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| - Hands down my favorite Asian restaurant in Madison:
Let me start by saying that I am not of Chinese decent, nor have I ever traveled to China, but I have a feeling that this is what authentic Chinese cuisine tastes like. Every time I walk in there, the place is PACKED with people chatting in Mandarin over big family-style dishes. Furthermore, it is SO SO SO much better than any "Americanized" Chinese food I've ever had.
My favorite part about this place is definitely the sichuan pepper dishes. They are an extremely difficult ingredient to get your hands on if you don't have access to an Asian foods market, but they're absolutely delicious (and spicy to boot)! Favorites of mine include sichuan cucumber salad and sichuan eggplant, but the pickled pepper dishes look fabulous as well! Everything on the "regular" (not "American-Style") menu here that is advertised as "spicy" is ACTUALLY spicy, which I love! The food is bursting with flavor and these dishes make it easy to understand why Chinese fare is typically served with WHITE (not fried) rice: the rice soaks up all of the delicious juices and becomes one of the most flavorful components of the meal.
Speaking of rice, the rice here is PHENOMENAL and is cooked to perfection (both white and fried). For all of you naysayers out there who think that rice can't be done "wrong," you're mistaken. Fried rice lovers, take one bite of the fried rice at FUGU and you will understand that every other Chinese place you've ever been to has cooked their rice to a lower standard. Here, it is soft, fluffy, flavorful, and just slightly sticky. YUM. It's the best fried rice I've ever had.
Like most Asian restaurants, the selection is huge and there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options (vegan PRO TIP: try the garlic eggplant--out of this world! Just make sure to spread the spicy oils over your rice). I have yet to venture out and try some of the REALLY authentic dishes (tripe, ox tongue, etc), but some of the borderline-authentic stuff has come up short for me (in particular, the pork dumplings with chili oil--I couldn't stomach them). I've also gone in the opposite direction: the "American Style" menu is expansive, but FUGU does NOT do American Chinese food well (shame on them for being TOO authentic--lol). There is a consistent lack of spice and flavor with every dish I've tried on that menu (although the quality of products is still supreme). I think it best to stick with the "middle ground" of the menu here.
Overall, give FUGU a shot, and you won't be disappointed (at least not for carry out; I've never dined in).
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