Chinese regional cuisine: Sichuan - chefs reveal the secret to their success in Hong Kong is adapting to local tastes
The fiery cuisine is becoming more popular in Hong Kong, in part because chefs are adding their own twists to traditional dishes
It’s long been said that Hong Kong people – with their palates accustomed to Cantonese cuisine – dislike the fiery and numbing flavours associated with Sichuan food. But if that’s the case, why the growing popularity of the cuisine all across the city, both in everyday and upmarket restaurants?
Chuan Po Po is an example of the former. Opened by husband and wife Kent Wong Wai-hung and Candy Lu in 2011, it started as a humble food stand tucked away in a mall in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood in Kowloon. These days, there are three branches.
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The first shop only sold takeaway food – mala tang, or Sichuan-style hot and spicy hotpot. The “hotpot” here is different from the sort Hongkongers are familiar with – the simmering big pot that people relax around and use to cook raw ingredients. Instead, the couple blanched the ingredients ordered in the soup base before mixing them with sauce and condiments of the customers’ choice. It’s easy, fast and cheap.
The couple were confident their business would catch on in Hong Kong. But things started slowly. People were attracted by the fragrance but walked past looking a bit confused, says Wong. “Some dared to give it a shot, buying a very small portion.”
But tasty food holds appeal wherever it’s from, and those initial customers came back to order larger portions and brought along their friends. Queues formed within three months.
The secret to its success lies in the specially concocted soup base that adds aroma and flavour to the ingredients. The base is made of an array of herbs and spices including cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and pericarp, or fruit peel, along with a hefty amount of red Sichuan peppercorns, renowned for their numbing quality. Wong says they are essential to his hotpot base.
