Spicy and numbing Sichuan noodles for less than US$12 at Sichuan Hut in Sheung Wan
- Sichuan Hut offers 20 noodle dishes in four varieties, and customers can choose the level of spiciness. Be warned, even medium is pretty hot
- The interior is cosy and the menu has handy photos of the dishes
A five-minute walk from the Sheung Wan MTR station, Sichuan Hut serves spicy and numbing dishes that are the signature flavour of China’s southwestern Sichuan province. The restaurant is easy to spot: just look for the bright red lanterns and the large black sign bearing its Chinese name.
When we arrived at 7pm, seating at stand alone tables had run out. We sat at a narrow bench against the wall.
The decor of Sichuan Hut is cosy, with wooden tables, and Chinese artworks hanging on the walls.
Sichuan Hut’s speciality is noodles, with almost 20 options grouped into four varieties: dan dan, chilli broth, stir noodles and rice noodles. They also offer side dishes such as garlic cucumber, spicy chicken, and beef tripe and shank.
The menu is helpful, showing pictures of most of the dishes.
We picked dan dan noodles with dumplings for HK$55 and noodles with sliced beef in chilli broth for HK$58. Customers can choose the level of the spiciness, from low, medium to very spicy. We chose low for the dan dan noodles, while for the sliced beef noodles, we decided to try medium spiciness, which elicited a warning from the server that the medium level is actually quite spicy.
We were brave and pushed ahead with the order. We were a bit overconfident.
The noodle with sliced beef in chilli broth at medium level spiciness was indeed quite hot, in both temperature and taste. Even though we are used to eating spicy foods, it seemed that Sichuan Hut was staying authentic and used chillies and numbing Sichuan peppers generously.
Shang Gang Wei does Sichuanese and Cantonese cuisine justice
The taste was full on and we ate slowly to prevent succumbing to the spiciness. The dan dan noodles were more manageable and together with the dumplings made a delicious dish.
We also ordered side dishes of garlic cucumber (HK$28) and spicy chicken (HK$58). The spicy chicken was perhaps too much for a meal already full of chillies. But the cucumbers balanced our noodles well.
Much sweat wiping and nose blowing were involved; after the meal, it almost felt like we’d undergone a detox.
Sichuan Hut, 121 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan, tel: 5117 1872. Open: noon-9pm.
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