1043 E Lemon St
Tempe, AZ 85281
Companion and I had a yearning for real szechuan food and we selected this restaurant. A small place almost hidden and in the middle of housing for Arizona State University.
We were seated immediately and the first thing I noticed was that we were the only yuán yǎn (round eye) people in the place. This is a good thing because if asian people are eating here the food must be good.
It was time to start ordering. We ordered duck in house sauce Shanghai style to start. It was spiced with 5 spice powder and while I liked it companion thought it had too much 5 spice on it. Next came real kung pao chicken made with real Szechwan pepper. As my tongue became numb I found myself truly enjoying this dish along with guizhou pickled chili fried rice. It was delicious and reminded me of food I ate in China.
Next were chicken skewers and lamb skewers which were scalding hot but quite tasty. We followed this up with Chinese cured pork belly with garlic. Thin succulent pieces of pork mixed with leeks, onions, green peppers and garlic. We both loved this dish.
Last was home style tofu. Triangles of extra firm tofu in a house sauce. This was the only dish that we both rated as fair. We agreed we would have preferred a bit more flavor in it, though the texture was quite nice.
They also have a number of American style Chinese dishes available, but why would someone come to an authentic Szechuan restaurant to eat American Chinese food?
The lady who served out table was wonderful and made helpful suggestions. While the place may be small, it was friendly and comfortable and our server kept coming back to check on us to see if there was anything else we needed.
While most people won't order all that we did (since I'm writing about the place), the prices are reasonable and fair.
5 stars for outstanding food, cleanliness and comfort.
