Subterranean Szechuan

>> Copines de Chine serves saucy
Asian eats in an underground environment

by MATHILDE RABBAT

Though I’ll admit I have seen almost every episode of Love Boat, I’ve never actually wined and dined, or even set foot, on a cruise ship. I did however recently visit Copines de Chine’s dining hall, or should I say dining haul: a ship-like atmosphere where you’ll find more than enough Szechuan standards and sushi to satisfy any Asian craving.

This eatery immediately conjures a sub-sea-level feel. It operates in a large underground, windowless space sporting a big cement pillar, low ceilings and circular archways that mimic big ship portholes that section the area into quadrants. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. Nor are the tinsel garlands and plastic Christmas wreaths from which dangle Chinese-New-Yearred paper paraphernalia and Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty cutouts. The Asian kitsch museum feel succeeds in diverting attention away from the fact that you’re basically eating in a basement.

We started with appetizers like the hot and sour soup ($2.25) and the Hunan dumplings ($4.45). Though it was absolutely packed with ingredients I usually relish in this type of soup—namely tofu, bamboo shoots, shallots and mushrooms— I just couldn’t get by the viscous broth, which suffered in both the taste and texture departments.

Enter the Hunan dumplings. Since the last thing you need before you begin your main dish is to feel weighed down by heavy hors d’oeuvres, I kept my fingers crossed for a tasty yet light appetizer, and that’s exactly what I got. The savoury peanut sauce cloaking the pork-filled dumplings was neither too sweet nor too thick. I wolfed down four and it felt like one, that’s how surprisingly light they were.

Several combos, incorporating an appetizer and served with rice and veggies, grace the menu ($10.95–$13.50). One such dish, the orange-flavoured beefsteak, includes thin morsels of battered beef cooked with sectioned orange peel before it receives a coating of gelatinous sweet sauce reminiscent of General Tao ($12.50). The accompanying veggies, including the requisite crunchy stir-fried broccoli, carrot, bamboo shoot, celery, baby corn, mushroom and water chestnut, complemented the beef nicely, which is more than can be said for the two mounds of rice. Displayed side by side like a bosom, the grains were unnecessarily bogged down with diced carrot, peas, corn nibblets and shredded egg, when plain steamed rice would have done the trick. This main was one of the ones flagged with an asterisk on the menu, indicating spicy dishes characteristic of Szechuan eats. Neither myself nor my dinner mate found that the dishes we sampled were worthy of such a branding.

I like tofu and I like style, family’s alright too, so I went for the tofu “family style” selection, half because the kooky name caught my eye ($8.45). Glad I did, as this little number turned out to be one of my favourite mains there. Soft tofu bars, deep fried till they are a spongy golden brown are covered in, another glistening soy-based glaze and jazzed up with a spicy kick. This saucy blanket also coats a mushroom, green and red pepper stir-fry, spiked with a healthy dose of garlic.

The dieticians out there are probably wondering “But where’s the omega 3 in this diet?” Thinking that myself, I selected the sliced fish with hot sauce ($8.95) that wasn’t so hot after all. Turbot nuggets are dressed up with nothing but a broth-based light soy glaze along with an assortment of greens similar to the ones found cozying up to the tofu bars, which were decidedly more satisfying than the white fish, which was overcooked in my opinion.

When you’re done, don’t forget to crack open that fortune cookie. Maybe it will even move you to play with your fate through a visit to the bookies next door where you can pick your pony and watch it go.