Bordered by Southeast Asia, Tibet and Sichuan, playing host to microclimates ranging from rainforests to high-altitude plateaus and home to 25 out of China’s 50 ethnic minorities, Yunnan is China’s stewpot for cultural and biological diversity, giving rise to cuisine that is exotic, puzzling and – given its diversity and reliance on local ingredients – often impossible to recreate authentically outside of its native soils. So overwhelming astaurants to boil Yunnan down to a quick list of greatest hits.
Not so the newly opened Cha Ma Garden.
Presided over by the restaurant group behind high-end Shanghainese chain Yuan Yuan, the management has brought in chefs from Yunnan in an admirable bid to hit every region in the province. This makes it very possible to get lost in a tome of a menu – nearly 100 pages of dishes that channel both street food and haute eating cultures.
Do you want to tap into Naxi culture with an order of modern little babas (RMB18), the simple rounds of puffy, layered bread lighter than you might find on the streets of Lijiang, but just as addictive? Or are you more in the mood to pay tribute to Kunming with a bowl of small pot rice noodles (RMB15/person), where slippery, tremulous tendrils swim in a vibrant sauce of chilies, pickled vegetables, sesame oil and ground chicken.
Trying to recreate a meal in Xishuangbanna might prove disappointing. The grilled fish (RMB78) for which the southern city is famous is appropriately split in half, roasted over smoky coals and covered in a layer of fragrant herbs and chilies. But the outside comes so impossibly charred that it’s hard to get through the hard skin with our chopsticks. When we do, we’re rewarded with rather muddy tasting meat, and soon give up the fight. However, another specialty – turnip skin pickled in rice wine (RMB18) – is a good complement to the meal, the crisp and tart slices cutting through the grease of other dishes.
A trip to the northern regions proves fruitful with a gamey, fragrant ham and organic cauliflower clay pot (RMB38) and basket of cured beef jerky fried in chili oil (RMB68) both bolstering us against the cold. The chefs also specialize in chicken soup cooked in a clay pot (RMB22/person). While you can add all sorts of special herbs like ginseng and trumpet flowers, we prefer the clean flavors and tender meat of the original recipe.
Yunnanese restaurants have a tendency to either cater to a more up-market crowd – the atmospheric Lost Heaven and rowdy Southern Barbarian have both made killings – or go very local, diners snacking on weird bugs and local baijiu perched upon stools beneath the blaze of neon lighting. Cha Ma falls somewhere comfortably in between, with lots of windows and a patina of calming azure and light wood. It is a great place for a relaxed lunch or dinner, affordable and far from the frenzied crowds you’ll find at other popular joints in town. A dish of the Grandma’s potatoes (RMB26) alone is worth the trip. The creamy spuds come exuberantly spiced up with chili and herbs, a simple homage to the greatness of Yunnan cookery and impossibly delicious.
// 598 Longhua Lu, by Hangguang Lu 龙华中路598弄正大乐城6-204, 近船厂路 (6067 2538)
[Photos: Elliot DeBruyn]
0 User Comments