Many Malaysian seriously believe that we can eat very spicy food, but your guess and mine is totally wrong. The China Hunan Chinese has a very much more higher tolerant spicy level compared to most Malaysian. With that +BestRestaurant ToEat was invited to taste another real spicy Chinese Hunan Cuisine @ China Private Kitchen located at Pertama Residency Jalan 3/92B Taman Kobena 56000 Cheras, Pudu Kuala Lumpur. It is located just off Jalan Cheras 4th mile (turn in when you see the Shell petrol station before Taman Pertama roundabout).
China Private Kitchen is a strictly a no frill set up; what is more important is the quality of food that are served to its customers.
The chef which hails from Jiangsha Hunan in China motto; first using good quality ingredients, village home style, authentic taste and cooking with passion forms the core values of each of the dishes that are served at this restaurant.
With that, we started our spicy journey starting with the Seaweed Salad (RM 5). This appetizer which is spicy and has a slight sourish sweet taste does whet out our appetite.
The first main dish on the table is the Hunan Farm Chicken (RM 36). Using farm "Kampung" chicken which has a firm texture was cut to small pieces and using fresh ingredients such as ginger, garlic, scallions and fresh red chilli padi to cook this dish which has a spicy pungent fragrant but really appetizing taste.
This is then followed by the Braised Pork Trotter (RM 28). This pork leg are first slow braised for 3 hours to soften the meat texture with spices, ginger, garlic and chillies. Before serving it, the cut pieces of the pork trotter are then wok fried with dried Chillies to infused the spicy flavour and aroma to the meat. The gravy was so addictive that a second helping of white rice was needed to slurp it down to the last drop.
For vegetable we had a Stir Fried Lotus Root (RM 22). The firm and crunchy lotus root are cut to a thin slice and then stir fried together with freshly cut chilli padi.
Next on the table is the Claypot Bullfrog With Hunan Chilli (RM 48). For bullfrog dishes, we are usually more accustomed to either the ginger steamed or Kung Po style. This Hunan style version uses a specially imported preserved chillies from Hunan China. Served on a clay pot, the broth is a clear but spicy type while the other colourful chillies set the spicy tone of this dish. The frog meat was firm with a bouncy texture and it was really delicious.
The Homestyle Fried Pork with Green Chillies (RM 22). This is a dish that every family in Hunan China will know how to cook this dish. It is like the must eat dish in this province of China. Although you see that there are some many green chillies that are used to cook this dish, it was nevertheless not that spicy too and good to eat with the white rice.
We have eaten a lot of Chinese Carp Fish Head i.e Ginger steam, Assam style and so forth. The version that is served here is the Steamed Fish Head With Pickled Chilli (RM 68). As again the special pickled preserved chillies are minced with fresh ginger and topped with premium soya sauce as the base gravy. The spicy level has been tone down a little for us to enjoy the fresh meat of the fish.
Another popular version of the Hunan style for fish dishes; is using water to slow braise the fish in a pot. This ensure that the fresh fish flavour are immersed with the ingredient to get the most flavour for this dish. For us we had the red Tilapia In Water Broth Sauce (RM 68). Using this method to cook the fish; uses a less salt and less oil style as the fish are cooked slowly to extract its natural fish flavours.
Another traditional village style dish from the Hunan China is the Hand Peel Stir Fried Beijing Cabbage (RM 18). The people of Hunan like to hand peel the cabbage as this gives the cabbage a better texture compared with the knife cut method for the cabbage, It retains a crunch feel and does not becomes soggy too quickly.
The final meat dish is the Sizzling Hot Sliced Beef With Chillies on Hot Plate (RM 36), is topped in terms of strong spicy fragrant level. Before the dish arrives at the table, we can smells the choking super rich and chilli musk fragrant of the Dried Chillies choking us down the throat. The wafer thin slice cut of the beef was well mixed with the coriander and served piping hot with the sizzling sound; was a real treat to this super spicy dish.
We end our review with a very simple Fried Yee Mee with Prawn (RM 15). Loves the bouncy texture and the pieces of scrambled eggs intertwined between the noodles with the nice aroma of the wok hei of the fried noodles. Simple but tasty.
For desserts, we had the Deep Fried Pumpkin Bun (RM 12 for 6 pcs). Another simple desserts that is 100% pumpkin. Fried to a golden yellow crisp, with a balance sweetness level, it was a good end to our food review.
Spicy food enthusiast will find the dishes serves at China Private Kitchen @Cheras Pertama Residency as a real authentic Hunan style treat in Malaysia.
