Stylish Sichuan: Syringa Opens at China Central Place

If you love the food at Chuan Ban, but find the environment a little too “authentic” for out-of-town visitors or a date, Syringa may be your best new alternative. The kitchen is staffed with Chuan Ban alumni, but the setting is cleaner, fresher and has a certain rustic-chic meets cliché-contemporary-art charm.

So how’s the food? One of our favorites was the “tingle pepper chicken” (jiaoma ji 椒麻鸡, RMB 42). The shreds of meat doused in a mash of green onion and numbing spice bore the light fragrance of ginger and just enough zing on the tongue. As usual, beware the little bones. The dandan mian (担担面, RMB 18) was satisfyingly chewy, with a thick dark-red sauce that coated the noodles just so. Dry-fried green beans were as they should be: salty, blistery and tender-crisp, without the pool of oil at the bottom. The zhong shuijiao (钟水饺, RMB 15) – taut, meaty little dumplings heaped with chilli sauce – were also a good mid-meal snack.

As the spice builds, you’ll need something to calm the fire. Both the deep-fried glutinous rice balls filled with duck egg yolk (yipin jinsha qiu 一品金沙 球, RMB 36) and the glutinous rice with pork and longan (longyan tianshao bai 龙眼甜烧白, RMB 48) will do a fine job. We’d go back to try more ambitious dishes featuring fish and rabbit, but what we’ve had so far bodes well.

Standout dishes: “Tingle pepper chicken,” deep-fried glutinous rice balls with duck egg yolk

Also try: Chuan Ban, San Yang Cai

Syringa 紫丁香月 Daily 11am-2.30pm, 5-11pm. L22, Bldg 17, China Central Place, 89 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District (8588 8908) 朝阳区建国路89号华贸商业街17号楼L22号

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Photo: Sui