Thin-sliced English cucumber, smashed and dressed with garlic, black vinegar, chili oil, soy, and toasted sesame. Cool, acidic, and lightly spicy — the perfect palate reset between rich dumplings.
The Cucumber Salad is the dish that makes everything else taste better. Its job is contrast: cool temperature, sharp acidity from black vinegar, a gentle heat from the chili oil — cutting through the richness of XLB broth, the fat of char siu pork, and the heaviness of braised beef. It's the dish that real Chinese food lovers order first and eat throughout the meal.
We use the smash and dress method — the cucumber is smashed rather than sliced to create irregular pieces with rough edges, which absorb dressing better than clean slices. The garlic is grated fresh; the chili oil is house-made. It comes together in minutes but the flavour is disproportionately complex for its simplicity.