Dainty Sichuan Food

Really good authentic food — some of the best I’ve ever had. I was solo but still ordered 2 dishes. They were more than accommodating if you want a ‘3 pepper’ turned into a ‘2 pepper’ or so. It is spicy for sure…
Service was borderline terrible but the food more than makes up for it. Huge place and not the best for a solo traveler but after having me wait for 15 minutes with 12 large tables wide open they finally sat me.
Would come back in a heartbeat if there wasn’t so many good places to try here in south Yarra.

First of all, there is nothing dainty about this food. It comes at you strong and fast, so be ready! That said, prepare yourself for a truly good meal. With a large menu, it’s hard to know what is best to order, although they do give you a list of the popular items to browse.
I wasn’t sure if it would be worth the 30 minute queue on a weeknight, which ended up being even longer, but we got in just before the last order, and the place was packed. Now I know why and am kicking myself for not coming sooner, given the close proximity to home.
The fried long beans were one of my favourite dishes, garlic and tasty, cooked to perfection. Then came the spicy calamari feet, and boy they were not kidding about the spice. Your mouth gets used to or perhaps numb to the heat, and all you taste is seafood goodness.
The best thing we ordered was the cold spicy noodle, as the chill was so refreshing with the spice of the meal. Thick noodles went down easy along with the mapo tofu, which I have to say was not as good as I would have expected. However, all dishes were perfectly paired over rice and a cool drink.
I was happy to have heaps of food leftover to take home. It easily made another meal for two people and was even better the next day. I’m already thinking about what to try the next time I come here.

Ha, this was my fault, I have a chilli/​pepper tolerance on a scale not offered by this restaurant. Service was great, liked the Golden Century-​feel of this place, very 80s style Aussie Chinese restaurant.
Ordered the kong pao prawn which was at the upper limit of my tolerance, but built up over time. The ants climbing up the trees was a good accompaniment, although I query it being 1 chilli when prawns were 2 (they felt the same). We also ordered the dumplings, but that was a mistake. This is no din tai fung! We didn’t need it anyway.
The best bit was my nice drink — orange passion juice served in a carafe with heaps of ice. Got me through a fairly steamy evening!!!

This place is busy enough; it’s no secret that it’s awesome.
My only advice is get the boiling fish in golden basin — I have fever dreams about the thing. Get it spicier than you should, you only live once.
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Disclosure — I’m a former Unilocal employee.

Everytime I come back to Melbourne I would take my bf to have the spicy food there. It is so authentic and I don’t have to go back to China to have the Sichuan Food! It was just so perfect! Can’t remember particular food but all good! They also do HotPot in winter. Just authentic. I also like its branch store in boxhill railway station and emporium. But the other branch store mainly doing HotPot in boxhill was not that good.

This is the real deal. Just don’t wear anything that absorbs Odor.

I have friends that are fans of this place but I’m not convinced. Covering up flavour with excessive heat is a warning. Popular with Chinese but so is macdonalds. I don’t get the hot pot thing and the excessive amounts of food ordered just to be put in take away containers. Beer is cold and reasonably priced. You will need it.

Very good and at a decent price. This place is huge and most people there the night we went were getting hotpot, which is probably the way to go. We ordered off the regular menu and got the eggplant and a Sichuan chicken and peppers dish. The waiter warned that it would «burn my mouth» and he was correct, it did burn. Burn so good. The combo of the hot chillis, the chicken, and the Sichuan peppers was just what I was looking for. There were a good number of bones, but it adds an interesting texture to an otherwise spicy and homogenous dish.
Drinks were also, weirdly, reasonably priced. Again, the place is huge and it is mostly packed which is a good sign. Check it out, it is on the nicer side for Sichuan, but reasonably priced for Melbourne. One of the only places around that has left me completely satisfied.

