The Sichuan Restaurant — Restaurant in London

This is a great place for authentic Sichuan food conveniently located in the City. It is a smart looking place, with ornately carvd Chinese wooden furniture and red laterns. It's pretty enough to bring a date here, which is not the case for a lot of authentic Chinese restaurants. Wait staff is attentive. Portion sizes are a little smaller than, say, Chinatown. We were a group of 5 and ordered two baskets of steamed dim sum and 6 dishes and had room for dessert, afterwards. One of our number can't handle spicy food at all (I know, so crazy to be at a Sichuan restaurant) but it was quite easy to order carefully enough for her to enjoy everything. One of my favourite dishes they do here is stir fried lamb with cumin. Very tender and tasty. Marked with one chilli pepper, so categorized as mildly hot, but the member of our party who can't have spice loved it's slightly middle eastern flavour. Gong bao chicken was very tender, and slightly sweet. Despite also being marked with one pepper on the menu. The sprinkle of whole dried chilli's adds more scent than heat as long as you don't bite into one. The cold chicken and spring onion appetizer had a tangy dressing and pickled bamboo shoots. Cold and pickled dishes are a classic part of a Sichuan menu. Pan fried prawns with asparagus is not a Sichuan dish but it was good and contained large succulent peeled prawns with fresh green asparagus and green peppers. Cantonese beef hor fun is also not a Sichuan dish but quite impressive. This dish is a good test of kitchen skills in a Chinese restaurant. The version at the Sichuan had plenty of wok hei, which comprises my test. This is the smokey charred flavour imbued by wok contents catching fire while being tossed. You just can't impart this flavour at home using a domestic burner because the temperature required is too high. Despite passing the wok hei test, I thought the hor fun could have looked more attractive if it had included some green onion and some dark soy. Di san xian is a non spicy Sichuan vegetable dish of aubergine, green pepper and potato where ingredients are first deep fried separately, and then stir fried together with a sweet and savoury sauce. The execution of this dish has been uneven at the Sichuan in the past, but tonight it was excellent because the first stage of cooking was performed at high temperature. We also had two baskets of prawn dumplings which didn't arrive at the beginning of the meal. Actually all the dishes arrived in random order, regardless of whether they appeared in the mains or starters section of the menu. Normally, I would expect that 7 dishes for 5 people wouldn't leave room for dessert. However, we shared raspberry and yuzu souffles, which are not really Chinese desserts. The raspberry was our favourite. We also ordered two tang yuan soup (a sweet soup with glutinous rice flour dumplings filled with black sesame paste) and one order of sweet potato fritters. We actually got two orders of fritters and one soup. For my taste, the dessert soup itself (not the dumplings) could have been sweetened a little more. We questioned the waitress when the fritters first arrived because we thought the serving size was large for a single portion. We were also erroneously charged for tea for 6 people despite being a table of 5. So check your bill and orders here, as mix ups do occur. Bookings are recommended as the restaurant was pretty busy on a Monday...

The food was not bad, but still pricey and I would say not the most value-for-money. Had a friend's birthday celebration there, and what was supposed to be a happy occasion was made very unpleasant and bitter because of the atrocious service. When we sat down, they immediately served us two glasses of soybean milk, without us asking for it. Little did we know that this was not complimentary, and it was a hefty GBP 3.50 PER CUP. We were upset by this, but nonetheless paid the full amount. The waiters were impatient and condescending, and made us feel unwelcome from the outset. Granted that some of the table was late, we felt bad that we were taking up a large table when our friends had not arrived, and we tried to order as quickly as possible. Still, their curt attitude was unwarranted. We did not want to pay the service charge, and the man at the counter raised his voice, began asking us where we were from, and kept calling us a disgrace, which was highly unprofessional, disrespectful and rude. He continued arguing with us, insisting we pay because he served us water twice (which should be expected in most restaurants in London, and is by no means a benchmark for good service). We held our ground, because we did not feel that the service we received justified the service charge. Besides, as customers we reserve the right to not pay the DISCRETIONARY service charge- we did not have to explain ourselves, nor tolerate such verbal abuse (which went on for a good 5 minutes AT LEAST). As we were leaving, he sarcastically said "thank you" (in what he thought or assumed to be our native language), and "God Bless"- honestly appalling and offensive. I have never been to an establishment where upon not paying service charge, received such verbal abuse. Would have considered coming back to this restaurant because of the location and food, but I will definitely NEVER return, and will also be warning friends about the terrible experience with the service staff. There are better, more welcoming...

Here are my recommended dishes from The Sichuan Restaurant near Moorgate, London:

Signature Sichuan Dishes

Mala (Numbing & Spicy) Specialties Boiled Fish in Sizzling Chilli Oil (水煮鱼): A classic Sichuan dish featuring fresh fish cooked in fiery chili oil with Sichuan peppercorns that create a distinctive numbing sensation Classic Sichuan Boiled Pork (水煮肉片): Tender pork slices in spicy chili broth with cabbage and bean sprouts

Popular Main Courses Chicken in Pile of Chillies (辣子鸡): Diced chicken stir-fried with dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns - aromatic and intensely spicy Double Cooked Pork Belly (回锅肉): Traditional Sichuan dish where pork is cooked twice for perfect texture Gong Bao King Prawns (宫保大虾球): Sweet and sour prawns with cashew nuts in a savory sauce

Cold Appetizers

Sichuan Mouth Watering Chicken (口水鸡): Sliced cold chicken in spicy, numbing sauce - perfect for whetting your appetite

Man and Wife Beef Offal Slices (夫妻肺片): Thinly sliced beef and offal in spicy peanut sauce - a traditional Sichuan delicacy

Noodles & Rice

Dan Dan Noodles (担担面): Sichuan's most famous noodle dish with minced pork and spicy sauce (vegetarian version available)

Chongqing Noodles (重庆小面): Chongqing-style spicy noodles with rich, complex flavors

Snacks & Dumplings

Pork Dumplings in Chilli Oil (红油水饺): Juicy pork dumplings served in aromatic chili oil

Recommended Combinations

For Beginners: Gong Bao King Prawns + Dan Dan Noodles + Mouth Watering Chicken Spice Challenge: Boiled Fish + Chicken in Pile of Chillies + Sichuan Hot & Sour Soup Traditional Sichuan Course: Man and Wife Beef + Double Cooked Pork + Chongqing Noodles

All dishes are prepared authentically in traditional Sichuan style. Spicy dishes are marked with (H) for heat level. If you're sensitive to spice, you can request to adjust the heat level...