--- title: A Taste of Sichuan description: Diners who found themselves in London with a yearning for northern Chinese food used to have a hard time, given that the vast majority of... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6938029/a-taste-of-sichuan/ author: SUDI PIGOTT article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2009-07-01T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-22T07:27:55.744Z og:title: A Taste of Sichuan og:description: Diners who found themselves in London with a yearning for northern Chinese food used to have a hard time, given that the vast majority of... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6938029/a-taste-of-sichuan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0baeb8369373fe4c/698a4f4909208f3b6341c666/360_bashan_0713.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 360 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: 360_bashan_0713.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Taste of Sichuan twitter:description: Diners who found themselves in London with a yearning for northern Chinese food used to have a hard time, given that the vast majority of... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0baeb8369373fe4c/698a4f4909208f3b6341c666/360_bashan_0713.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Taste of Sichuan > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=04333fde-0f96-491e-9b94-0639977ccb4a&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=04333fde-0f96-491e-9b94-0639977ccb4a&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) by [SUDI PIGOTT](https://time.com/author/sudi-pigott/) Jul 1, 2009 4:00 AM UTC  by [SUDI PIGOTT](https://time.com/author/sudi-pigott/) Jul 1, 2009 4:00 AM UTC Diners who found themselves in London with a yearning for northern Chinese food used to have a hard time, given that the vast majority of Chinese restaurants in the British capital — run by southerners from Guangdong and Hong Kong — served mediocre approximations of it at best. The opening of Ba Shan, in Soho’s Romilly Street, will therefore please purists. Serving _xiao chi_ — small dishes inspired by the street food of Sichuan, Henan and Shaanxi provinces — Ba Shan is the newest venture from Shao Wei (who helped pioneer authentic Sichuan cooking in London with his Soho restaurant Bar Shu). It has been put together in consultation with food author Fuchsia Dunlop, the first Westerner to graduate from the Sichuan Culinary Institute. “My role is to mediate between Western taste sensibility and Chinese authenticity without compromising on delicious and diverse tastes,” she says. [(See pictures of Beijing.)](https://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1850076%5F1897278,00.html) All the mind-numbingly hot dishes are there if one wants them. But most of the dishes on Ba Shan’s long menu are a harmonious mix of sweet, sour, salty, woody and zesty. As appetizers, try the aromatic preserved radishes with sesame, the cucumber salad with scorched chili and Sichuan pepper, the “good luck” rolls of chicken and nori, and the crisp broad beans with “fish fragrant sauce” (“actually pickled chili, ginger, garlic, spring onion, vinegar and sugar,” explains Dunlop). Segue to a mesmerizing array of delicate dumplings (the wrappers are made fresh each day in the kitchen and are fetchingly dyed with juices of spinach, red cabbage and other vegetables). A standout dish is _rou jia mo_: springy homemade flatbread that is filled with cumin-scented beef and served warm in tiny folded-paper parcels. Ba Shan is housed in a heritage building on several floors, each decorated with wooden screens, dangling lanterns and gilded birdcages in the Chinese folk manner. One room is decked out like a noodle shop, another like a Chinese wine store. Most fitting, considering the delightful show that comes with dining _xiao chi_–style, is the room that resembles a shadow-puppet theater. For reservations, call (44-20) 7287 3266\. [See 10 things to do in Hong Kong.](https://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1850110,00.html) [See pictures of Hong Kong.](https://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1850110%5F1897318,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6938029/a-taste-of-sichuan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6938029/a-taste-of-sichuan/"},"headline":"A Taste of Sichuan","datePublished":"2009-07-01T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T07:27:55.744Z","description":"Diners who found themselves in London with a yearning for northern Chinese food used to have a hard time, given that the vast majority of...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6938029/a-taste-of-sichuan/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0baeb8369373fe4c/698a4f4909208f3b6341c666/360_bashan_0713.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"SUDI PIGOTT","url":"https://time.com/author/sudi-pigott/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0baeb8369373fe4c/698a4f4909208f3b6341c666/360_bashan_0713.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_bashan_0713.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6938029/a-taste-of-sichuan/","name":"A Taste of Sichuan"}}]}] ```