Varying degrees of heat

Lamb soup hotpot is a signature dish at Xieshi Longchang Lamb Soup Hotpot.

If you are in Guizhou province and ordering food in a restaurant, beware. The degree of spiciness the locals are used to is in a very different sphere, and neophyte diners need to adjust their expectations.

We were in the provincial capital Guiyang on assignment and we were getting tired of the hotel food. Our hotel was in the Jinyang district, and it was a newly developed area, free from the proliferation of delicious eateries that abounded in the old city.

After a quick search on the Internet, we managed to track down three possibilities at the shopping malls near our hotel. There was a Guizhou specialty sour and spicy fish hot pot, a lamb hotpot restaurant, and a spicy fried chicken restaurant.

I had remembered a previous encounter with a delicious but spicy bowl of starch noodles in lamb soup in Guizhou's Zunyi. There was so much chili in it that the soup was bright red. Snow-white noodles made from potato starch were slippery and soft and the lamb soup was impressive.

If you like heat, it was a perfect bowl of noodle. A waiter did ask me how I preferred the noodles to be, and I said "slightly spicy".

I soon realized that "slightly spicy" in the local vocabulary was still extremely spicy for me.

I had heard that lamb is big here. More than 80 percent of Guizhou is mountainous, and the natural environment explains the quality of the lamb.

But that evening, my colleague and I decided to try the spicy fried chicken, and it turned out a total failure. The chicken was not freshly made, and tough and hard to chew. Disappointed, we decided to return to the hotel.

On our way back, we noticed a lamb hotpot place that was packed with people and we thought that should be our next meal. It turned out to be the best dinner on the trip.

Our orders were simple - half a plate of lamb, half a plate of assorted lamb chitterlings, with plates of sliced potato, mushroom, bean curd, and assorted vegetables. The lamb was surprisingly clean tasting, with no unpleasant pungency, and the soup base was milky white and a delight to drink by itself.

From previous experience, we were a little wary of the spicy soup base, so we had ordered the pure lamb broth. What made the meal really good were two saucers of sauces one with preserved soybean and chili, and another of freshly preserved chili.

The lamb slices were so delicious dipped into the sauces that my colleague wanted to buy some back.

We really liked the spice level of the chili sauce, which was softened by the preservation process, In fact, contrary to belief, we found that local diners prefer their spiciness at moderate levels, instead of the super-charged heat more predominant in Sichuan, for example.

Service is very friendly.

The restaurant was full until we left and both of us thought it would be really popular if it opened a branch in Beijing. My colleague was still trying to buy the chili sauce when we left.

yejun@chinadaily.com.cn