鍋巴蝦仁 [Gou Ba Xia Ren] Rice Cake ShrimpsSo last weekend a phone call with my mother lives far far away in Taipei told me a Sichuan restaurant located in Flushing, New York called "Golden Szechuan" 金四川 is very good and wanted me to go for a try. When I was just wondering how she came out such oversea gourmet idea as she has never been to New York. She confessed that she read it from an online article. (Please click on "英" character on the top right of the article to view the english version)
I've checked and checked about this "Golden Szechuan" online and found one restaurant with a different Chinese name. I called to make sure is the one. Over the other side of the phone. An elder male voice with a warm chinese accent repeats: "Our english name is "Golden Sichuan", Chinese name is "川霸王"（King of the Sichuan) not "金四川"(Golden Sichuan). The restaurant is 25 years old !!!" I then have to explain that we're new in town etc.
So later in the afternoon. We headed to flushing to explore and see how wonderful is this legendary "Golden Szechuan" that everyone is talking about. And as soon as we arrived there, we realized the restaurant is one of those located in the basement, that we never dare to try at beginning of the so called Taiwan town area. We parked and see on a board at back of the restaurant wrote "Golden Monkey" another name? ... very confused. As we recently had a very bad experience at midtown's Wu Liang Ye 五糧液, we can't help to hesitate the choice of the restaurant. And just the thought came to our mind. We saw a man climbing up of stairs with his take out food and a big smile on his face. We exchanged a quick look and decided to give a try anyway.
It was about quarter passed 2 in the afternoon. The restaurant is dated and empty. The waiter gave us a corner table but we asked for another one with better lighting (1. I need to take picture for dishes. 2. I feel more secure if I can see what's in my dish.) Then the waiter hands us two almost broken and bit sticky menus. We start to worry. The dishes in the menu are not specially different than any other Sichuan restaurant, but very soon my hubby spotted a dish that he definitely wants to try. I read in Chinese and asked. Are you sure? Didn't noticed that the menu in English is much more attractive. The boss saw us really took longtime to read the menu, he stepped near our table to see if we need any extra help. And once we started our oder. I guess he recognized my voice from the phone and repeated again nicely the confusion of the name. I wanted to make sure about the dish my man wanted so much about. What kind of cured meat you used in this cabbage pot? I asked. And I found myself nodding with smile as he answers: "It's our old Sichuan chef's homemade tea smoked pork meat." My nodes and smile broke the ice. We had some very nice chat about the article on the Chinese Wall Street journal, the he even gave us two glasses of plum juice to ease our spicy cough. : )
We ordered Szechuan Wontons, Rice Cake Shrimps, Tea Smoked Cabbage Pot, Double cooked Tea Smoked Pork and their famous Mapo Tofu. We usually order more than we can eat to be able to taste more dishes possible and doggy bag home for couple meals or my hubby's bento. And among of these 5 absolutely delicious dishes. We special love the Szechuan Wontons and the Tea Smoked Cabbage Pot.
紅油抄手 [ Hong You Chao Shou] Szechuan Wontons was not only very tasty with a very refine and exquisite spices. The homemade wonton skin was fresh and amazingly chewy.
臘肉白菜鍋 [La Rou Bai Tsai Gou] Tea Smoked Cabbage Pot is like an heaven on earth. The fresh smoked fat pork that we normally used for the Double Cooked Pork is here in a light cabbage soup. And the heavenly tea smoked flavor is absolutely unforgettable and unbeatable no matter you are hungry or not. And of course we 're more than happy to keep half of the pot home to savoy preciously the second day's dinner and bento lunch.
The boss apologized for the over salted Double Cooked Pork and noted us to order a mild version next time. He added while we were leaving that we should definitely try theirs Hot Pots. We nodded and promise will come back once we lost some wight. :P
Golden Szechuan 川霸王
13347 Roosevelt Ave
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 762-2664
