We went on a Thursday night and the restaurant was relatively empty. Let me start out by saying the…read morefood was absolutely delicious. We ordered the spicy boiled fish, dan dan noodles, and scallion pancakes. All were very good! I'm knocking off 2 stars because of our overall experience. I consider myself an understanding customer. I kept an open mind and came here for the food, not the service. However, the treatment we received was beyond terrible. They make their customers order on tablets, which is totally fine. The problem was that the UI is completely in Chinese. Sure, there are photos of the food items, but all the buttons were in Chinese. I couldn't find an option to switch to English either. I'm not Chinese and cannot read Chinese, so I was very flustered. When I asked a waitress for help, she looked at me like I was a complete moron. She had the face like "duh, this is the button to add an item". So rude. This interaction definitely dampened by overall experience of the place. Conclusion: The food here is great, but you may experience a hard time if you are not a Mandarin speaker.

Chilies, chilies, chilies! You'd be hard-pressed to find a Szechuan specialty without a red hot…read morechili as the essential ingredient. Everyone's had Chinese food before, but it's once you focus on regional cuisines that you start appreciating the discrepancies within this massive culinary realm. The most famous Chinese restaurant in Sydney happens to be purely Szechuan. Luckily for me, Glebe is home to Spicy Szechuan, where I've had some of the best Chinese food yet. They surely don't skimp on quality at this place; most of the plates are large and are so packed with flavor that you instantly forget that Chinese takeout exists. Don't come here if you're vegetarian--the best dishes have succulent pork, moist chicken, and tender beef. The crispy deep-fried chicken with chilies is to die for. A half-chicken is fried to crunchy perfection and smothered in a bright red chili oil sauce. It's hard to explain, but the dried chili is just as vital to taste as it is for the heat level of the dish. But if I could recommend one thing, it would have to be the fish flavored eggplant (yu xiang qie zi). The name is a misnomer as there's no fish, but only meaty eggplant slices, ground pork, and a thick spicy sauce that is unparalleled in flavor. It might be the best version of this dish I've had. Oh, and sometimes there are tour buses parked in the front. It's that good.

Noodles were not hand made, not a problem in itself but they were soft and not chewy. Dumplings…read morewere really bad for the price. Overall lacked flavour, just spicy and salty and oily

This is one of few Szechuan restaurants I would recommend. I don't read or speak chinese so picking…read morewhat we wanted to eat was a bit hard. We looked at what other customers were eating and chose to have the stir fried dry pot. You get to choose what you want in the dry pot as well as the intensity of the chiili spice. We chose it to be medium in chilli hottness. Another dish we also tried was the Dan Dan noodles as well as the egg plant hot pot. The egg plant hot pot was quite oily and is only for people who can eat that type of food. All in all a great experience and was here tonight to try the dry pot and loved it. Goes well with a glass of shiraz if you ask me. This place allows for BYO or has some beers if you don't want to BYO. Enjoy!!!

Great food, just had lunch spicy crab. Worth coming here you will not be disappointed. Great value…read moreand service is quality.

One of the only places that serves up good Szechuan restaurants around Sydney - where they serve…read moreup dishes with the chilli that actually numbs the tongue. I haven't had such good spicy food since I was in China. My mum was impressed - and if my mum is impressed, the food must be amazing. Be prepared to not feel your tongue for a while - it's all kinda fun though, I promise! We ordered the braised beef noodles ($8.80 for lunch! What a bargain) and the spicy beef noodles ($8.80). The portions were quite big and the taste was a good balance of spicy and flavoursome. For the price and taste, it's as good as it gets. There are big chunks of soft, tender beef and the noodles were perfectly cooked. The service was very good and the place is clean with bright and new decor. Don't let the red chillies scare you, give this place a try!!

If you're coming here for traditional hot pot where you cook your own food - don't. They cook…read moreeverything for you and the servings are small per each side dish. I'd say they give you about 1-2 people's servings worth of sides (e.g fish tofu, Chinese cabbage etc.) Also if you can't take chilli -don't (in regards to hot pot bases.) We order the least chilli (Sichuan pepper & pork soup base or something like that) and it was okay for the first few bites.. But then after that our throats, tongues and lips felt numb and tingly. Not a nice feeling if that's not what you wanted. Haven't come here for anything other hot pot, but in general if you don't enjoy spicy food to some extent you're probably better off staying away, unless you're feeling masochistic/ adventurous.

Heard about this through all the food blogger circles, but the thing that stood out is: all you can…read moreeat, individual hot pot, and $20 lunch opening special. Those were enough to make the trip over the bridge to have it. I picked lunch because it was a weekend so didn't have too much guilt slipping in a food coma state afterwards, also seeing it as a perfect opportunity to meld in lunch and dinner together too (one two hour hotpot session = full for the rest of the day for $20! What a bargain). The place has induction stoves, a good selection of meats and veggies, and also noted storage place underneath the table to put your bags/jackets. It also accommodates single diners too - individual hotpots, and a bar like eating. Perfect for those who just want to get their maximum nommage on for the whole two hour time limit.

