Conversation

Currently eating "kung pao chicken" for lunch, and I have a question for Melburnians: why is "Sichuan" food here so universally bad?

Dainty and Sichuan house do good gong bao ji ding and literally everywhere else I've been doesn't.

Is it something about Melbourne customers? Is the inauthentic "stir fried chicken with a bit of chilli and no Sichuan peppers" version what people demand?

Is it something about the restaurants themselves? Are they just not set up for flash-frying? Are the sauces pre-made?

Having a very "first world problem" grump about this at the moment 🤣