Chengdu of Sichuan province was named by UNESCO as a City of Gastronomy. It is probably impossible to find a restaurant which serves strictly Chengdu cuisine in Singapore, since most restaurants serves a broader spectrum (like you know how in London you find Singapore food served with Thai, Indonesia and Malaysian food in the same restaurant?).Chengdu cuisine belongs to the bigger category of Sichuan food, which also includes Chongqing, Zigong, and Buddhist vegetarian style.

I may be not well informed but there aren’t many Sichuan restaurants I know of in Singapore. Silkroad restaurant, like their name suggests, serves food from places along the Silkroad in China, which includes Sichuan, Shaanxi, Liaoning and Beijing. As the objective was to have a Sichuan meal, I ordered mostly Sichuan dishes here despite them having food from other provinces.

Eight Treasures Tea – $4.00++

This tea is a blend of 8 types of ingredients (which may vary) and is said to have medicinal properties. It originated from Yunnan province and has a history dating back to ancient times. The taste was not bad and I’ve had this several times. However, if your meal is entirely Sichuan I suggest you get a cold drink because the spices you’ll be having can set you on fire.

Mapo Tofu – $15.00++

This is an iconic Sichuan dish but has been recreated all over the world and I’ve tasted countless versions of it. It is such a common dish and I would be disappointed if this Sichuan version did not stand how. To my pleasure, this mapo tofu was really good. It showed no mercy with the spices and wasn’t as sweet as the kind found commonly with home cooking sauce kits.

Sichuan chicken with chilies – $20.00++

This is my favourite dish of the night. It is called 辣子鸡 and is a famous Sichuan dish as well. The chicken pieces were deep fried and somewhat crispy but what I liked most was the dried chilli pieces. I know it’s not meant to be eaten but it just tastes so good! The spiciness was way above my threshold however. I would recommend getting this dish if you want just one spicy item.

Dan Dan Noodles – $6.00++

Again this is a typical Sichuan noodle dish. And it was spicy. The noodles were handmade and good.

Beef Noodles – $6.00++

This is the only non Sichuan dish and I am unclear of the origin. It was just decent in my opinion, good to switch off from spiciness for a while.