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Ants climbing up a tree. I was obviously intrigued when I saw that in the menu. The dish did not involve any ants. It was fine pork mince with noodles and the mince clinging to the glass noodles did look like 🐜 🐜 🐜 climbing up a 🌳
Very excited to have discovered this Sichuan restaurant near the Barbican. Had quite a frustrating morning, so that made this lunch that much more special.
We were lucky that we reached by 11:45 when we easily got a table. By the time we left at 12:30, the place had long queues waiting to get in. Plenty of Asian businessmen (70% occupancy) led me to believe that they must be pretty authentic - since I’ve never been to China. Thanks
The food was super delicious! Being Sichuan food, I ordered from the ‘medium spicy’ section and we were very happy with everything.
The ants climbing up a tree was the star dish for us. Glass noodles tossed in a pork stock based sauce with a hint of Sichuan pepper and pork mince. I could eat this everyday. Light on the stomach, but with bucketloads of flavour.
He had the veg hot & sour soup which was exactly what he wanted. I chose the milder pork wonton soup. I was expecting a really mild flavour (more as a hot water alternative), but the soup was delicious and the pork mince in the wontons had tiny hits of spice in it. Nothing overwhelming, just right to keep the tastebuds excited.
The chicken with dried red chilli and Sichuan pepper was exactly what we expected. I forgot to take a picture of the dish after we had extracted the chicken and the groundnuts, the volume did not seem to differ much from the original 😀
The pork with green peppers was absolutely delicious and went very well with the egg fried rice. This did not have Sichuan peppers in it, so it was a very different kind of spice.
I only wish I’d discovered this place earlier when I still had multiple trips to make to the office here.
Hopefully, today is the last time I have to visit this particular office, but I might just return to this area to try more items on the menu.
They do have more ‘exotic’ dishes like pigs ears, but today I wasn’t in the mood to experiment.
I’d definitely give this place a 5 star recommendation.
I am not usually a fan of Chinese restaurants in London, and the standard Cantonese cuisine, so I was very pleasantly surprised by The Sichuan. Our Chinese colleague recommended it and she was so right. The venue is bright and modern, the service efficient. The menu is huge, absolutely massive with no trace of shark fin (thankfully). Lots of options including classics like dim sum and crispy ducks. We tried some original Sichuan dishes. The lotus dish was absolutely fantastic. The spinach with sesame sauce really good too. Their chicken in peanut sauce is the signature dish and was bursting with flavours. The braised beef and chilli very good too with the right amount of spices. The stir fry bean curd was the only slightly bland dish. Can't wait to go back and try more dishes!
The smell of peppercorns hit your nose the moment you enter! Food was delicious and decently spicy compared to watered down versions often found in London. Staff were a bit slow and didn't notice us trying to get their attention when we wanted the bill. Otherwise a good experience.
The imaginatively named The Sichuan is located roughly equidistant between Old Street and Liverpool Street stations, smack bang in the weird hinterland between Shoreditch and the Square Mile.
What The Sichuan lacks in nominative originality and glossy decor, it more than makes up for in service. Inexpensive Chinese restaurants have a reputation for brusque service thanks to Chinatown, but the generally polite yet still efficient service here shows that this doesn’t have to be the case. The waitress across both of my visits (a middle aged lady with a slight limp) deserves particular credit for her warmth and charm.
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This was simply the best Chinese food (never mind Sichuan) I have eaten in London.
Service is friendly but be warned that food might arrive in a haphazard order. You do need to eat Chinese style, with the whole table sharing every dish. One of our party of four couldn't handle spicy food, which does limit what you can order at a Sichuan restaurant.
First to arrive was the beef with cumin. Extremely tender, quite salty, and redolent with cumin. At this point we asked if they could bring the rice. Next was dry fried green beans, another classic dish of the region. Executed extremely well, as the beans were tender but still had a little crunch and green scent. The minced pork garnishing it had been fried off to a crisp.
