I first encountered Fu Yuan through a blog by my friend Cher, who wrote about the place on January of 2017. Moving to the Greenbelt area for work that time last year, I was excited to finally try the place. But as things happened, I always ended up busy and someplace else, even though this restaurant was literally just a 3-minute walk from the office.
Fortunately, my sister Regine had been craving for really spicy Hunan / Sichuan cuisine since she came back to Manila and had been dying to visit this place. As it happened, her Japanese classes were nearby (practically a building beside my former office), and we thought it would be great to finally give that place a shot!
We invited Sarah over to join us... since I also knew my sister wanted to ask her about her previous job with perfumes. In any case, the more people in the table, the more dishes we can share and try together! The moment I stepped into Fu Yuan, I had good hopes about the place... mainly because I always see native Chinese customers frequent this place.
Regine and I had some difficulty going through the menu, mainly because there were so many interesting options to choose from. But of course, we also had to balance out the menu because I knew for a fact that Sarah usually avoids spicy food.
We started off our orders with some milk and sweetened tea drinks. I've tried both previously when I was living in Singapore, and I was just so happy to see them available on the menu.
The first item that came through the list was this oyster soy lettuce dish. It wasn't spicy at all (it was classified in the non-spicy section)... but the first thing that struck me was how oily it seemed. But that said, when you bit into it, you'd be surprised at how crunchy the lettuce was. With regard to taste, it was fairly mild, and not overpowering at all!
The next item that reached our table was the mabo tofu! Regine was particularly interested to try this one, to understand the restaurant's take on the dish. For me, I was surprised that it wasn't as numbing as I had expected it to be, and that the tofu was pretty firm (which was a first for me, considering all the other mabo tofus I had was the melt-y variety). The flavours also stood out for me... It has quite a different twist from the regular I had. If you thought mabo tofu had one general taste... think again.
And oh, in case you're wondering, the sprinkles at the center of the dish was actually black pepper. It was a lot... but somehow it blended really well with the overall profile of the dish. It was interesting man!
Now this... this was a first for me. First of all, I was so surprised at how large this eggplant with seafood dish was. And secondly... I had never experienced this taste before! Hmmm... this is tough, because I'm really at a loss of how to explain it. But essentially, this eggplant dish was covered in salted egg yolk... but also had this starchy outer coating. There were certain spices that were used that I couldn't put my finger on... but overall, it was just a unique, tasty first-time experience for me!
And last to arrive at our table was the shredded beef with pepper dish. Okay, this is what spicy apparently embodies! The amount of red chilies on this dish was ridiculous. Additionally, it also had quite a lot of pickled peppers too. There were quite a healthy dose of coriander blended with the dish... and all these flavours went so well with the beef... which was really tender.
I have to say, that this was one of the spiciest things I ate. But it wasn't overwhelmingly numbing... but still spicy nonetheless. I had to ask for Sarah's rice just to compensate for the heat. And of course, from the sweetened tea I ordered, I ended up getting another can of milk... just to offset the spiciness of this dish!
I later learned from the waiter that apparently, the spiciness of the dishes can be toned down / increased. By default, all items come in at level 2, with level 1 being less spicy, and level 3 being extra spicy. I felt level 2 was fine... I mean, it was spicy... but still relatively interesting and addictive to eat!
Would I come back here, definitely! Though on that note I'd probably come with a big group or maybe I'd space the next time I'd head over here. Fu Yuan does have a number of other items that aren't spicy, so it's worth checking out as well. And oh, practical life tip... when you ask for the bill, you'll likely receive a receipt. And it'll all be in Chinese. So best take note of what you ordered (if you don't speak or can't read Chinese), so you can compare it later with the summation of items presented on the bill. In our case, the amount of items we ordered was pretty manageable. But just imagine managing a large order! Anyway, do check it out next time. It's a really a cuisine you have to try!
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