Lao Si Chuan

I love this place. Period. We saw it before when we went for chicken rice, just next door. But Lao Si Chuan doesn't seem to be opened for lunch. So we were curious and returned for dinner one fine day when a few of us happened to stay back for dinner, and wanted to try something new. It was YJ, XP and me. They both don't take very spicy stuff, so it's an interesting group to have dinner at a Sichaun restaurant. Still, we managed to order not too spicy stuff.

YJ loves stir-fried potato, and so do I. So we ordered the 青椒土豆丝, which is stir-fried julienned potatoes and capsicum. The potato were cooked until just tender, with a wee bit of crunch left. Perfect. Next was something I requested, because I love beef. 水煮牛肉. I love love love love this dish. It means water-boiled beef. A misnomer actually, since it gives people the idea that it'll be something very clear and light, and this red bowl of goodness is anything but. Essentially it's tender beef slices, bean sprouts, soy bean noodles and glass noodles in a bowl of spicy and numbing (麻辣) broth, with it's accompanying layer of oil. The beef is oh-so-tender. And the bean sprouts and the noodles really soak up the fragrant goodness of the broth. We ordered it to be slightly spicy (微辣), which I recommend. Even if you have high tolerance for spicy food, because of the very hot (temperature) broth, it can be quite unenjoyable to be sweating buckets from both the heat and the spice. And this level of spice is manageable. Even YJ could handle it, after washing off the chilli oil with a bowl of water.

青椒土豆丝

水煮牛肉

zoom in on the beef in the 水煮牛肉

鱼香肉丝,  literally translated to fish fragrance pork shreds. Another misnomer. There's no fish in this dish. Apparently the fermented chilli used in this dish resembles fish taste, hence the name for this Sichuan dish. I actually don't remember it very distinctly, so taken I was to the beef. Really, I spend the entire time digging to ensure every last bit of beef, sprout, and noodles are out of the broth and in my tummy. Although care had to be taken to avoid the ambush of the Sichuan peppers.

鱼香肉丝

On a separate visit, I fell in love with another dish. 酸辣土豆丝. Stir-fried julienned potatoes again, but this time in vinegar and dried chilli to give a fiery and sour treat. Very appetizing. Very spicy. Very shiok. Love. I painstakingly picked every single dried chilli to the side, so that not one shred of potato goes to waste.

酸辣土豆丝

We also liked the 陈皮鸡, orange peel chicken. Deep fried chicken pieces subsequently stir fried with orange peel and a sweet and sour sauce. We liked it. Perfect crisp, perfect balance of sweet and sour, goes super well with rice.

陈皮鸡

This next dish was a miss. 芋香鸭方. Crispy fried yam with duck. Over-fried. Too dry, can't taste the yam, can't find the duck because it was deep-fried to nothingness. Don't waste your time on this.

芋香鸭方

We also liked their 辣子鸡丁, which is chicken cubes stir fried with an insane amount of chilli and Sichuan peppers. It wasn't quite as bad as the one at Old Chengdu, because we ordered a medium spicy version. But because of the less spicy, we were able to enjoy it more. Moreover I think it was more fragrant than Old Chengdu's one too. And the best part? The cost. The average for each person is typically less than $20 each time I went. I love this place. Really. I think I've said that a million times in this post alone. Love it. 

But note the slow service. The waitress's attention are quite hard to catch. And their air-conditioning is on the weaker side. So be prepared for a very hot meal.

Lao Si Chuan

249 Outram Road

Singapore 169048
Tel: 6561 1518