Old Chengdu Sichuan Braised Delights (老成都秘制卤味), a subsidiary of Old Chengdu Restaurant (老成都川菜馆), specialises in Sichuan braised delights and a number of Chinese dishes. It has a stall inside Scarlett Supermarket (思家客), on level 3 of Plantation Plaza in Tengah estate, right beside a Dough Magic (扑面而来) outlet. Tables and chairs are available in the supermarket for dine-in.
Old Chengdu’s signature dishes are braised delights and Chinese cold dishes. There are hot noodle dishes (new launches), meat dumplings, Shanxi cold noodle (陕西凉皮), pancake (or crepe), chicken feet skins flavoured with passion fruit, lamb skewer, tasty snacks and many more. For cold dishes, pick from within the glass shelf — vegetable and meat dishes are sold at different prices.
The Cold Dishes (凉拌菜) — potato strips (土豆丝), lotus root slices, soybean sprouts and mushroom slices (4 vegetable dishes for $5) — are prepared using similar sauce (made with red chilli oil, peppercorn, white sesame seeds, etc) with nice Sichuan flavours and subtle spiciness. The vegetable dishes are lightly cooked and chilled to retain their firmness and crunchiness. These dishes are suitable for vegetarians and nice to go along with rice, Shanxi cold noodle or Chinese buns / mantou (馒头).
Cold dishes with meat will have 2 meat dishes and 2 vegetable dishes for $8 (quantity enough for 2 pax) — I tried their beef slices and chicken with crunchy potato strips and mushroom slices again. In similar mild-spicy Sichuan sauce, the cold beef slices, with tendons, has firm and chewy texture, but not tough. The cold chicken is similar in style to Mouth-Watering Chicken (口水鸡) with firm texture too. They are consistent in textures with the firm and crunchy vegetable dishes. This is more satisfying and makes a balanced meal.
The Braised Beef Noodle (红烧牛肉面) is served with chunky braised beef on thin Chinese noodle in soup with a layer of red chilli oil above it and sprinkled with sesame seeds, coriander and spring onion. Any of the beef and noodle that passes through the red oil are coated and smoothened by it. Despite the redness of the dish, the soup is surprisingly flavourful, tasty with peppercorn flavour — and numbness — but mild spiciness. The beef is tender and the soft thin noodle has a nice texture that breaks easily on bitting. This Chengdu beef noodle is too delicious and has become one of my favourite beef noodles.
The cold tofu dish, that accompanies the beef noodle (free during the opening promotion) has a firm texture in similar flavour sauce as other cold dishes.
The Handmade Meat Dumplings (纯手工抄手), served in 10 pieces and accompanied by a cold cucumber dish (opening promotion), is a soupy dish. The meat dumplings are boiled in a savoury soup flavoured with red chilli oil, white sesame seeds, spring onions, etc, with similar Sichuan flavours and mild spiciness. The dumplings have fresh minced meat with spring onions as fillings and nicely-cooked. This tasty dish can be quite hearty for single diner.
The Chongqing Sour-Spicy Noodle (重庆酸辣粉) is a Chongqing specialty dish that is labelled as a natural green food. The hot meatless dish uses sweet potato glass noodle (红薯粉) in a rich, flavourful, sour-spicy soup that exudes a nice fragrance. Other ingredients include white cabbage, peanuts, pickled long beans, coriander, scallion, etc. It is an appetising dish to enjoy the soft, slippery, chewy texture of the glass noodle with toned-down spiciness and crunchiness of peanuts, long beans and cabbage.
If meat is desired to go with the Chongqing Sour-Spicy Noodle, opt for a Volcano Rock-Grilled Sausage (火山石纯肉烤肠). Originated in Singapore, the pork sausage is grilled over hot volcano rock without charring and exudes a nice “volcano-grilled” aroma. The pure meat sausage is tasty, yet not salty, and with crispy skin. This is another must-try — and cheaper to go for two.
The Whole Grains Pancake (五谷杂粮煎饼) — meatless without add-ons — is big enough for single-pax. The pancake skin is made thinly with wheat flour, egg, black sesame seeds, etc, spread with curry-flavoured sauce and topped with crispy crackers, fresh crunchy vegetable, potato strips, etc, before wrapping it up.
The pancake, added-on with chicken fillet (+鸡柳), is big enough for 1.5~2 pax (probably with room for other side dish). It has multiple textures — tender chicken fillet, crispy crackers, crunchy vegetables and potato strips — with nice flavours and not too strong-tasting. This is undoubtedly the nicest crepe / wrap that I have tried so far.
After trying the dishes from Old Chengdu several times, I realised that I have not tried their signature braised delights, including chicken feet skins, etc. Will try more next time.
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Tengah Outlet:
Plantation Plaza, #03-04
127 Plantation Crescent, Singapore 690127
Opening Hours:
9:30am to 9:30pm | Daily
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