SZE CHUAN VILLAGE STREAM BOAT (PUDU)

Sze Chuan - how is it properly pronounced, and what is it. Before I go further telling you about the food of Sze Chuan Villege Reataurant, first lets learn what SZE CHUAN is .. if you had peppercorns in mind or something close to it, well you could be wrong.

Szechuan pepper; Szechwan[SEHCH-wahn, SEHCH-oo-ahn]Native to the Szechuan province of China, this mildly hot spice comes from the prickly ash tree. Though not related to the PEPPERCORN family, Szechuan berries resemble black peppercorns but contain a tiny seed. Szechuan pepper has a distinctive flavor and fragrance. It can be found in Asian markets and specialty stores in whole or powdered form. Whole berries are often heated before being ground to bring out their tantalizing flavor and aroma. Szechuan pepper is also known as anise pepper, Chinese pepper, fagara, flower pepper, sansho and Sichuan pepper.

Having much said about Szechuan, let me tell you about the Sze Chuan Village Restaurant which the evil CUTI CUTI Malaysia gang, and with yours truely decided to sample their steamboat. Like the earlier post i had on steamboat sometime back, there may be a few simmilarities but heck, who does not love steamboat?.

Sze Chuan Villege Restaurant has 2 shops around KL, one in SS2 and this one that we dicided to go to is found in Pudu, (Pudu a suburb in KL not a country okay). Above is just one part of the menu what Sze Chuan Villege has to offer. Note: at very low reasonable prices like RM 12 per pax.

Lovely, this is the sze chuan steamboat vat, looks mouth watering... its not your typical steamboat soup, fresh coriander, spring onions, Chinese dates, shreded chicken in the stock added all up makes the soup real tasty...not to forget the szechuan peppercorns that makes the soup spicy and tangy.

here is a sauce that you have a choice of having your steamboat with. The sauce is made of fermented bean curd mixed into sesame oil and chili oil...yum yum. For those who are unfamiliar with Steamboat, a good way to enjoy having steamboat is having it with a group of friends...having it alone is not fun and will cost you.

Brown Sotong or Brown Squid, famous and probably local to Malaysia. A personal favorite when it comes to steamboat. Just nice after leaving it to boil for a few seconds in the steamboat soup, then dip the sotong strip into the fermented bean curd sauce.... ahhhhhh heavenly. What is Brown Squid actually..(The squid is actually dried squid soaked in alkali water or air abu/karn sui.) thats what it is.

Fresh Chinese cabage top right was part of our steamboat, it wouldn't be complete without vegies....we also had some pork stomach strips....choice of DarkAngel....im not too fond about eating pork by the way except for ....choice parts such as the skin of the Lechon and ham thats as far pork gets into part of my diet ;).
as i mentioned, the way to enjoy steamboat is by having it with some friends. This is the CUTI CUTI Malaysia gang that i hang out with. From left to right...Hanibal...new member "Black Canary", the evil DarkAngel, new member "Shade", next you have DURIAN-X soon to change name...and last new member too..."Darkseid"... look them up from JLU...;) (sorry no real names here to protect their delicate identities)

back to our food, some choice strips of beef that we added to our order....requested by the Carnivour Hanibal..who loves his meat red and bloody or must have been BlackCanary who called for this...not all of us eat beef so with pork but not to worry DURIAN-X and Hanibal can eat almost anything...
This thinly sliced chicken meat...it looks more like chicken shavings to me, yeah this one is also one of my favorites...just dip it into the boiling soup for 3 seconds, then dip into your been curd sauce....and into your mouth it melts like butter to the palette.

this two were not content with what we all had on hand...and decided to call for additional of the following.
Harimaw... the locals call it. for me what is steamboat without prawns.... yeah prawns, not just your ordinary prawns but you are looking at the juicy Tiger Prawns...you know by now that part of my staples in my diet is prawns...any will do..sinful it may sound but i can eat prawns almost every day...who cares about cholesterol anyway....for me its all in the mind.

Top is some i guess squid or pork balls.... din't really care what it was, i was too busy taking all this pictures when they were calling the orders...next is the thin choice venison shavings if not mistaken....yet again who cares what it is...all i know it melts like butter in my mouth....and thats all that counts, agree! yeah.....

Remember DURIAN-X from the post ROASTED DUCK (Kepong Bharu). ? now DURIAN-X got a new alias...deffinitly not Jenifer Gardner from the series ALIAS!.....without further ado I present to you the one and only QOB... ask me by comment and i may just tell you the meaning of QOB.....=;).

I got tons of material to post the only thing is i got less time now a days to blogg...just lucky to have been sick ;) thats why was able to blogg a bit....remember if you feel like having steamboat...consider tryin out this place when you are down in KL... im sure there wont be any regrets to your experience...