Nuclear approach to cold management or a visit to the Sichuan Kitchen

Dark, drizzly and generally grim – gosh, welcome to London in autumn!   And just to truly celebrate all this bounty – the sniffles, colds and man flu [very vicious this one] arrives.  So when my colleague and I realised that illness was on the horizon, we decided to take the nuclear approach to cold management – bring on the Szechuan!

Nestled just behind Spitalfields before you get to brick lane proper is Sichuan Folk Kitchen on Hanbury Street which serves some of the best south-western Chinese food in London.  Now it isn’t posh and the décor is definitely not going to challenge Nobu but [probably being horribly politically incorrect] I always think it is a good sign when most of the customers in a Chinese restaurant are Chinese – and this is definitely the case here.

Having removed our wet coast, we were seated at one of the long [sometimes communal] tables and began perusing the menu [click here for a look].   Sichuan food is not generally subtle as it uses chilli, garlic and that most glorious of peppers, the Sichuan pepper.  This pepper not only provides heat but an aromatic undertone to the meal which is quite additive.

As our tea arrived, we started reeling off dishes to the bemused but polite waiter.  Seaweed and egg soup to warm us up followed by stir fried Chinese leaf, fish flavoured aubergine, fish in Sichuan style and dry fried chicken and chili’s.  The waiter was at pains to ensure that we had eaten there before as ‘the food is quite spicy’ – yes, we smiled dreamily it is isn’t it just.

The Seaweed and egg soup arrived first and to use one of the foodie words I despite, it was simply so flavourful.  It is like the best chicken soup your jewish grandmother ever made but she went a bit mad and added seaweed.

The greens arrived [full of chili and the deep flavour of garlic] then the fish which was spicy and a little sweeter than my companion [the very glamorous blond to paraphrase A.A. Gill] liked but none the less it was good.  

Then IT arrived, the dry fried chicken in chilli.  I have likened this to crack – in a far less destructive to local communities but as addictive way.

O my giddy aunt, the chicken is essentially deep fried with the chilli and presented to you on a platter where you have to dig through the chili to find the chicken.  It is like all of KFC’s wet dreams in one.   Yes, I did say that – gosh that was so good.

The fish flavoured aubergine is made with chili bean paste, soy sauce, black vinegar, and Sichuan pepper so you know it’s going to taste good and the name refers to the method of cooking rather than the taste.  

And then we were done, sitting quietly in a replete state buzzing from the mixture of spices sipping tea.   All in all as we walked back to Liverpool street, we agreed that £61 was not much to pay for a trip to the orient, a skip in our steps and the death of any viruses within 200 yards.

Thanks

Lx

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