Empress of Sichuan, Chinatown - A quick happy snap

In a week of madness, it's comforting to know that some things keep getting better.

Empress of Sichuan remains my favourite Sichuanese restaurant. Our last meal of seabass with blackbean and chilli, spicy pork and juicy duck with pickled cucumber (they were out of bitter melon) was sublime. It also has a great wine list and friendly staff. Time to try it if you haven't already.

See my previous review here.

Empress of Sichuan, 6 Lisle Street, Chinatown, WC2H 7BG

Chilli Cool, Kings Cross / Bloomsbury

To say Chilli Cool is a no-frills restaurant is something of an understatement. But then, the aftermath of eating Sichuanese food over a white table cloth would just be humiliating.  This is a place to load up a big table with friends, feast messily on plates of spicy, chilli laden food and wash it all down happily with a beer or three. And watch out for the oil slicked floors.

First things first. The crispy pig's intestine. This dish has won the adoration of many a trusted food blogger and I wanted to love it too. It wasn't to be. Fried slivers of intestine, mixed with bright peppers, silken spring onion and gleaming lashings of chilli was a pretty picture of Sichuan goodness - but like an angelic looking child smiling sweetly on a sunny day, before breaking out into a full blooded, high pitched, screaming tanty, its looks belied the real truth, people. Slice by slice, it tasted precisely how one can only imagine a big old sweaty pig's arse would taste - after a long day at the trough. And it's a taste that not only lingers, but starts off more like a faint smell of arse, and then just when you think it's gone, it slowly creeps up on you and blows up in all its full arsey glory about 10 seconds after swallowing. A faecal creeper. Just not my thing. While I'm sure this dish is all about texture, these specimens were stiff giving way to a slightly disappointing softness, rather than living up to the crisp and chewy morsels I was expecting. However, others rave about this dish and I'm generally not a huge fan of offal so perhaps it's just me.

Nevertheless, our other selections made up for this initial disappointment and assured us of the potential within Chilli Cool's repertoire.

Dry fried green beans with pork mince and chillis were salty, tender and wrinkled like an old woman after a long bath. Not all that spicy (until I overdosed on 1 too many of the accompanying fried chillies) but lovely flavours and thoroughly enjoyable in all its simplicity.

Our whole sweet and sour sea bass delivered in black and glistening finery. Crispy flesh gave way to the moist meat of the fish which has been baked and smothered in a sticky, sweet soy based sauce topped with finely shredded strands of spring onion and fresh chilli. We were not expecting this dish to be all that spicy, and it wasn't, but a lovely, fresh option to balance out some of your meatier dishes at Chilli Cool.

Chilli Cool is good enough to go back again, next time with a table full of hungry accomplices which is the best way to sample a variety of dishes at places like this. But it's not up there at this stage with some of my favourite cheap eats, like Cay Tre (Vietnamese in Shoreditch). Nevertheless, I was impressed by the look of other plates making their way to surrounding tables, and any luke warm feelings may be more down to my menu selections than the competence of the restaurant. I remain confident there are plenty of gems still to be sampled (like the sea fragrant aubergine and the impressive looking spicy hot pots).

Expensive restaurants probably only get one chance to blow you way. However, this is a place that students go to feast. At just under £20 per head with a beer each, rice and service, it's not going to break the bank to go back and experiment with our selections at Chilli Cool again.

Chilli Cool, 15 Leigh St, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 9EW (Ph: 0207 383 313)

Empress of Sichuan - Chinatown, London

The emperor may be wearing no clothes, but the Empress of Sichuan knows how to dress up a plate.

Based on the fringes of Chinatown, near the Prince Charles cinema, the Empress Of Sichuan looks a little prissy on the inside compared to some of her neighbours. Normally elegance is not an advantage in my book of tracking down no frills, gutsy but good Chinese fare. There are wine bottles on formal display and enough room between tables to make it near impossible to surreptitiously eye off the meals on neighbouring plates - almost. There are even linen napkins. 

However, service immediately puts the heart at ease - it is friendly, non stiff and helpful (despite the occasional language barrier).  Waitresses have a little more time to talk through your options than they do on Gerrard St, where they're often shrieking out "fried pork, crispy duck!" before they've even completed the 180 degree turn from your table.

Wines by the glass are as cheap as chips. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of the Hazy Bay Chenin Blanc (Sth Africa 2008) while TPG chose a zingy Gerwurtztraminer Verdelho from Opal Ridge. Both were around £4 - £4.50 per glass and got our night off to a happy start.

Our bowl of sliced, spicy chicken (pictured above) - so full and juicy - came first, wallowing in a bowl of flame coloured chili oil, with a hefty smattering of sesame seeds and coriander. At £6, this was good value and 100% more enjoyable than the version I've had at Soho's trendy Bar Shu in the past. It was swimming in oil, but somehow this seemed nourishing rather than greasy.

