Spicy Talk Bistro @ Redmond

We have been wanting to check this place out for a long time now. Especially after we heard that the owner is the ex-owner of Seven Stars Pepper and Chef Sezchuan. So, we went for dinner last Saturday. We were lucky; there is a dumplings festival going on.

Things I like about Spicy Talk Bistro:

1. The portions are really huge.
2. When they say "spicy", it really is spicy.
3. The food is amazing. Very flavorful.
4. Lots of veggie and tofu options.
5. They have a veggie + egg dumpling. No meat.
6. Service was quick.
7. Price is very reasonable for the quality and quantity.

Things that can be improved:

1. It will be nice to have an option of brown rice. The entrees don't come with rice, anyway. So, I might as well pay for brown rice instead of white.
2. One of my pet peeves is Chinese restaurants not offering fortune cookies. I know its silly, but it's my thing. Dinner is not complete without cracking the cookie and reading my fortune or misfortune ;-)

We got the Vegetable+egg dumplings. During the festival, it is $4.95 for 15 dumplings as opposed to the regular $8.00 for 8 dumplings. We chose the pan fried ones. It was pretty bland and definitely needed to be paired with some hot sauce.

We then split the Sizzling Dry Bean Curd Szechuan Style. Bean curd tossed with bell peppers, onions and mushrooms. From what I read, bean curd and tofu are the same. Does anyone know why then it is called bean curd? The numbing peppers made it extra spicy. It is a dish that you don't get in any other Chinese restaurant. It was a really huge helping and for $2.50, we got a big tub of rice with it!

Another thing about this restaurant - they don't give plates. Instead, you have two smallish bowls that you can eat from. Its good in a way, because, you don't eat as much from a bowl as you would from a plate :). Here's my bowl-

And they say their hand shaven noodles and sauces are made from scratch. Will definitely be visiting again to try out their other great creations. Quite happy with the abundance of Szechuan restaurants in the Seattle area!
Oh, here's a picture of the restuarant -