Kungfu Kitchen

I don’t eat hot pot regularly but I do probably have one annual hot pot dinner. The difficulty is that I haven’t found a good hot pot place after the Dragon Steamboat closed.
On one wintery night, I braced the cold and walked into Kung Fu Kitchen with my husband. The staff welcomed us and found us a spot straight away, right in front of the TV that was playing the chinese version of The Voice (the show is called Voice of China). Behind us we can see a private dining room that can seat 10 – 12 people.
We were given an iPad to do our ordering and even though some words are in Chinese, it was pretty self-​explanatory due to the different coloured buttons (green for checkout, blue for add to cart, red for cancellation). The menu also provided us with photos of each dish and drinks. I was going to order ducks tongue but decided not to after examining the photo in the menu (ox tongue is still fine, but I’m not in a close relationship with duck yet).
We opted for the two different soups, spicy and non-​spicy. I like the taste of both but prefer the non-​spicy one, while hubby liked the spicy one better. Our ordered meats and vegetables came out promptly and we were happily cooking our meals in the hotpot. I’ve tried to separate our meats equally, but I was so sure that hubby put more meats in the spicy soup…
We ordered two all you can take sauce in the menu so we can try all of their sauces. My favourite combination is a mixture of black bean, chilli, sesame chives, bbq and a tiny bit of hoisin sauce.
I almost forgot to say that when we were seating down on the plush Kung Fu Kitchen chairs, we felt like we were eating at a clean Chinese restaurant in China. Such a good atmosphere and we’ll definitely go back to try other dish.

Well what can I say, this is the place to go to if you are craving for some semi-​authentic Chinese food. I say semi because it is way too oily for my taste, and not really good Chinese cooking in general.
Flavourwise, I’ve been coming here since the very beginning, when it first opened in Perth, and I must say the quality of the food is decreasing at a relatively alarming speed. They used to have some really nice chilli kicks in their flavouring, but now everything just tastes bland. Their fish pieces are heavily coated with starch powder and feels like flour balls on the tongue. Their beef slices have sinews that taste like tough leather. And since they use the exact same chilli oil for every single dish, they all taste the same! Their rice feels like leftover stuff from the night before because they are hard and chewy, rather than nice and fluffy. I’ve also tried their hotpot, and to be honest, I’ve had way better stuff in Vic Park.

When a friend dragged me along to Kungfu Kitchen, I paused in the doorway completely startled because it really truly smells like an actual, honest to goodness Sichuan restaurant. Since I used to just about live at Sichuan restaurants when I lived in China, getting a whiff of all that chilli oil made me salivate on the spot. If I had been a dog, I would have wagged my tail.
I’m crazy about the hot spicy noodles at Kungfu Kitchen (AKA dandan mian). Not only are they extremely tasty, the texture of the noodles themselves is just right. I also recommend the braised chicken in chilli sauce (koushui ji), the Chinese name of which is the slightly dodgy ‘saliva’ chicken, no doubt because it really is drool-​worthy. The spicy rice noodle with vege (liangban san si) is also one of my firm favouites.
Warning — the restaurant is not even the slightest bit classy; it’s noisy and often packed, with zilch in the way of service. Some people will dislike the way Sichuan peppercorns make the mouth tingle and the fact that a lot of the food is completely swimming in chilli oil. Food from Sichuan is known as ‘mala’ or numbing and spicy and the sensation is certainly not for everyone.
As for me, these are the things that make it an authetic Mainland Chinese eating experience. It is a relief to eat proper, tasty, spicy Sichuan style food after the hordes of Cantonese restaurants I’ve come across in Perth. My philosophy is that if food is going to be spicy, it should be hot enough to make my nose run and eyes water. Kungfu Kitchen hits the spot. Call me a sick puppy, but I love it.
Two thumbs up!