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March 30, 2023 Sichuan, Soho, Soho, London

BarShu

My buddy Ben told me his team from Hong Kong that would come to London looking for Sichuan food would always go to BarShu. Over the years we have dined at BarShu, and it feels like an institution in Soho given it’s been around for more than 20 years now. Be warned though, with chilli and numbing peppers in most dishes this place is not for the faint of heart! To start I’d suggest a cold/room temperature starter, “man and wife offal slices”, a mix of thin beef slices, beef offal, tendon all mixed with spices, sichuan pepper, and coriander. You’ll probably want to get a beer or something to help with the spice, unfortunately for you BarShu does charge £9.80 for a pint of beer! When it comes to mains, there are two iconic dishes to try, “Fragrant chicken in a pile of chillies” and “boiled sea bass in chilli oil”. The chicken dish is literally small pieces of fried chicken that are served on a bed of chillies where the oil of the chilli is soaking into the chicken, super moreish and flavourful, you’ll spend the latter part of the meal digging around the chillies trying to find pieces of chicken. For the seafood dish, thinly sliced pieces of sea bass cooked in a rich chilli oil which is full of sichuan peppercorns and chilli. The sea bass here is extremely soft and flavourful, the restaurant now offers options of half and full portion so you can decide if you wanna try other things instead of going all in. You need a veg option to balance out this level of spice, I would suggest the morning glory in garlic, but if you want to continue on the spice train I would recommend the green beans with shredded pork. The only dessert here is the fried rice cake, it’s nothing Earth shattering but a welcome dish after all that heat.

I would suggest after settling the bill, walking over to the Dog and Duck and getting a sensibly priced pint of beer! Jokes aside, BarShu is an institution and the spot to go to for Sichuan food, give it a go and let me know your thoughts!

Price per head: £40 and up depending on drinks

Fragrant chicken in a bed of chillisFragrant chicken in a bed of chillis

Boiled fish in chilli oilBoiled fish in chilli oil

Rice cakeRice cake

Up next Senor Ceviche Mr.Ji
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