Our whole steamed seabass was gorgeous. Hunks of delicate, moist fish balanced beautifully with the subtle flavours of the ginger and spring onion. It would be hard not to choose this again next time. At around £20, it could easily feed 3 people. Or us.

Our bears paw tofu was delicious, although being thinly sliced and quite dry, I'm not sure I prefer it over chunkier cut styles which retain a softer texture. Braised with scrumptious slithers of pork and big, slippery cloud ear mushrooms, this was another fiery delight with contrasting textures.

The Empress of Sichuan is all substance over style, especially when compared to some of the trendier looking Sichuanese players which have answered the call for this fiery cuisine nearby. She's playful, but chef Kang Dong (who hails from Chengdu) keeps her on track, focused on what we're really there for: delicious, comforting, flavourful food in an ambience that doesn't steal anything away from the plate.

She's not the cheapest option in Chinatown but, in just one bite, you'll understand why.

Our bill came to around £60 for 2, with wine, steamed rice and service. And I'll be back. Oh-ho yeees [rubs hands gleefully]...


Empress of Sichuan, 6-7 Lisle Street, London WC2 (020-7734 8128)


If you're interested in Sichuanese food in Soho, you might be interested in my earlier review of Bar Shan. Bar Shan has funkier decor that EOS, but I think the food at EOS has the edge.

Ba Shan, Soho (London)

It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind. Or at least, that's the line I've been using to justify my sudden change of heart about Ba Shan. Of course, this is much to The Peanut Gallery's inordinate frustration, since he has been expelling much hot air trying to convince me to return for some time.

I first visited Ba Shan many months ago and my studied and thoughtful synopsis was something along the lines of "wottever". Perhaps it was just that my loyal heart was already dedicated to its older sibling, Baozi Inn, or maybe my expectations were set impossibly high by a load of good sentiment on the foodie grapevine (although opinions are now passionately divided). But it's all by the by now, because I've given Ba Shan another burl.

It all came about because Tim doesn't like Baozi (wottever). So, amidst a frenzied craving for Chinese food, we offered up Ba Shan as an alternative.

In contrast to the clattering throng at most of the Chinese restaurants across the road in China Town, Ba Shan was almost eerily quiet when Tim, the lovely Sarah, TPG and I settled into position on Saturday night. The restaurant is divided into a series of separate crannies, each with their own theme and character, although I prefer the corner room with the windows overlooking the noble (cough) street scenes of Soho.

Ba Shan specialises in Sichuan street food and "xiao chi" (small eats). The food from this Chinese province is known for its spiciness and the liberal use of chili, garlic and peanuts. The menu offers a large array of salads, small meat dishes, dumplings, noodles, buns and vegetarian friendly plates.

We ordered up aplenty, all the while pretending to show consideration for Tim who is dancing with the devil (the Atkins diet) during his 6 week wedding countdown. But we can't all suffer...

We started with the five spiced beef salad with coriander and garlic, which I loved - colourful, fresh and tasty, if a little lacking in spice. We gave short shrift to the whole tawdry Atkins notion by stocking up on some chashou (Sichuan wontons) with spiced soy sauce, chilli oil and garlic, which were full of meat and flavour. Next came the unusual gutoie, a pan fried series of long wontons, golden and crisp on the bottom, filled with juicy pork and chive filling.

The twice cooked pork then presented itself (one of my favourites), followed by the spicy Sichuanese noodles (which were spicy by name, but not quite enough by nature) and a fairly run-of-the-mill beef stir fry.

I had urged that we try a couple of servings of the lotus leaf buns (soft, steamed dough filled with pork). The fact that they were unexpectedly bright, Kermit green, did not put us off. However, the overwhelming dill flavour reminded me more of a McDonald's burger than was likely intended in the recall of ancient traditions by our Sichuanese chef.

The best dish of the night was the spicy kung pao chicken. Despite our best efforts to spice it up, this was the only truly fiery dish of the evening. The chicken was delicious, as were the plentiful large peanuts and hot chillis immersed within.

Overall, the food was tasty, enjoyable and worthy of return. However, more spice is required in most of the dishes promising chilli if it is to live up to its full Sichuanese promise. While Baozi Inn remains my sentimental favourite, I certainly prefer Ba Shan to its other sibling, Ba Shu across the road, although I can almost see TPG shaking his head - so, perhaps I should give that one another go too. And we found it to be reasonable value, coming in at around £15 per head (with endless tea, but no alcohol).

Of course, the lack of desserts could have been a major drawback. Unless, of course, you happen to be nearby to one of the best Italian gelati shops in town. Just as Tim's ketosis was starting to take hold, we settled in up the road for a scoop or two. And as free late night tastings of chocolate cake and Nutella crepes were offered our way, the last words I heard muttered were a resounding salute to what the Atkins diet could do with itself.

Ba Shan, 24 Romilly Street, Soho, London, W1D