Before we start the review, a confession. We’d never heard of the city of Dalian before we stumbled across this restaurant tucked down a narrow alley next to Villa Market, which also has a sister branch on Sukhumvit 40. For the equally ignorant, it’s a coastal port in Northeastern China that was voted the country’s most liveable city in 2006 and has be likened to San Francisco. This informative geography lesson comes courtesy of the efficient but welcoming staff, who are equally knowledgeable when it comes to the extensive menu of interesting Chinese dishes from this overlooked region. It’s a good job that they and the food are so appealing, as the décor really isn’t anything to write home about. Plastic chairs that leave you with a damp posterior, bright fluorescent lighting and cold white walls hardly make for a cozy dining experience. Nor, on the last visit, did the sight of one of the fish you can pick for your main course floating upside down in the tank at the front of the restaurant—tired, it seemed to be waiting to be put out of its misery. Despite this, the place is usually busy with Thai and Japanese families, who come for the appetizing, affordable dishes like the recommended beef cooked in soy sauce. They are delicious slices of melt in your mouth meat, that can be enjoyed with the no less than four different blends of soy sauce on offer. The fried dumplings are equally well executed, a big plate of moist and juicy bite-sized morsels. The pork balls in clay pot peppery soup, a big bowl of flavorsome broth containing four sizeable hunks of herb-infused meats, is indicative of what this restaurant is all about: simple, flavorful and heartwarming dishes. There are some slips, like the inclusion of some slightly moldy looking chunks of garlic in the otherwise tasty cabbage in soy sauce. The pork in sugar vinegar sauce, an otherwise stand out dish, comes served up at temperatures akin to molten lava, so let it stand for a while unless you want to experience second degree burns of the tongue. That or wash it down with a large bottle of Tsing Tsao, a nice way to complete the authentic Chinese experience that’s on offer from this no frills restaurant. No Corkage.
