Vegetarian dishes shine among Sichuan cuisine at Chuan Palace in Mong Kok

The meat dishes were fairly muted at this new restaurant in the Moko mall, though stir-fried goose intestines with pickled chillies impressed

But it was the watermelon rind with peanut sprouts and black beans, and pan-fried green peppers that were the real stand-outs

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Watermelon rind with peanut sprouts and black beans at Chuan Palace – our favourite dish of the night. Photo: Susan Jung

Published: 4:30pm, 4 Oct 2019Updated: 4:30pm, 4 Oct 2019

My guest’s hint wasn’t subtle: “Have you tried Chuan Palace yet?” “No, but it’s on my list of places to try,” I emailed back. “Would you like to come on a review?”

Chuan Palace, in the Moko mall in Mong Kok, serves Sichuan and Cantonese dishes, although primarily the former, so we concentrated mostly on that. The dishes were larger than expected, and most of them came within 15 minutes.

Braised bean curd and minced pork in chilli oil (HK$108), better known as mapo tofu, was a mild version. It gave us the first indication that the flavours were going to be slightly muted, probably to accommodate Hong Kong tastes. Still, it wasn’t too sweet or cornstarched. The flavours were balanced and the bean curd was soft and delicate.

Chilled poached chicken in Sichuan style (HK$268 for half, HK$388 for whole) had tender meat, but like the mapo tofu, was not very spicy.

Mapo tofu, or braised bean curd and minced pork in chilli oil. Photo: Susan Jung

Diced chicken with spicy red chilli. Photo: Susan Jung

Diced chicken with spicy red chilli (HK$268 for small, HK$388 for large) was the usual pile of fried dried chillies, with small bits of chicken and some cashews. The meat was crisp and moist, but hadn’t absorbed much flavour from the chilli or Sichuan peppercorns.