why our mouths love fuschia dunlop

The affair began one September day in 1993. My friend Zhou Yu invited me out to lunch on my very first visit to Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan Province. We ate in a modest restaurant near the bus station, a small place tiled in white like a bathroom, with a few tables and chairs and nothing on the walls. I can still remember every taste of that delicious meal. The preserved eggs, with their green-and-yellow yolks and amber whites, cut into segments and arranged around a pile of chopped green peppers like the petals of a flower. Cold chicken chunks, tossed in a piquant dressing of soy sauce, chilli oil and Sichuan pepper. A whole carp, braised in a sauce of chilli-bean paste laced with the heady fragrances of ginger, garlic and spring onions. And fish-fragrant aubergines, a dish which remains my personal favourite, the golden, buttery fried aubergines cooked in a deep red, spicy sauce with hints of sweet and sour. Later that afternoon, as we sat in a riverside teahouse sipping jasmine blossom tea as the sunlight danced through the leaves of sheltering trees, I realised I had fallen in love. I would have to return to Chengdu.

A year later it was my fond memories of eating in the city which brought me back to Chengdu. I was there ostensibly to study at the university but I had only to step outside the campus to be overwhelmed by the hubbub of Sichuanese life with its sprawling teahouses, bustling restaurants and vibrant lanes. Every morning I would be seduced anew by the scent of frying guo kuei, pinwheel pastries with a spicy pork filling and a scattering of toasty sesame seeds. A hundred yards or so from the door of my room, just beyond a side gate of the university, was a market overflowing with fresh and seasonal produce. Fish leapt and eels wriggled in tanks of water, ducks and chickens squawked in their pens. Vegetables and fruits were piled up in great bamboo trays: water spinach and bamboo shoots, garlic stems and bitter melons, seasonal treats like three-coloured amaranth leaves, loquats and 'spring shoots', the tender leaves of a local tree. One stall sold a dozen different types of beancurd; others displayed great sackfuls of glossy red chillies and pink Sichuan pepper, or enormous clay urns filled with rice wine.

Fuschia Dunlop

From Shark's Fin Soup and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China

mouths that also love drinking coffee

A brief overview of some of the cafes I've been frequenting, and what I feel to be their merits.


1. Jet Fuel, 519 Parliament Street
http://jetfuelcoffee.com/

I like it cause they're sassy. They have damn good coffee, no-nonsense decor, and baristas that actually talk to you like you're a normal person and not just a customer. Not someplace I can go to write, sadly, because it's often packed and loud, especially during the morning rush. And I wish my coffee came in a mug instead of a glass, but that's just me. I can respect their choice to try and make the coffee pretty and less likely to be spilled. Worth visiting often.


2. Saving Grace, 907 Dundas Street West

This place fulfills all of my needs: great coffee, delicious food, friendly staff, comfortable seats and good lighting so i can sit and write. Pretty much my dream cafe, and I visit it often. Avoid during weekend brunch hours, as it gets pretty packed.


3. Holy Oak, 1241 Bloor Street West
http://holyoakcafe.wordpress.com/

When I visited, a very friendly gentleman was tuning their piano, the barista made me a delicious americano and recommended a pesto-grilled cheese sandwich and invited me back for board games later that week. They have beer, they have breakfast, they have board games. I wish this place was attached to my house, so that I could pretend it was my very own.


4. Ellington's Music and Cafe, 805 St Clair Ave West

They have pretty tasty coffee. They play good music. They supposedly have food, which always has been sold out by the time I get there. And they host live music nights. Cozy and refreshing atmosphere. This place is clearly not run by laptop-toting espresso-snob hipsters. They just make good coffee and offer a place for musicians to play.


5. Bisogno Espresso Bar, 61 Sherbourne St

This place is hiding in the middle of the St Lawrence neighbourhood, waiting for lucky people to stumble upon it. Most regulars are local condo-dwellers, but everyone that walks in is treated like they live upstairs. Upscale decor, great coffee. One communal table, lots of reading material lying around. Great place to duck into for brief refuge from this part of the city.


6. F'Coffee, 641 Queen Street East

As much as I had Dark Horse, Mercury, Bonjour Brioche and more within stumbling distance; this place is what makes me miss living in and around Leslieville. They might not be as illustriously perfect at espresso as the previously mentioned, and they might not make the best croissants in Toronto like BB, but their coffee is pretty great and their sandwiches are delicious. In the summers they even have a garden patio out back. They have beer. They have chili. And they will even make you a hot breakfast. No offense Dark Horse, but muffins just aren't my thing. F'Coffee is the warmest, coziest, most delicious feel-good place on Queen East. Go there.