Ma Wang Zi Chuan Restaurant — Restaurant in Chengdu

Very popular Sichuan restaurant with a sleek and modern ambience right across Taikoo Li. Took a queue number and waited for roughly an hour for a seat for 3. But the wait is so worth if for the food.

Century Egg (36yuan) : Comes in two variations - the lighter coloured one is less alkaline and I suppose easier on the palate for those not used to this preserved egg dish. The darker one was stronger in flavour and paired well with the charred green chillis and chilli oil. Though, I would caution those who do not like century eggs from getting this dish.

Tian Shao Bai (12yuan) : Sweetened slices of pork belly steamed and neatly arranged over a mound of (sweet) sticky rice. An interesting traditional Sichuan dish, but if sweet appetisers aren’t quite your thing, there’s a savory form (xian shao bai) as well.

Ji Dou Hua (19yuan) : You might think that it's beancurd in soup, but it's actually made from ground chicken instead! Think minced chicken paste with the consistency of beancurd, but there's a chew to it from the cartilage/fats (i think). Quite novel refreshing with the light chicken broth.

Gong Bao Prawns (98yuan) : A unique take on the kung pao chicken, except that the meat is shrimps and the kung pao sauce is on the sweeter and less-spicy side. There are also eggplant cubes which had a crisp exterior but a soft interior. Although, I did prefer my regular gong bao ji over this.

Sauteed Vege (32yuan) : They serve various kinds of vegetables cooked in different way - take your pick. But I have to say that their vegetables are really fresh, crisp, and with the natural sweetness.

Sausage Claypot Rice (59yuan) : Easily the favourite dish of the night. This was savoury, sweet, warm, and homely. Can't go wrong with claypot rice. There's also a mushroom option which we sadly did not try.

Dan Dan Noodles (13yuan) : Nothing much to write about, I forgot how I felt about this dish so it must be pretty average.

Chilli Oil Dumplings (10yuan) : The dumplings were just meaty with nothing else, not up our alley. But the chilli oil sauce was so delicious, I literally used it as a dipping sauce for the other dishes.

Overall, this was a fantastic meal to start off our trip, especially because we expected our meals in China to be all spicy. But Ma Wang Zu Chuan really showed us another side of Chinese cuisine that we were pretty wowed by. Service was also top notch and there were english translations of the menu when scanning the QR. Well...

Frankly it is worth to wait and line up for an hour …

The Sichuan cuisine is supposed to be spicy but it is acceptable to all of us

The prawn 🍤 (sweet and sour） excellent

The sliced pork (bacon） actually is quite similar to the Cantonese cuisine

The fish: can remember the name but it is delicious too

The sliced and diced beef immersed in the hot pepper 🌶️ is extremely delicious

The duck : apparently it is very pop dish served in here and they made duck skin quite sweet

The rice in the pot : it is quite tasty but it is okay

The “salvia” chicken or spicy 🌶️ chicken is actually very tasty and delicious

dumplings 🥟 Okay

Buns okay too

Mapo Tofu is delicious but super spicy

Dandan noodle is fine

we ordered too many dishes

I highly recommend...

Ma Wang Zi was the first restaurant we tried in Chengdu. It is a local, michelin star awarded institution, having been around for 101 years this year, and even though we rocked up just after the opening time of 5pm, we had to wait 50 mins for our table. It was all worth it, though, for an authentic taste of Szechaun food executed with quality produce and finese at reasonable prices to boot. The star of the show has got to be the Kung Po prawn with fried eggplant, which came with a small hourglass and advice to finish it within 3 minutes. For good reason, too. When freshly fried, the eggplant is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with the multi dimensional sauce lighting the way. I would brave the wait just for this dish and rice. Looking forward to more good food finds...