Sky Pavilion 川雲涧
Order the tofu pudding in the stone wok. Molly Fitzpatrick calls it
possibly our favorite dish at Sky Pavilion,forthe interplay of textures, particularly between the wonderfully silky tofu and still quite crunchy peanuts.1
Why go
Molly Fitzpatrick headlined her review It's worth braving Times Square for Sky Pavilion's Sichuan food,
which is a sentence nobody writes lightly about a block opposite the Port Authority. The room is plain, and her line on that is The flashiness here is all in the flavors.
Zigong style rabbit comes sweet, spicy and garlicky in a tomato-laced chili sauce, and Fitzpatrick's honest note is that the sauce can run over the rabbit itself. A silver pomfret arrives under a blanket of green peppercorns. The dry stir-fried pork intestine comes soft and funky in a crisp breading, which she flags for offal eaters specifically.1 A few dishes are staged for fun, with sliced pork on a swing and smoked spare ribs in a small wheelbarrow, and the rest arrive plain. The wall opposite the gold paper fans carries framed photos of the chef, who ran a Sichuan restaurant in Koreatown before this one.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tofu pudding first, then the Zigong rabbit and the braised fish fillet with Sichuan pepper. For a table of offal eaters, add the dry stir-fried pork intestine.
- Avoid: the braised tofu with crab meat sauce if the table is short on dishes.
This dish is not a must-have, but a good non-spicy option to diversify your spread.
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What locals & experts say
- Molly Fitzpatrick, The Infatuation, 19 November 2024, rated 8.4: on the pomfret under peppercorns,
Someone please open a spa where we, too, get to laze in a red jacuzzi, tucked under a blanket of fragrant green peppercorns... The mild, sweet, and flaky fish is a great canvas for the spice.
1 - The same review, on who to bring:
it's also a great place to bring peppercorn first-timers, your parents, or any visitors to NYC.
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Good to know
- Timing: lunch and dinner. Fitzpatrick calls it an
all-too-rare pre-theater option that's both convenient and delicious,
which is the use to remember it for.1 - Booking: worth reserving for a group. The dining room takes large parties, and the menu is long enough that more people is a real advantage.
- Drink: it is BYOB.1
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Dave Arnold Sichuan mention."
Verdict
should-visit — Molly Fitzpatrick rated Sky Pavilion 8.4, and the three dishes she leads on are the tofu pudding in a stone wok, the Zigong stir-fried rabbit and a silver pomfret under green peppercorns. It is BYOB and it seats big parties. Her review is from November 2024, so the menu may have moved.