Sichuan Restaurant

I remember my first years in the Netherlands…oh, living off sandwiches, pasta and salads. Pepper was an issue. Spices were…spicy. Fast forward 5 years, the oilier and spicier the better. Ok, not “the better” for my poor body, but for my taste buds. My last dinner out in Amsterdam before heading back home for the holidays put me in a food coma at Sichuan Restaurant.

I work in a fairly manly industry so there are only a couple of girls in the office. It just so happens that we all have a weird addiction / obsession for food, and all our worlds meet when it comes to Chinese food. We finally managed to get together for a dinner at what Fei (who actually is from Sichuan) calls the only authentic restaurant in Amsterdam for this cuisine – Sichuan Restaurant.

Our super enthusiasm took over and we quite literally filled the table with loads of dishes.

We all started with the Spicy Dumplings, which are not as spicy as I’d hoped. They do however still taste delicious, mostly due to the sauce they come with.

I went with the Kunpao Chicken, an unusual choice for when I have Chinese – but hey, cheers to changes. I was pleasantly surprised that the sauce was not too sweet and even a tiny bit spicy due to the Sichuan Peppers. The portion was big enough to serve my next day’s lunch too. One of my friends had the tofu version of the same dish. While I am personally not a huge fan of tofu, this one was a bit crispy on the outside and still juicy, thus pretty similar to my meal.

Fei had what looks like a bowl of oil, chilli and noodles – in fact, that is exactly what the dish was. While not on their online menu, they’re called Spicy and Sour Potato Noodles, and on our bill they came as Chengdu Noodles. This is a hot dish – temperature and spice wise. I think I know what I’m getting next time.

Next to that, she ordered the Sichuan FeiChang (also not on their online menu at the moment). You may be better off not knowing what is actually in this dish – it’s pork, it’s crispy, and it’s delicious. Sometimes it’s better to not ask questions…just enjoy it.

My other friend went for the fancy sounding Sichuan Royal Beef. I can only assume it was delicious since she was the only one who finished her dish. The legend says she even had dessert.

All in all, everything we had at Sichuan Restaurant was delicious, and that stays true with every visit. The food can not disappoint if you truly are a fan of the Sichuan cuisine. The spicy peppers on the menu that indicate how hot a dish is are quite accurate, although if you can handle spicy food in general, the one pepper ones will feel like nothing at all.

My only negative remark on Sichuan Restaurant is its service. Although the drinks and food come quick, the attitude of the staff can be seen as quite rude. This is nothing but a cultural difference, as they do not actually intend to act a certain way, but for Westerners, their tone and overall attitude can seem unfriendly. Moreover, the dishes come all at once. No sense of starters first, mains after.

If you can get over that, I am sure you will have a pleasant food experience – personally, I am still to find a better place for Sichuan cuisine in Amsterdam. The bill set me back 40 EUR for a starter, 2 mains (no, one of them was not for me, I’m not that bad) and a large beer.

Value for money: 8

Food Quality: 9

Location: 9 (Warmoesstraat 17, Zeedijk 103H, Lange Niezel 24)

Service: 7

Website:http://sichuanrestaurant.nl/

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