Our rice arrived at this point. Gong Bao chicken was also extaordinarily tender and tasty and had a spicy after taste that left your lips tingling. The aubergine with minced pork was fantastic. Slightly caramelized and smokey having been wokked at an extremely high temperature, a dish you can't recreate in a domestic kitchen. But be warned that it comes swimming in oil. You need to resign yourself that Sichuan is just a somewhat greasy style of cooking.
The stir fried potato, a dish my mother (who grew up in Sichuan) used to make, was lovely and unusual. A perfect crisp and grainy texture on the finely julienned potatoes with a slightly acidic note from pickled chilli. Better than my mom's version. I like the fact that there are quite a lot of unusual vegetable dishes on the menu. Our appetizer of deep fried soft shelled crab (not really local to land locked Sichuan province) was the last of the large dishes to appear. Very crisp, and a large portion. Finally our side order of Dan Dan noodles arrived. Tasty with a nice hint of sesame but I wish we had started with this dish.
I've already said it, but this is the best Chinese I've had in London. They don't use MSG. My husband always has a telltale allergic reaction after combining MSG with red wine and there was no trace of it after our visit.
Decor is quite stylish (think red lanterns and dark wood) so unlike most Chinese restaurants, somewhere you could bring a date if they don't mind the smell of chilli hanging in the air. Decent value too. We had a very large meal for four, with a bottle of house red and, including service, the bill came to £23 a head. Booking is probably essential. It was packed on a Friday night. We ordered quite well in terms of balancing sweet, salty, spicy and sour dishes. Next time, however, I want to try the house pickles and some braised dishes.
A Chinese friend brought me here recommending this place as authentic.
Food was delicious, home cook vibe, big flavours and good portions!
Sichuan dishes, many of them are pleasently hot!
My favourite were the cold chicken starter and the pork with cabbage.
The location is also great; service is friendly, the atmosphere is average.
I really enjoyed the food. Proper shizuan. Good value for money. Very kind staff . The only thing is the fact they bring normal plates to serve rice and not bowls which is a bit weird. Overall great experience 👍
First time here and the food was amazingly delicious. Not overseasoned or anything. Well done. The duck was juicy and tasted superb. The noodles we had blew us away with the flavor. 👏 😋
We was so impressed with the dedication and the professionalism of the staff.
They were very attentive to the needs of the customer and made sure that my wife's teapot was refilled.
We enjoyed dining here and hoping to come back here on our next visit to London. Highly recommended.
Great food and atmosphere. Staff are really nice but maybe understaffed? There were too little waiters for the number of tables so it took a considerable amount of time for them to notice you for whatever request you needed. Still an amazing place though
It's affordable, delicious and I think the customer service is one of the best in London❣️
It's Sichuan food, but not so spicy, and many of the dishes are gentle and tasty. I recommend the mapo tofu, dan-dan noodle, fried noodles (chow mien）and dim sum😊
Love this place! Great Spicy dishes! They do Kung Po Chicken the right way, with peanuts NOT cashews!
Aubergine with pork and the Lotus Root tasty too!
Popped in for lunch. I was seated quickly and the food came out very fast! They are used to serving the lunch crowd and had both small and large tables full of people. The ma po tofu (vegetarian) was very good. I understand why people would make this their regular spot!
Lovely experience at this spacious restaurant. Service was friendly and fast! All the dishes were super flavourful. Menu has a lot of options and it’s difficult to order, but everything was top quality!
We came for Mao CAI in a Tuesday evening, after work. The atmosphere is nice, especially half open door space in Summer.
Ingredients are authentic, you can taste it’s Sichuan cuisine, the portion is big (6dishes Map CAI is good enough for 2 ppl, £50+ in total). would come again for other Sichuan food.
Food was lovely. I had special fried rice, duck, beef noodles. Food was a good amount and staff friendly. Thanks to Harry, Lesley, Eva and the rest of the staff that worked on the 23.6.2023. We was staying at The Montcalm hotel and really desired some a good classic Chinese food. And would come again. Thank you
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