Taipei 101 in Cary is an auspicious looking place, tucked away in the parking lot on the main drag you would be forgiven if you walked on by, however that would be a mistake.

This place with it’s simple sign states that it serves ‘Authentic Chinese Cuisine” and judging by the number of members of the Chinese community that I find dining in there, I suspect that that claim is pretty true.

Special Chong Qing Spicy Chicken on the Menu

I found myself in here late one evening after a day of sampling the beer from the local breweries and I really fancied something hot, spicy, and authentic.

It was then with some blur in my eyes and some adventure in my heart that I decided to take a chance on a plate of their “Chong Qing Spicy Chicken”

This is a very popular Sichuan dish and one that I don’t always find on the generic American Chinese menu. Traditionally this is a simple mix of fried chicken mixed with red hot chilli and Sichuan pepper. It is basically meat and spice, no veg 🙂

Chong Qing Spicy Chicken

When the dish arrived it looked and smelt even more spicy dangerous than I had imagined. The scent of chilli spice was in the air and was already trying to permeate it’s way into my soul without me touching it.

The plate was packed with crisp fried chicken pieces and so many slices of deep fried red chilli that it was almost impossible to take a spoonful without hitting a fifty-fifty chicken chilli mix. I suppose that is the whole point of the dish! You are not supposed to avoid the spice! 🙂

I was an amazing dish, somewhat mouth numbing and I had to ‘chicken’ out a little bit by ordering some plain boiled rice just so that I could get a mouthful with a small margin of respite in my bite.

The only downside was that the plate was really priced up and filled up for more than one person so that it was not possible to even come close to finishing it all by myself.

The up and downside was that it was so spicy I had to order a cold beer to cool down my burning tongue and lips.

Please note wash your hands after eating this before you do anything stupid like trying to wipe the sweat from your face or the tears from your eyes 😦

I found Taipei 101 to be a decent place, a little confusing when you order as the place really is run by a bunch of enthusiastic Chinese and they seemed to not quite get the British accent, Nonetheless very friendly, efficient, and most importantly that food was pretty dang good 🙂

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Taipei 101 is located at 121 E Chatham St, Cary, NC 27511