(Shanghai_Star )
Updated: 2007-01-19 09:09

Very few people would doubt the charm of Sichuan food nowadays. Even in a city like Shanghai, where soy sauce and sugar dominate the native cuisine, spices, chili and peppers are luring more locals into Sichuan restaurants, most of whom have a greedy appetite for really hot food.

When many local restaurants begin to mix Sichuan cuisine with the native style, some Sichuan restaurants become more specialized, especially at the higher-end. The Nina's Sichuan House, which is located downtown, opposite to the Shanghai Grand Theater, is among the latter.

When I got there at about 7pm on a rainy weekday evening, the restaurant was almost full of diners. The dining hall is on the first floor of an office building, and is large and neat. The decoration looks neither luxurious nor simple and the folding screens painted with small red capsicums were quite eye-catching.

Without a reservation, my dinner companion and I were guided to a funny table which is between a sofa and the wall. Such kind of seating reminded me of the old Chinese punishment which is usually seen in kungfu TV dramas, that is, having to face a wall in meditation. However, our dining experience at Nina's was still pleasant and relaxed.

The service at Nina's was not bad but the dishes arrived a bit slower than I had expected. What is more, nearly all the food came at the same time, fully occupying the table with stunningly large containers.

Fei Teng Yu, the fish braised in hot oil with a great deal of chili, is regarded as one of the most famous Sichuan dishes, and is now a must-have in nearly all Sichuan restaurants. At Nina's, the classic dish Fei Teng Yu is claimed to be cooked in a morecreative method - with beer. The fillets hiding under the "spectacular" red chili tasted quite good, fresh and also spicy enough to make my tongue numb for a few seconds. The dish was also served as a generous portion. But like the ordinary "red" fish and chili soup served in the other Sichuan culinary style, this one was still too greasy for me.

The chefs at Nina's seem to have been inspired by the traditional Fei Teng Yu and now use this similar cooking on bull frogs. The braised bull frogs with vegetables, which has a funny Chinese name that translates as "piggish bull frogs", was also presented as a big red soup with chili and caraways on its surface. The bull frog also tasted pleasantly hot and spicy, and the meat was very tender and rich.

The fried pork rib with fermented beans and small potatoes was a sig-nature dish of Nina's, which had both an attractive presentation and a delectable flavor. When it arrived, the pork ribs were made like an arch topped with fermented beans. The pork was later sliced by the waiter on the table and there were some small fried potatoes inside. The pork was actually not as spicy as the two previous dishes because it had well absorbed the fragrant flavor of the fermented beans. But the fried potatoes were surprisingly hot and appetizing.

Nina's Sichuan House actually does not merely offer spicy food. Even those who prefer the mild flavor could find what will satisfy their taste buds at this restaurant, for example, the Mahjong Beancurd. The dish was named so probably because it looked like the Chinese mahjong after the beancurds were fried into a uniform rectangular shape topped with colorful carrot and pepper slices. The dish's presentation was especially splendid as a flower made of carrots was laid at the center of the plate, surrounded by the fake "mahjong". But the beancurd had lost its natural flavor after being fried, and it tasted a bit crispy and even sweet.

Nina's offers diners a big variety of food choices, which can be easily seen on its menu, as thick as a dictionary. The average cost per person is around 70 to 100 yuan.

The Nina's Sichuan House
Address:1F, 227 North Huangpi Road
Tel: 021-6375-8598