Waking up to Sydney's coldest morning in 4 years, a record low of 5.5 Degrees Celsius!! I wasn't in…read moreany hurry to get out of bed for my weekly brunch and coffee. Once I did get up, I wanted something nice and warm. How about Szechuan fiery!!! So I hopped onto Yelp and searched for the closest hotpot near me. Mini Pot in Chatswood came up and with only one lonely review for the place, I thought, why not let's give it a try. Here's the deal, the place is an AYCE restaurant. You pick your soup base, I went for the spicy beef soup and then with your tray you go around picking your proteins and vegetables which was the basic fare of frozen meats, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, and noodles (handmade and glass noodles). So what did I think of the place? It was delicious cause I cooked it :). The base stock was mild with its chillies but still the Szechuan peppers was able to numb my tongue and lips. The soup got more flavoursome and sweeter as time went on from cooking the wom book and thinly sliced beef. But the pièce de résistance was my dipping sauce!!! There is a sauce bar on the side where you get to concoct your own dipping sauce. I went for spicy chilli, garlic, a chimichurri looking sauce, sesame butter, and sesame oil. If you're game, I also mixed in an egg yolk. It elevated my meal to another level and I was so proud however now I'm paying for it laying on my couch in a food coma from over eating. Even though they have benches to allow you to eat alone, hotpot is more suited for groups of friends sitting around a table enjoying each other's company and enjoying an epic meal through the process. Definitely will be back on another cold day/night.

We don't read Chinese and after getting the three ingredients we wanted, server pointed in Chinese…read morethat we have to get a minimum of five ingredienta and spent $36 for a large pot of noodles and tons of chilis. The servers knowing that we don't speak or read Chinese did not bother explaining. I personally like spicy food but this was too much. If you don't eat the red hot tiny chili, I suggest you get no spice or just one spice option. One more thing, you have to pay for your meal before eating. Good luck!

Master Bowl is one of the few Chinese restaurants that I actually have cravings for from time to…read moretime. The distinct smell of Sichuan chilli and peppercorn would immediately grab hold of your senses as soon as you step in. Chilli Dry Wok is one of the most popular Sichuan delicacies that truly reflects Sichuan cuisine's four well-known elements: spicy, hot, fresh and fragrant. Master Bowl specialises in exactly this. Whilst I regard the food highly at Master Bowl, I feel obliged to offer a word of caution - don't expect anything glam, it's just a small eatery on Dixon Street in Chinatown and it takes a while for the food to arrive. It's not the cleanest place either (but I keep coming back for more!)

I'm not the biggest fan of spicy food and hence don't go to Sichuan restaurants that often, but I…read morewent with a few friends on a trip to Sydney and it turned out to be quite delicious! We ordered a few things to share for the table. The peking duck was really juicy, but the "tortilla"-shaped wrap was a bit strange as I'm used to the fluffy white baos. Green string beans were cooked very nicely -- quite a staple of Chinese food. The fried chicken came in a bowl of half chicken and half chili -- it looks really scary for someone not a big fan of spicy, but the chili added a good kick to the chicken and made it hard to stop eating it. The highlight of the meal was definitely the fish doused in a spicy oily sauce, and again full of chilis. The sauce itself was really spicy with all the sichuan pepper but the fish itself was so tender and juicy.

Do not be scared to try Red Chili Sichuan although it has Chili in the name ! Food is not that…read morespicy and there are some milder options! This place is perfect for a group dinner (we were 12): it is fun to try lots of different dishes, and they have some private rooms or large tables. Yes, do not expect a Michelin star service level...it can be quite slow and you might have to ask several times for the same thing, but staff remains friendly and when you are a large group you tend to be more forgiving! We ordered numerous dishes from dumplings to sweet potato pancake and more original options - the chefs special fish fillet was a standout as well as the lamb ribs. Veggies are yummy (but a bit oily), notably the fried eggplant and green beans with pork. We had a fun night and are just the right amount for 36$ pp (incl drinks), worth visiting !

The food was ok here, but I wasn't a fan of the service. I'm super ignorant when it comes to…read moreChinese food, and I pointed this out to the server, hoping he would help or make suggestions. He did not. So I went with some beef dish and some dumplings, that were ok, as I said. I'd definitely eat elsewhere next time.

We got fried dumplings, xiao long bao, and beef noodle soup. I was not impressed with any of them…read morebesides the pan fried dumplings. I would not come back here. I think there's so many other options here that if you want really good Chinese, go elsewhere. I'm still on a hunt while I'm here.

It's a good thing I'm typing this because my tongue would be too numb to talk…read more Malatang is a semi-self serve Szechuan soup where you get a bowl and fill it buffet-style with a whole bunch of hotpot ingredients. This is then weighed and calculated at $24/kg at the checkout before it's whisked away and cooked with a rich broth. After they call your number, choose which sauces (get all, trust me) and your level of spice. A little goes a long way with the Szechuan pepper death oil... It's not your traditional hot chilli pepper kind of spice, but rather a numbing one typical of Szechuan cuisine. Nonetheless expect to look like you've spent an hour in a sauna by the end of your meal. The broth is creamy and rich, likely bone based. Similar to Japanese white ramen soup. The taste is very much dependent on your choice of ingredients, but I'd try to include a bit of most things including veggies if it's your first time. The ingredients are rarely labeled so bring your malatang savvy friend!!