Spicy Sichuan Food @ Baguobuyi 巴国布衣

Baguobuyi Restaurant (巴国布衣餐馆) is a traditional Sichuan restaurant serving authentic Sichuan cuisine. The decor of the place was brilliant. Clearly a lot of thought had gone into the renovation of the restaurant which featured plenty of photo opportunities as well as traditional art and craft. Unfortunately, I was caught without my camera which meant I could only use my Nokia e71's camera to do what is hopefully a half-decent job of showing off the place.



Even the restaurant's bar-cum-cashier's counter was brilliantly decorated with ancient Chinese motifs lining the top and a pair of stone statues below.



This is a poor shot but I love the lanterns lining the ceiling as well as the motifs covering the flourescent lighting on the ceiling.




The attention to detail in decor extended even to the tissue boxes and the toothpick boxes on each dining table.





And on to the food. As there was just three adults eating, we picked a small number of dishes representative of classic Sichuan cuisine.

First off, the pork belly friend with chillis and leek accompanied by pan fried buns (回锅肉). The dish was excellently done with the right amount of spicyness and yet I could appreciate the texture of the meat as it was cooked twice to give it a bit more chewiness, hence the name 回锅肉 which means twice cooked meat. I would consider this dish to be medium spicy and the spicyness can always be countered with a generous bite of the pan fried buns.



The next dish was sour fish soup (酸汤鱼) which is fish slices cooked in a sour soup made using a form of pickled vegetables. My main complaint about this sort of dish is why do they always have to pick the fish that has so many miniscule bones embedded in the flesh. Having this dish then becomes an exercise in patience and total concentration as any careless swallowing of the food could lead to a painful and bloody end with a pointy fish bone embedded inside your throat. Otherwise, the sour soup was average and I have had far better than this. Worth a try and only if you have nothing else you can order in the menu.



The next dish was a new one for me - vegetables in bean paste (青菜豆渣). The dish came with a small saucer with chopped chilli. Call me a Philistine but this dish tastes strange. It was dry and the taste of finely chopped beans that appeared to have gone through a Moulinex food processer interlaced with diced vegetables bits. I couldn't figure out whether to mix it into my rice or to eat it on its own. I did not bother to ask the serving staff as I did not like the taste. Next.



No sichuan meal could be without the dandan noodles (担担面) to finish it off and I certainly love a good bowl of noodles. The noodles are fragrantly seasoned and this would rank as mild-medium spicy. This is a decent sized serving unlike most other sichuan restaurants that serve you the noodles in the smallest bowl that money can buy. Granted, this isn't much better, but in comparison to other sichuan restaurants I have been to, this is fairly generous. I will admit, however, I still had another bowl of rice as well. And I have another admission to make. I was so eager to tuck into it, I had mixed up the noodles before realizing "oops, I have not done the photographs yet". In two words, above average.



In summary, this restaurant offers great decor and an excellent environment but mixed bag of goodies food-wise. Some hits and some misses. Still worth a go.

The address:
Kingkey Banner Plaza on the fourth floor opposite the cinema, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 深圳南山区京基百纳广场四楼（电影院对面）




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