Little Chili

 

[caption id="attachment_87" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Laat Zi Gai at Little Chili"][/caption]

 

About 

This is a good solid sichuan restaurant in North Point. The food's not quite as good as that at Sijie or Mum Chau's private kitchens, but it also costs a lot less. Its easily possible to have a meal here for under HK$100 each and there are big bottles of Chinese beer for HK$10. The English menu was a little lacking in guidance, but they has most of the standard Sichuan dishes.

The dan dan mihn came in a huge bowl and was excellent value for HK $18 – a meal on its own. The noodles, although not home made, had a satisfying doughiness and were much better than instant noodles. The sauce lacked the complex flavor of some version’s I’ve had, but it was thick and enjoyably spicy, much better than the translucent, oily sauces some places try to pass off. Plenty of broken peanuts and chopped spring onion, added good texture.

 The laaht zi gai came in a large metal pan, justifying the HK $68, and giving you that immensely satisfying job of fishing through heaped chilis to pick out the nuggets of meat. The restaurant got the first fundamental law right by using chicken on the bone. The pieces weren’t that meaty, which is a double edged sword; giving the meat more flavor but meaning you need Cantonese chewing skills to tear it off.

With much less oil than most versions, the meat was beautifully dry and crisp. There were plenty of chilis and peppercorns to give flavor, but these were disappointingly supported by salt and an ambiguous reddish powder. The resultant, exciting spiciness, came close but fell just below, the spiciest version I had in Beijing. 

Directions

Take the MTR to North Point and get off at exit A1 - turn left on the street in front of the exit (Java Rd) and walk along here for two blocks. The restaurant is on the corner of Java Road and the perpendicular North Point Road - It is easy to spot because it has a neon sign with three chilis at the front. 

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Cost

About HK$50-HK$100 per dish.