Reverse Dinner - Luxbite and Dainty Sichuan

I like desserts, and as I've said many times, when I go out to a restaurant, I always look at the dessert menu so I can make room for it. However, even then I sometimes over eat during the savoury courses and don't have room for dessert, a tragedy. So when I-Hua suggested a reverse dinner, I went "Genius, I'm in". I'm sure I remember seeing on The Supersizers that they did reverse dinners in the Elizabethan era (I'm probably making this up but go with my assertion for the sake of this story haha) and hence it was a long time tradition. The plan for the reverse dinner was to try out the Luxbite dessert degustation and then head over to Dainty Sichuan to eat our savouries. Others who were also excited about the reverse dinner were Daisy and Bryan, with the now famous Kate from Lune Croissanterie joining us for the main dinner.

Firstly our dinner started at Luxbite, where we drooled over all the macarons and cakes displayed before sitting down for our two course dessert degustation. First up, we tried a delicious fruit, jelly and meringue starter. It was light and refreshing and a great dish. Then it was onto a banana layer cake and a banana souffle. Wow, both desserts were excellent, especially the souffle. It was light and had such a great flavour. I really enjoyed it and wish it was available all the time.

After having our wonderful dessert, it was time for some spicy food at Dainty Sichuan. We ordered way too much food for the 7 of us and the table was heaving with spicy food everywhere. Thanks to Bernard and Yen who recommended some dishes, we had an awesome dinner. It still took a while to decide what to order when we all wanted to try everything. The first dish that we had was the Lamb Ribs as recommended. The ribs were so so good. Tender and crispy served with eggnets. An excellent dish.

A massive bowl of fish in spicy chili oil "soup" was also very good. The fish was tender and yes, it was spicy, but probably not as spicy as it looks in the photo. Although, by the end of the night, it was getting rather spicy and our mouths were so numb from the Sichuan peppers.

We ordered the famous Fried Eggplant, and they were excellent. Crispy, soft and with a sugary glaze, it was an addictive dish. Spicy Chicken and Spicy Pork (not pictured) as well as Stir Fried Beans (not pictured) were all great dishes. I loved the thin layers of pork in the spicy sauce and the drier chicken was really addictive too. The beans were a real highlight and the smokey wok breath gave the beans a wonderful flavour.

Lastly we had the Fried Pork dish as recommended. This was my favourite dish of the night amongst all the great dishes. Eaten with the spicy chili and dipping sauce wrapped in lettuce, this was a real winner.

I loved everything we tried and would definitely go back to eat more. Everything was hot, but for me it was at a tolerable (albeit sweat inducing) level. There was a lot of "sssssssssss" going on as the chili started to affect our tongues but it just made us want more of the spicy food. I'd highly recommend ordering some soy milk to help dull down all the spiciness. Service wise, food was served quickly and the waiters were surprisingly friendly for an Asian restaurant. The ambiance in the restaurant was boisterous and it was very very loud. I wouldn't expect any less and this type of place is right up my alley. A great cheap, delicious and fun meal.