Sichuan Folk can simply be taken as a dependable regional Chinese restaurant based just off Brick Lane, just a chopstick throw away from Spitalfields. It makes its noise heard through a reputation for cooking Sichuanese classics; take the “husband and wife” beef offal slices, pepped with tongue-numbing Sichuan pepper oil. It’s named after a couple from Chengdu who had their own food stall in the 1930s selling this very dish. Then there’s the fish-fragrant seabass, slicked with encouraging hot oil that’s been to the gym with more lip-tingling Sichuan pepper – more on that later. Other offaly bits like kidneys feature, and frog’s legs too, as well as classics like the cold-served chicken: the breast is sliced thinly, skin on, in a pool of fiery-looking oil, vinegar, and sesame. There’s “peng-peng” crab if you like, and mapo tofu too – all the classics are here. The black-and-white interior comes with embellishments of lantern lamps, Chinese calligraphy, and wipe-down, marble-topped tables.
Smacked cucumber £6.50 lands in a punchy hot garlic sauce, jolted awake by black vinegar and anchored with a musky sesame paste – Sichuan’s tahini. It’s served cold but lands hard, strident in flavour.
We order their signature pork and veg dumplings £6.20. The wrappers are thick-set and briefly blanched, then sloshed tableside with the funk of black vinegar, soy, and hot oil. There’s a joyous slap of flavour in them.
Dry fried green beans £8.90 is a prime representation of Sichuan cookery – it needs to be done right. This version, although perfectly edible and a little dishevelled, missed the deeper savoury, more bullying umami notes that I’ve had at the likes of My Old Place or Dumplings Legend.
Sichuan-style spare ribs £9.80 are spun through the wok with chopped garlic, peanuts, chillies, and spring onions – but they demand deft nibble work to prize out what feels like scant meat beneath an abundance of crisp batter.
The real star of the night was the unbashful “fish-fragrant” whole seabass, fried until it curls in on itself, then smeared with fragrant hot oil laced with the sultry funk of fermented beans and vampire-slaying amounts of garlic. Eating the crispy exterior bones is a genuine perk – the whole thing was demolished, even the claggy bits of flavour-pelted flour. Next time, I’d come here just for this dish, though I’ll spend the rest of my sterling in My Old Place.
Verdict
When did I go? May 2019
The damage: Expect to pay £30/40 per head with drinks
The good: Sichuan Folk stakes its claim with bold, brazen flavours and a menu packed full of Sichuan classics. From the tongue-numbing “husband and wife” beef offal to the punchy smacked cucumber and signature pork and veg dumplings, each dish hits true. The Sichuan-style spare ribs demand patience but reward with crisp batter and punchy aromatics but it’s he “fish-fry” sea-bass that I remembered the next morning and still do months later. It sang the synonymous flavours of Sichuan. And our waiter had a charm of his own too. Other close-by Sichuan options include The Sichuan and My Old Place, a little further out is Xi’an Impression.
The bad: I found myself admiring Sichuan Folk but not loving it, better beans can be had across the road in My Old Place and ribs for that matter too. I’m not easily pleased.
Rating: 3.5/5
Would I go again? It stands a revisit to try the other dishes
Address: 32 Hanbury St, Spitalfields, London E1 6QR
Web: http://sichuan-folk.co.uk
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