A Restaurant to Awaken Your Appreciation of Chinese Cuisine

At Wu Liang Ye restaurant one will truly experience incredible cuisine from the Szechuan region, one of the eight most famous regions for cuisine in China.
A Restaurant to Awaken Your Appreciation of Chinese Cuisine
Camphor Tea Smoked Duck. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)
1/15/2009
Updated:
2/2/2009
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/CamphurTea_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/CamphurTea_medium.JPG" alt="Camphor Tea Smoked Duck. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)" title="Camphor Tea Smoked Duck. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-79575"/></a>
Camphor Tea Smoked Duck. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)
At Wu Liang Ye restaurant one will truly experience incredible cuisine from the Szechuan region, one of the eight most famous regions for cuisine in China.

Known as the “Land of Plenty” and the “Rice Ball of China,” Szechuan is a vast region in southwestern China rich with beautiful nature—from the mountain ranges to hills and plains, from rivers and lakes to hot springs. The area also boasts as many as 15 ethnic groups. There is grazing land, with a plentitude of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and yaks. The land is so fertile that two harvests a year are normal. As a result, the cuisine of Szechuan is very rich, diverse, and complex with vibrant colors and aromas. In fact, it is said that Szechuan cuisine has as many as 1,000 flavors and more than 300 cooking techniques.

Wu Liang Ye’s chef, Fang Nan Chen, is a native of Szechuan and a top-rated executive chef. He understands the essence of Szechuan cooking philosophy, and creates a unique menu with special characteristics of the region’s cuisine to suit all palates. Chen is truly an artist who knows how to balance flavors, aroma, and color to get a wonderful taste.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DanDanNoodles_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DanDanNoodles_medium.JPG" alt="Dan Dan Noodles with minced port chili vinaigrette. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)" title="Dan Dan Noodles with minced port chili vinaigrette. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-79576"/></a>
Dan Dan Noodles with minced port chili vinaigrette. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)


As the saying goes in Chinese, “One dish, one shape; hundreds of dishes, hundreds of tastes.” It is all about balancing flavors to excite your palate and awaken your appreciation of Chinese food. The bottom line is “taste.”

My friend and I decided to go for dishes common to the Szechuan region. From the almost 130 different options on the menu, we decided to start with cold and hot appetizers—the Ox Tongue and Tripe with Roasted Chile-Peanut Vinaigrette ($8.50) and the Dan Dan Noodles with Minced Pork Chili Vinaigrette ($5.50). Both were wonderful. The vibrant colors and freshness of the ingredients were exquisite. The peppers, the spices, the aroma, the colors, and taste were fabulous.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/OXTongue_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/OXTongue_medium.JPG" alt="OX Tongue and tripe with roasted chile-peanut vinaigrette. (Jonathan Weeks/The Epoch Times)" title="OX Tongue and tripe with roasted chile-peanut vinaigrette. (Jonathan Weeks/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-79577"/></a>
OX Tongue and tripe with roasted chile-peanut vinaigrette. (Jonathan Weeks/The Epoch Times)


The manager told us that although we did not order the restaurant’s signature dishes, our choices were still good. My friend told me that he had never had tripe before, but really enjoyed it. One must appreciate the amount of time it takes to prepare a dish like that. The meat is marinated for at least 48 hours in herbs, and then sliced, sautéed, and served. The texture and the spices were perfection. The meat was cooked with at least three different types of peppercorns and then smothered with red oil, giving it that vibrant color and a very subtle spicy flavor—very intense yet smooth, light and not heavy.

The Dan Dan Noodles were extraordinarily special. The noodles felt like velvet in the mouth—smooth and delicious. A must-have.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/StirFriedChicken_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/StirFriedChicken_medium.JPG" alt="Stir Fried Chicken with spicy capsium. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)" title="Stir Fried Chicken with spicy capsium. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-79578"/></a>
Stir Fried Chicken with spicy capsium. (Jonathan Weeks/Epoch Times)


All ingredients at Wu Liang Ye are imported for an authentic taste. They are all cooked slowly before arriving at the table. Indeed, we then ordered a common dish of that region, the Camphor Tea Smoked Duck ($16.95), Braised Beef Filet and Napa Cabbage with Roasted Chili ($13.95), and, my favorite, Stir Fried Chicken with Spicy Capsicum ($12.95). All had their own individual characters and taste.

The duck was marinated for at least five hours in spices before being cooked, and had a smoked-bacon taste that was perfectly complementary to the cooked meat. The skin could have been crispier with less fat. But I must say that it was one of the best ducks I have ever had. The chicken I thought was just perfect—crispy on the outside yet tender and flavorful. Spicy, but very tasty and pleasant. The chef did such a wonderful job with it that I could not stop savoring every bite. A lot of time is used to prepare this dish.

The chicken was cubed and marinated in spices for many hours, then well-done, deep-fried, and then stir-fried over very hot heat and served with three different types of peppers. It was not greasy, but light and aromatic. All were a fine example of Szechuan cuisine—a balancing of flavors. Atypical of Szechuan cuisine would be the hot, the sweet, the salty, the spicy, the bitter, and the sour. Another ingredient common to that region is the sesame, and we ended our dinner with the famous Black Sesame Balls ($3.25).

Wu Liang Ye has two locations in the East Side of New York, both under the supervision of Chef Fang Nan Chen. I highly recommend this restaurant for a casual but delectable lunch or dinner with friends, groups, or families.

338 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10016 (between 39th & 40th Street), (212) 370-9647 and (212) 370-9648.
125 East 86th Street, New York, NY 10028, (212) 534-8899 and (212) 534-5742
Monday through Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: Noon to 11:30 p.m.
Dress casually.
Minimum delivery ($10.00)
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