SPRING FISH VILLAGE: TIANJIN’S TAKE

Outside.

“What? Sorry? ...Wait, huh?”

While the floor manager of Spring Fish Village spoke Mandarin, I understood perhaps twenty percent of what he was saying.* On top of his heavy Tianjin accent, his vocabulary included region-specific slang phrases.

"--Excuse  me, could you repeat that?"

Comprehension hurdles aside, Spring Fish Village gave Flushing Food a delightful dining experience. We arrived at around 1:30 P.M. on a sunny Monday.

Interior.

After seating us immediately, our servers repeatedly popped over to see whether we were ready to order. The gruff(er) accents belied our waiter and waitress’s patience, and they quickly helped us narrow down our options to the top local choices. Meanwhile, the back LG television alternated between Sinovision and CCTV. Our wait staff also revealed that both he and the lead cook hail from Hebei, the northeast province from which Beijing and Tianjin municipalities were born.** 

Not surprisingly, we noticed most visitors ordering dishes common to Beijing and Tianjin.

Crispy fish in spicy sauce, or what most
of the regulars ordered the day we visited.

In addition, the menu also offered Hunan and Sichuan (also Szechuan) dishes, like spicy diced chicken and double cooked pork.***

Flushing Food started off with a $12.00 vegetable medley of stir-fried lotus root, walnut, cashews, and snow peas. The presentation was a standout, with bright caramelized pops of green, orange, and purple. Cashew and walnuts added a sweet nutty flavor to the still-crispy veggies:

Stir-fried lotus root, walnut, cashews, and snow peas.

Now for the real question: ever stumbled across a bowl of authentic shuizhuyu (水煮鱼)? Spring Fish Village’s version comes pretty darn close to what you could only find in Asia. Here, it's called "house special fish fillet" (qianshuiyu).**** A mere $18.99 yields this number:

House special fish fillet.

Spring Fish Village’s version was more numbing than spicy. The stew (use it as a sauce; don’t drink it!) included cilantro, baby celery sprouts, vermicelli, napa cabbage, and tofu. Unlike most greasy knock-off attempts here in the States, Spring Fish Village's fish fillet pieces are perfectly cooked delicate nuggets of flavor, rather than overly-oily and -cooked leftovers in an over-salted casserole masquerading under the guise of “shuizuyu”.

In short, Spring Fish Village’s version does this beloved dish justice.

The gruff waiter from Tianjin repeatedly stopped by our table, bemused. We couldn't finish everything. But as a consolation prize, he set down a plate of nanguabing for our efforts:

Nanguabing.

May Flushing Food suggest: coming here in a big group. The portion sizes are heaping.

* Well, maybe more like fifteen percent.

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebei

*** Want a Fear Factor-esque experience? Consider a plate of lamb testicle with cumin seed ($18.99) or just straight-up lamb testicles ($21.99).

**** Look for S5, under House Special section.

Media credits: Helen Y.

Gadget: Nikon® Coolpix™ AW110  

Software: Fotor