I tried the local chinese takeaway at the weekend & I'm trying to recreate
some of the dishes.

I'm fairly close (using msg & chinese five spice) with the 'beef in black
bean sauce' & 'malaysian-style beef' but they both have a sort of 'smokey
chinese' flavour.

Any clues? I was thinking perhaps toasted Szechwan peppercorns, or even
liquid smoke?

gtoomey