Sichuan dreams: My favourite Chinese restaurants in London

My love affair with Sichuan food began just over a decade ago. At the height of this whirlwind romance, I barely went out to eat in London if Sichuan food wasn’t by my side – both returning to tried and tested favourites but also exploring new spots.

For the uninitiated, Sichuan food originates from the Sichuan province and the next-door Chongqing municipality in the southwest of China. Sichuan food is known for its bold, spicy flavours, with some dishes feeling like a firework of flavours in the mouth. It is a varied cuisine, with dishes for those who are apprehensive or antagonistic towards chilli.

Sichuan food obliterates most Britons’ preconceptions and misconceptions about Chinese food. Many continue to wrongly assume Chinese food is synonymous with Cantonese food and not the country’s regional cuisines. Home to 1.4 billion humans, China is also home to an eclectic variety of foods.

For those keen to try a wider range of Chinese food ahead of the Lunar New Year starting on 29 January, here are some of the best Chinese restaurants I have tried in the capital.

This list is not exhaustive – there are many incredible restaurants out there to discover. Places like Hunan in Pimlico, Chilli Cool in Bloomsbury, Chang’s Noodles in Holborn, Dim Sum Duck in Kings Cross, JWD Lamian in Bishopsgate, Aquila in Leytonstone and Bin Bin Barbecue in Fitzrovia are other firm favourites well worth a try.

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The name My Old Place perfectly encapsulates my relationship to this restaurant. I was going here so much in 2015 and 2016 that it felt like a home away from home and now when I go back I’m filled with a gentle nostalgia and warm familiarity. My Old Place excels at the classic nose-to-tail eating which Sichuan food is so famous for, but also offers up a range of other dishes for the offal-averse.

The Sichuan restaurant, which is a 10-minute walk from Liverpool Street straight and has no clear signage, is not a place I hear many people mention but every time I go, I’m always pleased to see it is pretty busy. The cumin-drenched lamb skewers and delicate silky dumplings are a must, as is the perfectly sweet, oily stewed potato, green pepper and aubergine dish. But don’t forget the dry-fried French beans with spicy minced pork – a dish that I’ve only seen properly screwed up once in my life – and the soothing, hangover-annihilating pickled cabbage and pork soup. It is a great restaurant to eat at with a big group – the more you get to try on the menu the better.

88-90 Middlesex St, London, E1 7EZ | myoldplace.has.restaurant | 020 7247 2200

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This might not be the restaurant to come to if you are hankering after a deep, meaningful chat. Dad Grilled Skewers, also known as Skewer and Beer, would be called lively by some and hectic by others. The restaurant in the heart of Theatre Land on Rupert Street calls itself a “perfect spot to gather and enjoy authentic Chinese street food” and that it is. You begin by ordering your food on tablets before they bring you raw skewers for you to grill yourself on the mini barbecue built into the table in front of you. Fortunately, they kept tabs on our skewers as it would have been easy to overcook them. The chicken thigh, lamb, and pork belly skewers were my favourite, oh and the sweet intensely garlicky aubergine dish which came from the kitchen. There are dishes filled with chilli and cumin to douse your skewers into.

Dad Grilled Skewers – I’m going with this choice of their two names as I love it – is a sensory overload; both in terms of the food’s wall-to-wall flavour but also the atmosphere and the decor inside. Lucky cats, street art, cute cartoons, and neon signs are everywhere. They serve beer by the three-litre pitcher-load, if that is what you are after, and when I went the place was filled with big groups. Music was pumping and one table left without eating multiple skewers and five full plates of food – summing up the chaotic energy of the place.

19B Rupert St, London, W1D 7PA | www.instagram.com/skewerandbeer | 07811 788888

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Everyone I have taken to Etles has loved it. To eat here is to feel as if you have been invited into someone’s living room. As such, every time I step out of the restaurant, I do a double take as I remember where I am. The homeliness of the decor and the atmosphere means you forget you are on a main road and just a few minutes walk from Walthamstow Central Station.

