Ambiance: 2 / 5
Cleanliness: 2.5 / 5
Service: 3 / 5
Taste: 3.5 / 5
Presentation: 3.5 / 5
Price: $$
Overall: 3.5 / 5
While it took an inordinate amount of time for the food to arrive, when it did come, it was like they decided to serve EVERYTHING at once, so I'm just going to go through this in the order I tried the dishes. Since there was some varying levels of spiciness in the dishes, I decided to go from the least spicy dish to the most spicy dish.
巴屬全家福鍋仔 (Bashu Meat & Seafood Pot)
A mish mash of "stuff" served in a steaming broth. There's tofu, and shrimp, and fish, and ox tongue, and fish squares, and scallions, and mushrooms, and beef stomach, and... Heck, I can't even remember what else was in there, oh... With a healthy dose of pepper. How did it taste? Like it was a mish mash of STUFF. With pepper. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't taste bad... but it just... didn't taste like much of anything.
金鉤冬瓜 (Winter Melon in seafood sauce)
After tasting that first dish, I was a little worried about the rest of the meal. I was wondering if the restaurant management expected to burn all the taste buds of of the patrons' tongues with all the spicy food so they won't care how the rest of the dishes taste. Fortunately, this 金鉤冬瓜 was surprisingly good. Cooking all of that together, the winter melon absorbs much of the flavour from the dried shrimp and broth without somehow, losing its own distinct flavour. Very well done.
沸騰魚片 (Filet of Fish in Spicy Sauce)
Looks pretty spicy huh. Actually, it wasn't TOO horrible. The burn of the peppers somehow barely permeates the outer layer of the fish, leaving centre of the fish with the sweetness of the fish's original flavours. It was a great counter balance of flavours, neither one overpowering the other. And on top of that, the fish was perfectly tender. That being said, I DO wish that it was fresh fish instead of the frozen fillets.
幹鍋田雞 (Frog legs in a spice bowl)
Fortunately, it wasn't my first time having frog legs because otherwise, after tasting this pot, there was no way I would have known what frog legs tasted like. But like a trooper, with my corner of the table littered with sweat drenched tissues, I ate more. Perhaps it's because I don't handle spicy food so well, but all flavour, texture, and context was thoroughly covered by the sheer hotness.
手拉銀絲卷 (Hand-Pulled Silver Thread Bun)
After eating the frog legs, I had to clean my palate. I don't think I would have taken as much offense to these buns had they not indicated they were "hand pulled". These buns, when made right, are almost like noodles made of soft bread kneaded, and twisted together. And when you pull them apart, are individual strands of soft, fluffy bread. These buns were more like someone decide to make noodles of bread and mashed them together into clumps of...well...clumps. Such a disappointment to an otherwise, fairly enjoyable meal.
In all, I've got mixed feelings about this place. While some of the dishes exceeded expectations, others fell below par. I won't judge the frog legs, because unfortunately, my taste buds were far too numbed to taste anything. Sichuan food tends to be pretty spicy, so I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and blame my own inability to accept such levels of spice.
巴屬人家
A01-A02
4771 Steeles Ave. E
Scarborough, ON
Canada
~Cheers
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