Kalvin's Szechuen Restaurant

We went to Kalvin's for my birthday.

I always like going with a bunch of people because that means we can order more food and try a variety of dishes - granted, we always order the same dishes.

We always order the 鹽酥雞 (salted crispy chicken) for the kids as it's not spicy. It's just as the name says - crispy and salty, yet tender and juicy. One of my favourites.

Of course, we couldn't do without some internal organs: 五更腸旺 (pork blood and intestines). This dish is served on a candle-lit plate that kind of resembles a tea warmer. You get the choice of mild, medium, or very spicy and it contains pork lung (red bits) and intestines (white bits).

I have no idea why, but we decided to order the spicy version of the 竹筍炒肉絲 (bamboo and pork stir fry). This was so spicy my mouth was on fire - but I couldn't stop eating it. Even my other half, who enjoys his spice, thought it was spicy - though it didn't bother him.

The 熏鴨脖 (smoked duck necks) aren't on the menu. It's something the owner makes for his staff with leftover necks from the 熏鴨 (smoked duck). As you know, it's not always something that looks appetizing on a dish for regular customers. Once you become friends with Kalvin, you'll find out there's lots of things he makes that aren't on the menu, but are amazingly delicious.

This is a special Taiwanese dish (the owner's from Taiwan): 豆酥魚 (steamed cod fish with fried soybean crisp) The fish was so soft, it was like eating butter. And the soybeans, they had to be minced and then fried and dried in a wok - there's no other way to make it dry and crispy like this. Kalvin was very proud of this dish and how the soybeans turned out.

One last dish as we were getting a bit rowdy, was another internal organ dish. The 豬大腸 (pork intestine) was marinated in some soy, I think, and fried to a perfection. It was not too rich and I even made room for it instead of the two cakes.

We return often and recommend reservations.