Last Saturday, I called together a group of friends (eleven of us in total) and enticed them over to Acton in West London by promising Sichuan hotpot, sweet and sour aubergine, and other spicy goodies. They were not disappointed with the spread!
The hotpot (half spicy, half non spicy – the non spicy side had loads of delectable fried garlic):
Spicy crab and other delights:
Guangong beef, very tender and with lots of chilis and Sichuan peppercorns:
We even had two sweet and sour aubergines on the table and I forgot to take photos of them. One was as before, with the pork on top, but the other was ordered with no meat and was topped with peas and pineapple – delicious!
We even managed to find room for dessert! This was my first time having dessert there. These were toffee apples and bananas, deep fried in batter and covered with a thin layer of crisp toffee:
Oh, and I also forgot to take a photo of the other dessert we had – sweet potato pies, little fried mochi-like fritters. I’ll definitely be having dessert here again. Thanks for making it a great night, everyone!
All the photos from the night can be found in this Flickr set.
Sichuan Restaurant
116 Churchfield Road
Acton
London W3 6BY
Tamarind and Thyme 
Mon, 8 Dec, 2008 at 21:01
Oh SERIOUS Yummm – I love hot and spicy and sour sichuan food 🙂
Mon, 8 Dec, 2008 at 21:09
this sounds like something I want to try. What is the price range of the restaurant?
Mon, 8 Dec, 2008 at 21:23
Lovely!! That all looks incredibly tasty! The dessert is really interesting; not sure I’ve ever had those before, but now I want to look for them.
Mon, 8 Dec, 2008 at 23:39
all of those foods sound really delicious!
Tue, 9 Dec, 2008 at 11:53
ooohhhh you went back there again! -jealous- all your spicy stuff looks delicious for a cold winters night out! what is “sweet potato pies, little fried mochi-like fritters.”?
i wish i lived near a good sichuian restaurant, spicy stuff is soo lovely esp on cold nights =)
Tue, 9 Dec, 2008 at 15:02
Oh, I’m so jealous! I wish we had a restaurant like that in Holland. It looks divine! Yummmmm.
Wed, 10 Dec, 2008 at 05:54
The spicy half of the hotpot looks fierce and fiery!
Wed, 10 Dec, 2008 at 21:57
Loving Annie: 😀 I hope you have a good Sichuan restaurant near you!
genuiness: Ah, that’s the best part! For all the food we had (hotpot for 4, a whole lot of dishes, lots of white rice and 3 desserts) and the drink too (lots of beers, some Cokes and some Chinese tea), it was £20 per head.
reese: It was really really good. Crisp on the outside!
kat: They were! How’s the Chinese food in Japan?
vivi: 🙂 Sorry! The sweet potato pies didn’t really taste like sweet potato…just like mochi fritters. Can’t really describe it perfectly, I should have taken a photo! But you’re in London, right? You must be able to travel to one of the Sichuan restaurants in town! 🙂
Robin: Ah, but I envy you your Indonesian restaurants! I have to see if anyplace in London serves rijsttafel.
Marie: Oh yes! That dinner was full of chillies and numbing little Sichuan peppercorns!
Thu, 11 Dec, 2008 at 05:11
Oh my Su-Lin – Yuan Yang Guo…the perfect thing for winter!
Thu, 11 Dec, 2008 at 06:47
But, do I see a glass of Stella Tortoise there, or was it just a Stella Tortoise glass?
You can get Chinese beers at most big supermarkets; if you don’t like them, I find the Singaporean ‘Tiger’ quite acceptable.
(Don’t mind me; I can get quite boring about beer! :D)
Thu, 11 Dec, 2008 at 23:14
Kirk: Is that the Sichuan firepot? I love it so!
travelrat: A few Stellas were consumed during this meal. 🙂 A couple Tsingtaos were also consumed. Unfortunately, I’m not a big beer drinker!
Mon, 29 Jun, 2009 at 22:27
[…] forgot to mention one of my most favourite ways to eat Spam – in a hotpot! How about a spicy Sichuan hotpot or a Korean budae jjigae? I blame the hot weather for making me forget about this great cold […]
Fri, 26 Mar, 2010 at 22:48
[…] tossed in the soup), the spicy side just didn’t have the same kick and burn as that at my local Sichuan place. […]
Sun, 10 Apr, 2011 at 00:44
[…] have to admit that I did feel like I was cheating a bit on my local Sichuan restaurant by heading to another relatively local one. Well, they needn’t worry – not because the […]
Tue, 12 Feb, 2013 at 23:55
[…] does end up being more economical at home!). To have hotpot in a restaurant in London, I recommend Sichuan restaurant in Acton for mala hotpot and Little Lamb in Chinatown. I’ve also heard good things about Tian […]
Fri, 9 Jan, 2015 at 14:55
Hi, can you recommend a good restaurant for Sichuan hot pot in west london? As I heard the Sichuan restaurant in Acton has closed? I live in Windsor, so don’t really want to go to Central London.. Many thanks
Fri, 9 Jan, 2015 at 16:29
Yes, sadly Sichuan closed last year. In West London there’s Tian Fu and in Clapham (not west but a more easily accessible south) there’s Mongolian Grill. They both have AYCE Sichuan hotpots but I had them – I’ve heard good things though.