Shan — Restaurant in New York

The real deal. So happy to no longer have to bomb down to sunset park to get proper Sichuan. Great enough that I felt compelled to leave a review.

Currently BYOB with super attentive staff that make sure your drinks are chilled and you always have a clean glass (we rolled up with high-life from the grocery store next door, bubbles, a mag of sylvaner kabinett in an awkward bottle, and whiskeys) and they were awesome with us. And even better, you can drop a decent tip and dinner is still reasonable with a large party. We were around $50pp for a party of 10 with a 30% tip.

Standouts for me: the cold eggplant (hah maybe the best new vegetarian dish in the hood? Just the right level of sweet), the cold braised beef with celery (classic classic dish executed flawlessly), chongqing chicken (included little crispy bits which were a delight), egg custard with pork mince (a nice break from mala and a heavenly texture), pea shoots (some of the best I’ve had, perfectly seasoned and just the right crunch remaining), duck with ginger (so light and refreshing), and the texture on the mapo.

If you prefer milder flavors, get the egg custard with pork, pea shoots, soup dumplings (which were not my fave but are more of a Shanghai dish so hey), or some of the other warm apps. Though in my opinion you’ll be missing much of what makes this place special.

On the docket for next time: double cooked pork, west lake beef soup, dry pot, three pepper tofu.

And yeah I’ve heard people whine about things like the rice being extra; well it’s amazing rice, and is perfectly prepared and richly aromatic. Plus when you rock this food banquet-style, which is hella fun, you definitely don’t need rice to come with every dish, we got 5 bowls for 10 people. Same thing with complaining about takeout/delivery (great way to get restaurant people to hate you) or the food being too real for their underdeveloped palates. I guess they can keep complaining and see where that gets them in life. Meanwhile I get to enjoy the hell out of...

Shan is so, so good! Excellent service too!

I eat a lot of Asian food and Ma Po Tofu is a dish I judge Szechuan restaurant by. Theirs is great! The ma-la seasoning was perfect. Definitely numbing, but not heavy handed like some places. Lots of flavor depth in the sauce.

I wouldn't let my fellow diners finish the Szechuan cold noodles with shredded chicken because I wanted to take the rest of the sauce home. 😋

Lovely Dan Dan Noodles! Yes, we got two noodle dishes to start, don't judge. Lol!

The cold wood ear mushrooms were silky and a nice balance to the spicier dishes.

The cucumbers were very unexpected. They looked like just sliced fresh cucumbers but they were ever so lightly pickled according to Eric, the owner. I don't know what technique they used, but they were crunchy and delicious especially with the soybean paste on the side.

The MA-LA Szechuan wontons were different than the photo on their menu. First of all, I've never had wontons so delicate. I think they make their own wrappers. They were thin and fine. The seasoning is a mixture of dry spices, no oil. Very tasty.

Can't wait to try the wonton soup.

The garlic fried chicken wings were nice, crispy and garlicky but not extraordinary. Next time, I'm going to get the chicken wing dry pot.

Gorgeous sauteed snow pea shoots with garlic.

To me the only weaker dish was the duck fried rice. It was fine but too subtle. Not a dish I'd get again.

The dessert was a good one for mochi lovers. Lightly battered deep fried served with a brown sugar syrup and soybean powder. Didn't understand why you needed the soybean powder since it didn't have any taste. I guess it's a texture thing. Would have rather sesame powder.

Beyond excited about this great addition to the neighborhood! We will be back...

Today I was feeling Chinese food then I found this online but here's what I thought about it. So my friend and I went and we got The kung Pao chicken, scallion pancakes,wontons and broth, pork pot stickers Xiao long bao and rice. I'm gonna start off with the best, so my favorite was the Scallion pancakes, they tasted like traditional Chinese scallion pancakes, they were flakey not fried too much and not oily so overall I give them a 9/10. Now the pork potstickers they were basically like regular gaozi they were pretty good so I give them a 7/10 not the best but not the worst. Then the wontons and broth, in my opinion they could be more flavorful for my taste but it tastes much like traditional wontons in soup so I give it a 7.5/10. Now the Xiao Long Bao, they were honestly pretty good they were pretty flavorful with the sauce they give and overall a solid 8/10 . The rice was a bit dry and I had to add water to it due to the dryness so that was a 5.2/10 for me. And lastly one of their most popular mains the item that determined this rating, The infamous Kung Pao Chicken, honestly they were very disappointing, they were a popular item so I had my hopes up but they were soon brought way down, I thought they would be flavorful and actually tasting like chicken but they were not flavorful, doughy (they added way too much cornstarch) and overall not the best so honestly it's a 2/10. So overall I was a little mean but this does not deserve a 5 star rating (in my opinion) and I hope this helped you decide if you wanted to...