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"My Sichuan is a new opening, situated inside The Old School just by the coach station at Gloucester Green--an interesting choice, you might think, for an Oriental restaurant, but it works rather well: the main room of the restaurant has a busy, lively atmosphere, dominated by an impressive bar, whilst there are quieter, more intimate rooms off to the side. They say it is always a good sign when a Chinese restaurant is full of Chinese people, so, as we entered the doors of My Sichuan and saw just that, we had high expectations. We were certainly not disappointed.
As the restaurant's name suggests, the food on the menu is primarily from Sichuan, a province in south-west China well known for its culinary heritage, and whose food can supposedly be summed up in four words: spicy, hot, fresh and fragrant. What makes My Sichuan stand out from the crowd is that the chefs have been sourced from top-class restaurants and hotels in Chengdu, the province's capital. Given the excellent quality of our meal, that was completely believable.
Upon entering the restaurant, my friend, C, and I were greeted with a smile and taken to our table in one of the quieter areas, perfect for us after a busy day. A friendly waitress brought us our drinks whilst we browsed the extensive menu. We ordered the platter of mixed starters to begin with, in order to get as broad a taste as possible of what the restaurant had to offer. The platter came attractively presented, and the food was marvelous: perfectly cooked pork ribs, the crispiest spring rolls we'd ever eaten, some delicious sesame prawn toast (a personal favourite), and quite possibly the best sweet chili sauce.
For our main courses, C and I more or less went for opposite ends of the spectrum: whilst she chose lemon chicken, I opted for pickled frogs' legs. A restaurant should execute its 'safe' and speciality dishes with equal aplomb, we thought. We ordered egg-fried rice and some noodles on the side. As with our starter, all the food was carefully presented - a visual feast as much as one for the taste buds! C's wonderfully tender chicken came smothered in a rich lemon sauce, whilst my frogs' legs came cooked with sweet red chili peppers and mixed vegetables, perfectly complemented by a surround of green broccoli. Having never tried frogs' legs before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the taste and texture is, as many people say, akin to chicken.
Alas, the portions at My Sichuan were very generous indeed and, much as we would have liked, we were too full to contemplate dessert.
This isn't 'just another Chinese restaurant' - it really is something special, offering wonderful food at fantastic value for money. I would highly recommend paying My Sichuan a visit - I'll definitely be going again!"
Photography by Mark Graham
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