New Spicy Chili
So, after a disappointing attempt at getting super spicy food at Nine Dishes, I hand picked another Sze Chuan restaurant to torture my tongue. I brought my spicy loving friends to New Spicy Chili (Formerly known as Golden Spring Sze Chuan Restaurant) in Richmond.
This small restaurant was very busy, and that’s always a good sign. We were so lucky that we made a reservation because there was a line for tables by the time we got there. I loved their menu book, because each item has a big picture beside it. These pictures were very helpful, especially for a Chinese restaurant, no guessing or surprises involved.
The 5 of us decided to get 5 dishes with a bucket of steamed rice. We had Fish in Chilli Sauce, Beef and Tripe in Spicy Sauce, Pork in Black Bean sauce, Sze Chuan Green Beans, and Mah Po Tofu, All the 5 dishes we picked ended up to be house specials, and we didn’t do this on purpose.
The dishes came together almost all at once. My favorite was the Beef and Tripe in Spicy Sauce. This was a cold dish with very thinly sliced beef and tripe. It was mixed in with a ton of fragrant cilantro and green onions. Oh my gaawd it was so good. I absolutely loved it.
I am used to Fish in Chilli Sauce to come in a metal hot pot with fire at the bottom, but this simply came in a bowl. There were plenty of fish filets, soaked in chilli oil. The fish was perfectly cooked, it was a perfect dish to go with steamed rice.
The Mah Po Tofu was another dish that goes really well with rice. The tofu cubes still held their shape, and there was just enough meat for the sauce. This was Mah Po Tofu done right.
The Green Beans were really fresh. They weren’t overly fried, they still kept their shape and had a nice crunch.
The pork dish was the one that didn’t impress me that much. It was pork belly slices cooked in black bean sauce with tofu slices, and peppers. I remembered this dish being quite salty.
So, did it have the spicy level that I was looking for? Nope. They were all quite mild. It wasn’t after dinner that we realized we can ask the chef to make it spicier. There were 3 different spice levels, the waitress didn’t ask us, so I assumed they gave us the mildest one. It turned out quite nice because we can really taste each dish.
We had a really nice meal here. Our chatty bunch ended up staying here for 3 hours, and we probably only ate for 1 hour out of the 3..oops. The waitress didn’t rush us out at all. The food was great, I would definitely come back here!
New Spicy Chili
160 – 4200 No. 3 Road
Richmond, BC V6X2C4
