"I had eaten some midnight kebab in Paris, which was a fabulous experience and spicy enough to tide me over for a while. Then, at an Italian place, I had ordered a pasta with arrabbiata sauce, which was not spicy. At this point I started to contemplate the possibility that my desire to eat something spicy was dovetailing with my desire to eat some real Chinese food, and perhaps they were one and the same."
"The menu repeatedly warned us how spicy the food would be, which was exactly what I was looking for. I already forget the finer points of what we ordered, beyond the suanmeitang: some dry-pot lamb business, probably, and a leafy green of some sort, which I think may have been water spinach. What I do remember is digging into it like a feral beast, and eating an impressive amount considering the fact that Sichuan is usually not a meal suited for two people."
"I have had much better food this year; I have even had much better Sichuan in this year. But I have never had Sichuan at a time when I needed it more than that moment. The food, I am sorry to report, was not that spicy, but I can forgive the restaurant for grading on a French curve. - Kathryn Xu"
A week in France left a traveler craving spicy food. A midnight kebab in Paris provided brief relief, while an arrabbiata pasta lacked heat. In Grenoble, the traveler sought authentic Sichuan and found a restaurant that warned of strong spiciness. Orders included suanmeitang, a dry-pot lamb dish, and a leafy green likely water spinach. The diner ate voraciously, noting that Sichuan portions often exceed servings for two. The meal felt timely and satisfying despite being milder than promised, and the restaurant’s French-graded spiciness was forgiven.
Read at Defector
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]