The dish of the day goes to the “Mouth-watering Chicken”.
Dainty Fish and Grill – 338 Clayton Rd Clayton
I love a Dainty, any of the incarnations in their empire – all of them boasting tasty, spicy, tingly dishes from Sichuan province in China.
This one's like a funky little sister – a little smaller and a little cooler than the outlets closer to the city.
A bit of a grunge feel, and definitely more of a focus on seafood.
Bit of an issue – the signature dish is definitely their fish, most of them swimming around in tanks before they hit the table, with options for the sauce that accompanies them.
But those offerings are so big that if we were to share a barramundi or orange roughy between two, we wouldn't really have been able to try anything else.
So, we made the tough decision to forgo the fish, and vow to return with a larger group.
Then we let loose on the menu – ticking the boxes like no-one's business.
I reckon there's no pussy footing around if you're eating at a Sichuan restaurant, so we decided to order chilli everything, starting with the "Mouth-watering Chicken".
Cold chicken, sliced, with bones (be very careful) arrived in a bowl full of chilli oil with the trademark Sichuan peppercorns. It's such an interesting heat, spicy no doubt, but the kind I just can't stop going back for.
The beef riblets (no bones) clearly had more peppercorn than chilli, because while the flavour was gorgeous, my mouth was tingling for some time afterwards.
Beef riblets from Dainty Fish and Grill.
The same can't be said for the scallops. On the shell with glass noodles, a generous amount of chilli and Sichuan peppercorns – these were just spicy beyond belief. In fact, they beat me.
The scallops certainly have a spicy kick.
It's a huge menu, we barely touched the sides of it.
Dainty Sichuan in the city or South Yarra have never been lauded for their customer service, but I've got to tell you – we were really looked after here.
Young friendly staff were quick to talk us through the menu and ordering process, were replacing dirty plates before we knew they were there, and even brought an extra fork when the table next door shouted us some birthday cake between two (long story)!
A word of warning, to me this is definitely the sort of place to come with a group.
The dishes aren't necessarily cheap but that's because they are generous, for a table of two you might feel like you've spent more than you might at your neighbourhood Chinese, but for a group, you'll have a smashing time at a good price.
