Ban Bu Xian Szechuan Cuisine Vancouver Downtown — Restaurant in Vancouver

Situated on Robson Street’s commercial strip, this restaurant is one of three in the Ban Bu Xian restaurant chain serving 四川 (Szechuan/Sichuan) food. The store in Richmond specialises in noodles, while this one and the one in Burnaby serve their signature regional dish: the Szechuan Boiled Fish: 水煮鱼.

Honestly, this dish is the main reason why we recommend you come visit (…as you can get most of the other dishes at other Chinese restaurants). The 水煮鱼 single-handedly captures, in one massive 18” ceramic plate, the distinctive flavours typical in Szechuan cuisine.

Depending on personal taste, there are two different flavours to choose from: 1) the Spicy Original (四川沸腾鱼) packs plenty of heat, aroma and heaviness; 2) the Sauerkraut (老坛酸菜鱼) is tangy and sharp. Both flavours use Basa as the fish, both contain numbing Szechuan Peppers (花椒), and the salt/spice/oil levels are all customisable. Your body will thank you for less of those, but the choice is yours to make.

We ordered the Sauerkraut, which came with a complimentary bowl of braised beef. Two proteins served with vermicelli noodles and plenty of vegetables in one order was incredible value for a table of two, and we and took plenty of leftovers home. Even with less salt, the soup base was incredibly flavourful, and the leftovers tasted stronger the next day. As a rough guide: one order can feed between 2-4 adults, based on hunger level.

Don’t expect too much table service as the menu is loaded on your phone after a QR code scan. But this place earns the full 5 stars for us because the...

Food tasted alright but service was terrible and we ended up having 1 meal among the 3 we ordered after waiting for a long time without being notified. They were serving tables that came later than us and was totally not taking care of our table. Absolute lack of professionalism and service. The waiters didn't apologize at all and just ask us if we wanted to cancel instead of making sure we get the food we ordered. We already asked one waiter before who did nothing except saying "okay okay". The second one we asked after, told us in the first place if we wanted to cancel... Then after he went to ask for the time remaining and got interrupted by the first server who asked him to clean the table next to us first .. Terrible service very chaotic. not feeling...

I'm not an expert on Sichuan food and have a western palate and a timid approach to new foods, so can't compare to authentic Sichuan cuisine. I can say my experience was great.

The wait person was helpful in suggesting dishes, yet I went my own way and ordered the Ma Po Tofu. A small plate of pickled beans and peppers was brought first as a palate cleanser. Then the food. A huge plate of tofu and ground pork in molten red pepper sauce. It was excellent. Numbed my tongue and had a deeply rich and savoury taste. Excellent. I wish I could have tried the eggplant as that's one of my favourite dishes.

The decor is nicely done. Comfortable and clean and transports the diner to a far off land. Good service overall. Highly recommended for the...