Food here is a mixed bag. Some dishes were sooo hot it was difficult to eat more than a little. However I really liked how they prepared the vegetables, eggplant, soybean and tofu dishes all had spice, character and were flavoursome. While some in our dining party like the spicy ribs, I loved the vegetables more and would come back just for those. Customer service however was not good, many of the waiters spoke little or no English and several times we had to get the female English speaking supervisor over to explain what we wanted. Was a bit concerned about this. Anyway, would I rush back– probably not, but might get some takeaway from here, the veggies and rice at least!

This yummy Sichuan place on Toorak Road is delicious! For anyone who loves good traditional Sichuan this is the place to go, especially during winter for some HOTPOT!
Had an amazing and delicious experience here. My favorite was the fish chilli and sour soup (I think it only had one chilli symbol) — great for those who don’t like it too hot!
The staff was nice and friendly.
:)

If you like chilli (like I do), then this may soon become one of your favourite restaurants. The hotpot is absolutely fantastic, and a very enjoyable way to eat with friends. Al La cart is also delicious. If you don’t like chilli, steer clear, otherwise this restaurant is one of my favourite in Melbourne. Strongly recommended!

It burns on the way in and burns on the way out but my oh my what a meal. I feel that this place is almost up there with Spice Temple for outstanding spiciness… every sweet succulent morsel at this place is coated in a layer of heat. I loved it, but can’t say that it would be for everyone. Surprisingly my favourite dish was an egg plant number that was packed full of flavour.

Here on vacation and I had to hit up this place, thanks to Anthony Bourdain.
This place is amazing. It’s delicious and every single dish has their own unique flavors even though they all look the same. Their signature dish, pork ribs, was just mind blowing. I’ve never had anything so flavorful! It had the perfect spice level and I would eat it again and again. Even my parents, who don’t love spicy food, loved this dish!
The Ants on a Tree was one of my favorites here! Green beans were cooked perfectly. Chili chicken was yummy too.
I will be taking my experience here as the gold standard in Sichuan cuisine. Watch out, Sichuan restaurants around the world!

Excuse me while my face leaks during this review… SO SPICY! If you really don’t like your body or you are addicted to drugs come to this place…
No, in all seriousness… Dainty Sichuan is not for the faint hearted. Have you ever been out on town with a group of friends and someone says «Hey, let’s go get some spicy food»? Generally I would think ok, let’s go to an Indian restaurant… Try a few Vindaloos, wash down with some Lassis and we are all good.
Unfortunately or fortunately (still trying to figure this one out), we were taken to Dainty Sichucan…
Crazy amounts of flavour, added with crazy amounts of spice.
Highlight dishes were definitely the sweet egg plant dish, and also the big bowl of spicy fish. I have no idea what the dishes were called but I can tell you I am still paying for it… Will definitely come here again with a few mates.

Ahhh caaahhhnnnt taaaaaaawwwk — maowwwwf ooohhnnnnn faiiii-​ya!
And let me tell you just how happy I am. (So. Happy.) This is the real deal, folks. Not for the faint hearted, this is the eye watering, tongue swelling, trouser rumbling spice that scratches an itch only mouth masochists have. And if you’re one of them, get here immediately.
Now, there’s nothing satisfying about stuffing your face with scorching hot food unless the flavours are there, but after sampling 8 – 10 dishes (what seemed like an enormous amount, but only a tiny percentage of the massive menu), I assure you that the flavours of each dish were delicate (perhaps dainty?) and so beautifully balanced that I almost forgot my maowwwwf waaasssh ooohhnnnnn faiiii-​ya. All in all, I can honestly say this was one of my favourite dining experiences ever. Yes, ever.
Go with an adventurous group of friends, sample as much as possible, bring some sweet white wine to attempt to balance out the shock, and enjoy the moments before your tongue, nose and subsequent extremities go numb.

