Viva Brighton April 2015 Issue #26

food review
...........................................
Sichuan Garden
Where spicy means spicy
On Sichuan Garden’s receipts, the names of your
dishes are printed in Chinese. The cutlery is
chopsticks and a spoon. And ‘Griddle Cooked Boar
Intestines’ hardly sounds like something invented to
suit western tastes. So I understand why my friend
Wu Fang recommended the place as authentic.
We went one Saturday evening last summer, and
were seated in a corner, on velvety pink rhinestone-studded
chairs, possibly the most kitsch
thing I saw that day (and it was Pride day).
Fang confidently ordered Salmon Fish Head and
Tofu Soup as a starter, which apparently tasted
much nicer in real life than it did in my imagination;
my safe option, Emerald Soup (tofu, egg, and
spinach), turned out to be excellent.
My soupy main course (#139), contained lean,
tasty noodles, and several big pieces of seafood,
some of which I couldn’t identify, but generally
Photo by Wu Fang
enjoyed. I wimped out of eating the huge shellfish;
Fang assured me they were nice.
She ordered Spicy Hand Tooled Noodles, which
she’d had before. Once I’d finished, she commandeered
the remainder of my soup, to dunk
her noodles in. They were, she said, much spicier
than last time. She was struggling, coughing,
and blowing her nose, while protesting that the
underlying taste was so good that it was worth the
spice-related suffering. I tried some. Fang took a
picture of me crying.
We went back recently and found it pretty much
as we remembered: kitsch chairs, lean food,
authentic feel. I’d certainly recommend the place.
Just pay attention while ordering. Steve Ramsey
Sichuan Garden, 58 Queens Road, 203505