Chuan Wei Xuan

After the year-end feasting, it might be time to have a Sichuan cuisine to give your palates a change from the Turkey, steak and log cakes

Located in the Joo Chiat area, Chuan Wei Xuan is nestled along a row of shophouses and restaurants and is very popular amongst the residents in the area. Spotting a bright red signboard and lanterns, you can spot the restaurant from afar

The restaurant itself is relatively small with 3 rows of tables paired with the same bright red chairs. Approximately sitting 100 people quite tightly, the restaurant does not have big tables so do call early for a reservation if you have a big group larger than 4 people

The menu features many signature Sichuan dishes but they do have options for those who cannot take spice

One of the most popular dishes here is the spicy chicken popcorn which is stir-fried with dried chilli with small chicken bites. The chicken is deep fried beforehand before dry frying with the dried chilli to coat the chicken chunks with chilli flavour. I personally found the dish a tad spicy for me but it is very delicious as the chicken was tender and the spiciness was invigorating

The other popular item is the green peppercorn fish with green chilli which was served on a hot plate keeping the fish hot while customers enjoy the dish. The fish was extremely fresh with not many small bones as the restaurants helped to slice the fish and left the big bone in the middle for easy consumption. There were also some shreds of enoki mushrooms soaked in the gravy. The gravy has a deeply savoury taste with a slight numbing taste from the green peppercorn. It is quite spicy for me although my friend all found it ok. The gravy is quite addictive even though it is spicy

As we were craving sauerkraut fish slices, we ordered a portion and asked for less spicy since most of the dishes were already spicy and one of my friends and my spice levels were not very high. The dish was generously layered with sauerkraut and some red chillis. The fish slices were fresh and the soup has a nice sourish and spicy tinge and is great with rice. Although it is not as good as the famous store, their version is not too bad

We ordered some non-spicy dishes for those of us with a lower spice tolerance. We had tomato-fried eggs, stir fry you mai vegetables ( Chinese lettuce) and fried lotus root. We asked for the vegetables to be fried with garlic and they were all fragrant with a nice vegetable crunch. I like that the vegetables were not overcooked till soggy. The tomato eggs had a nice balance of sweetness as well as creaminess from the eggs. All of them paired very well with rice

Overall, the dishes were quite sumptuous and the servers were very friendly. The cost of each dish was also not overly priced with quite a big serving. In terms of taste, we found every dish pretty delicious to clear out every plate. For those who would like to try Sichuan cuisine, this is a good place to visit

Address: 348 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427597

Opening hours: 11.30 am to 3.30 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm ( Mon closed, Thurs 11.30 am to 3.30 am)