This. THIS.
Ever since hitting China’s Sichuan Province and destroying — destroying, I tell you! — every single dish with chilli and spice and everything glorious and delicious in this world I’ve been on the hunt for a place in Australia that can hold a candle to the original. Enter Melbourne, and Dainty Sichuan.
This is the real deal. Within minutes I had the numb lips and tingling tongue that’s the hallmark of proper Sichuan pepper. Every dish was a standout, but my all-​time favourite is the dry-​fried green beans.
Look, just get everything, you really can’t go wrong.

Before you go here I would advise one thing — get as many people in on the action as possible!
I was invited along as part of a big group heading to Dainty Schuan and advised that this was the only way to dine here. Smart move. It’s definitely more fun to try as much as possible and see who is the first to break a sweat from chilli-​packed everything.
I’m a big chilli fan, but sichuan does pack a different kind of heat. Dainty is not the word for it, but different! Regardless of if you’re nervous about chilli or the kamikaze style, I think you’d find something tasty here. One of my favourite non-​chilli dishes here was the ‘fish flavoured eggplant’…which in no way tastes like fish. More sweet and delicious. Must try.
For the hotter dishes, the cumin lamb is to die for and the very large pork ribs dish is a must (thus the need for extra mouths to finish up). Still, nothing that made me teary eyed and my body doesn’t always take chilli as well as my tongue does.
It’s BYO… but BYO wine. Don’t make the mistake of showing up with beer, which is apparently a common one!
All in all a fun group restaurant. Especially if the males at the table decide to try and out-​chilli each other, which is almost inevitable!

A fun night out with a group of 12 friends. Take as many people with you as you can so you can try more dishes!
This place is well known for being super spicy so be prepared. BYO wine only, but a longneck of Tsingtao is only $ 10 and they sell large bottles of soy drink to quash the chilli heat.
I loved the Cumin Lamb dish the best, and the Sichuan Pork Ribs are incredible.
I’ll definitely go back to try more dishes on the massive menu, but not until after a few session at the gym. Don’t come here if you’re on a diet!

This place is legendary amongst my friends. Every now and then, someone gets a craving — after a quick round of phonecalls and tweets we book a group table for a few days later, and prepare our bellies for the onslaught of chilli.
Favourite dishes — The Kung Pao prawns, fish flavoured eggplant (which isn’t all that fishy and instead tastes like deepfried-​then-​caramelised eggplant), and the the Sichuan Pork Ribs. These dangerous babies are responsible for one of the craziest nights of my life. It all started when one of the guys on my table of 14 decided to eat one of the dried chillis sitting on the hotplate. Then the guy next to him «manned-​up» and ate one too… after about 20 minutes of testosterone-​fuelled chilli eating, one of the guys got up from the table, unwell and hallucinating, before staggering to the bathroom with a severe chilli reaction. It ended with a few people rushing after him and attempting to «evacuate» the chilli. Ten minutes later he returned to the table right as rain, and we all cheered as he declared it one of the most awesome experiences of his life.
I don’t tell you this story to encourage you to do the same, but to alert you to the fact that at Dainty things are often not so dainty at all. This stuff is hot — tongue-​tinglingly so. You will eat rounds of dishes that vary in heat — all will be delicious and cause you to make funny faces at each other as you fill your bowl up over and over again. At some point you will be full, but you’ll keep going, a euphoria coming over you that can only be explained by the amount of chilli you are ingesting. That night you will dream of the meal, and perhaps even the night after… such is the power of Dainty.
Make a booking and don’t forget to BYO your favourite sweet Riesling or Gewürztraminer. Oh, and don’t forget to invite me.

The food at Dainty Sichuan is so delicious and well priced that I’m always surprised that it’s not considered more of a Melbourne institution.
The food can be extremely spicy, so be warned that anything that is specifically described in the menu as being hot will be very hot indeed.
Their eggplant hotpot is always a favourite, as is the duck and all of their soups, but they seem to do everything well. So go with a group, order big, and be adventurous… You won’t be disappointed!