Etles, an intimate, family-run spot, is one of the restaurants I have been to in London that feels closest to home cooking. Thick curtains give way to walls adorned with tapestries, hats, plates, and instruments and a sparkly-eyed owner who will soften the prickliest of patrons. Favourite dishes are the warming and peppery Sichuan pepper-infused big plate chicken, the paprika salad, the lamb skewers, and the diced stir-fried leghmen noodles topped with lamb, vegetables, beef, or chicken – depending on your preference.

However, it is worth saying that Etles is not the right place for someone who prefers subtle flavours. They don’t skimp on their seasoning here. With that in mind – if you don’t know about the history of the ongoing persecution of the Uyghurs, read up, and if you haven’t tasted their hearty food, eat up.

235 Hoe St, London, E17 9PP | etleswalthamstow.com | 020 3620 6978

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When I recently walked into Blank Street Coffee and Jolene and saw their eponymous tote bags for sale, I couldn’t help but wonder which punter would want to sport one of these. No shade to either establishment, but repping them felt a little random and a little too much of a commitment. On the other hand, the namesake tote bags and t-shirts which I saw for sale in Wong Kei solicited the polar opposite response as I immediately parted with my cash.

Wong Kei is a London institution. No, it doesn’t have the best Chinese food in the capital but it makes up for that by being a constant, never wavering culinary landmark. The late-night cash-only spot, which specialises in cheap, cheerful Cantonese food, has been there for half a century. And the menu has something for everyone – which is handy given it can seat around 500 diners. My personal favourite will always be the braised pork belly with preserved vegetables on rice but everything I have tried is decent and it is a fun spot to go to with a group.

Saying that, I personally always enjoy Wong Kei best alone and uninterrupted – even the times when the stringent rules mean you get thrown onto a table with a stranger. So, yes it has been dubbed London’s rudest restaurant, and yes the bright white lights are maybe not the best place to enjoy a first date – something I’ve nevertheless tried – but Wong Kei has its own Wikipedia page and a mythological status for a reason. The day Wong Kei closes is the day the Soho so many know and love dies with it.

41-43 Wardour St, London, W1D 6PX | 020 7437 8408

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Walking into this 10th-floor restaurant, you could be forgiven for thinking you had stepped out of a time machine rather than a lift as you enter an altogether simpler, serener era: A time before Box Parks and babycinos filed the capital. A time when 13 billionaires were not slated to have government posts in the US. Nestled in the Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street, Min Jiang serves both Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine.

With incredible views spanning Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and the glittering London skyline beyond, you could come to Min Jiang for the view and the interiors alone. Red walls, ornate vases, crisp white tablecloths and bowls of warm rolled white towels give the restaurant an air of grandeur reminiscent of another era. The jewel in the crown in Min Jiang is the wood-fired Beijing duck – and for good reason. Expertly and ritualistically carved into thin slices in front of you, it gracefully melts in your mouth. The duck is first served with pancakes and meticulously arranged accompaniments and then you can choose to have the rest of it with lettuce, noodles, fried rice, or a salted vegetable soup that includes tofu.

2-24 Kensington High St, London, W8 4PT | www.minjiang.co.uk | 020 7361 1988

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Cloud Land is perhaps the cleanest restaurant I have been to in my entire life. Clean it may be, but clinical it is not. The decor manages to be functional without feeling transactional. Cloud Land, which serves up food from the Yunnan province in the southwest of China, as well as more familiar numbers, pays close and careful attention to the details. Everything is both prepared and presented meticulously. The cucumber salad, a dish it is hard to tire of, was less oily, and tangier and fresher tasting than many you will find.

The slow-braised beef brisket was dissipate in your gnashers tender, the sauteed Chinese cabbage with dry chilli was crisp and not overwhelmed with oil, and the rice noodles with minced pork in spicy soup had a deep, rich flavour – with perfectly slurpable noodles. My friend enjoyed these so much that her top was left looking like a Jackson Pollock painting. Their speciality of pork ribs was a highlight – with the meat tasting intensely smokey and meaty with no hint of sickly sweetness. I turned a pile of them into chewed bones without thinking in an animalistic fashion. There was so much at Cloud Land I didn’t get to try and want to try such as their dai-styled stir-fried minced beef with coriander and chilli.

145 Minories, City of London, London, EC3N 1LS | 07960 300779