuan Peppercorns.

I like your story about the eggplant with black bean sauce! That's cool that they would make the dish for you even though it sounded strange to them.

[caper25]

So I went ahead and tried this dish. It must have been an off night for the chef-way off.. The dish tasted like bland cabbage soup with fish that has seen better days. It was also not spicy and had very little seasoning. I had to pound this dish with soy sauce. When I was about to leave the waitress asked me if I wanted to doggy bag it. I told her i did not like it so I will not bring it home. She than asked me if I did not like it because it was too spicey, I chuckled and told her it was just the opposite and it was very bland.

[Aromatherapy]

what night of the week?

[caper25]

Last night-Wed

[Bob Dobalina]

Since you were dining in, I am surprised you did not ask for something stronger than soy sauce to "pound" it with. I am sure the staff would have provided you with something spicier.

[caper25]

Nothing would have save this dish, but maybe a bourbon of scotch might have saved my taste buds before eating this dish.

[Bob Dobalina]

I noticed that you have not liked Szechuan Bay or Qing Dao, both of which got some pretty favorable reviews on the board. Perhaps you can suggest some places you have enjoyed?

[MB fka MB]

I just tried a couple new-to-me items with friends last week.

Decided to try the Shredded Pork with celery instead of pork with cilantro. This dish was less oily, and the celery was very thin, young, crunchy stalks - tasty, but I prefer the cilantro dish.

We also tried their peking style eggplant which was great.

And finally, a pork dish that I now cannot find on the menu - I believe it was either on the back page or on the house specialties menu. Basically chunks of pork, still on the bone, served in a dark sauce and with some chinese cabbage, carrots, and mushroom caps. The meat was very soft and tender and the flavor of the dish, according to one DC, was that "it tastes like peking meat sauce noodle (meaning our preferred version at Wang's)." This was fantastic and this dish, along with the eggplant, will make it into the regular rotation. Mmmmm.

[Kenji]

Could your third dish be the Home Style Chopped Pork Ribs?

Yeah, the Eggplant Peking Style is great.

Qingdao's Shredded Pork with Dried Bean Curd is one of the great pork dishes on their menu. I suspect even some people who usually don't like bean curd would like this.

[9lives]

That dish sounds great. Mulan and Sichuan Garden has a dish that sounds similar..SG does it with beef or fish.blazingly hot.

Look anything like this?

http://flickr.com/photos/61246842@N00...

[aventinus]

Just ordered it for delivery. (I was in need of an idea because Cambridge has dodgy delivery options. Thanks for the idea!) This is tasty, the best entree I've had from Qingdao Garden. It looks like the picture but it is not that spicy. There is moderate (by Chinese standards) red pepper and light Sichuan peppercorn. The flavor also comes from soy sauce, fermented black beans, garlic, and possibly ginger. The fish is a strong fresh-water fish, maybe carp. Very healthy, only slightly oily.

Spinach dumplings are superior as always. Bean curd skin with mushroom are good as always but a little too sweet for me. Delivery was very, very fast.

[Kenji]

I'm delighted that someone tried the dish so soon after I recommended it! And your analysis of it is excellent. I am certain the dish contains ginger.

Many of us Chowhounds believe that there's some variance among the Qingdao dishes due to different cooks working on different days. I thoroughly enjoyed the Boiled Fish Fillet in Fiery Sauce on each occasion I tried it. But it was obvious to me I was tasting the work of two different cooks. The presentation was different; and there were some subtle changes in the ingredients -- different amounts of Sichuan Peppercorn, et cetera. But again, I loved it both times,

[DavisSquare]

Had it last night for dinner (and today for lunch). Thanks for the recommendation. Very very tasty, but, like aventinus said, not as spicy as the number of peppers floating in there would have you believe. Lots of Sichuan peppercorn, though, and a nice tingling on the lips. Something crunchy in there too which I'm not not sure about...

[Kenji]

Thanks for trying my rec!

There are some dried chili bits that sink into the broth and have a crunchy texture.

[Kenji]

That looks spicy and delicious. The Qingdao dish has a different look, though -- it is garnished with sliced chilis, and doesn't utilize green onions.

[aventinus]

I think I know what I'm having for dinner!