Message: | Hunan food and Sichuan food both use lots of chile, but Sichuan cuisine also uses a spice called "ma" in Chinese, often translated as Chinese peppercorn. Ma is not spicy; in fact, it acts as a kind of anesthesia: your tongue will get kind of numb. It is very common in Sichuan hot pot (which is similar to Japanese shabu-shabu, but the water is seasoned instead of plain, and there are more types of ingredients).
As far as Mandarin cuisine, it is pretty much an invented term: all kinds of restaurants will call themselves "Mandarin." It can refer to Beijing style food - of which Beijing duck is the most famous. It could also, I suppose, embrace other Northern style Chinese cuisines (since "Mandarin," conceptually is associated with Northern China). Large crescent-shaped boiled dumplings are typically Northern-style Chinese food. Cold noodle dishes are also northern style, as are a variety of heartier style "peasant" dishes often associated with the north, and occasionally including potatoes (and similar to dishes you might get in Koreatown). In Los Angeles, one of the best northern (Shandong-style) dumpling houses is in Jonathan Gold's book: we just ate there today: Dumpling House on Rosemead, in Temple City. I recommend the huge (the only dumplings I've never been able to fit whole into my mouth) steamed vegetable dumplings. The "pi" (shell) of the dumplings are chewy and thin: you won't find those thick, pasty dumplings you get in Brentwood or Beverly Hills. |