In the hotel ( a posh hotel in downtown Mumbai) room he sees this write up on their chinese restaurant with a chinese chef from the Sichuan province. As A and I call our selves connoisseurs of Sichuan cuisine, he decides to have his meal there. In the restaurant he asks the chef to make him Dan Dan Mein (a fiery noodle dish, served as a starter in Sichuan restaurants and as a roadside snack in the province). When the chef comes to him for a feedback, this is how the conversation goes:
A : You have used the wrong vinegar
Chef (to a translator, he does'nt speak english) : What does he mean by that
A : You should use Chiangking vinegar and not the regular black vinegar
Chef : Ask him what is the name of his restaurant
Neddless to say A exploded. He easily makes one of the best Dan Dan noodles we have ever eaten.I think he gets this kick out of going to restaurants around the world (even china), ordering Dan Dan Noodles and realizing he makes them better.
A and me have graduated from using recipe books written by travel writters to ones written by researchers of Sichuan cuisine. We have Sichuan food more often than Indian at home. The magic ingredient there are the Sichuan peppercorns which are actually not peppercorns at all. They are berries. It has a distintive flavor which is very addictive.
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