Bar Shu touts itself as a Sichuan (or Szechuan) Chinese restaurant, differentiating from the proliferation of Cantonese Chinese restaurants in the capital. Sichuan cuisine is altogether spicier than other regions in China, which made it a great choice for several blokes out on the town.  

Inside the restaurant, plenty of dark wood, decoratively carved furnishings and bright oriental designs signifiy Bar Shu’s aspirations to be nearer to the michelin starred Hakkasan than the tourist traps on Gerrard St.

The menu was a good one, full of interesting dishes, although the photos of the food in the menu gave a bit of a tacky feel and is a practice that does no favours to those who use it. Steering clear of the ‘Pock Marked Old Woman’s Beancurd’ and the ‘Man & Wife Offal Slices’, we went for the Numbing & Hot Dried Beef to start and some Pickled Vegetables alongside it. The beef was tasty and had a hot, dried chilli taste to it and a texture accurately described as tobacco like, by JW. Despite being hot, it wasn’t numbingly so, but the pickled vegetables were a good accompaniment; a cool contrast to the hot beef.

With JW and PW delegating the order to JH & I, for our mains we chose the Fish Fragrant Pork Slivers, Boiled Beef Chilli Soup, Twice Cooked Pork Belly and the Gong Pao Chicken (with peanuts). A couple of plain rice and ‘Legendary Dan Noodles’ formed our carb supplements. I was a little disappointed with the pork belly, having expected some unctuous, fatty pork, it turned out to be thin slices of Pork that were neither fatty nor unctuous, albeit quite tasty. The chicken was a much nicer dish, relying less on the chilli hotness and more on a sweet and nutty flavour which I very much enjoyed.  The beef dish was much less a soup and more a dish similar to the other mains. Scoring the highest triple chilli rating in the menu, it was indeed spicy, with more of a dried chilli hotness than the searingly hot spiciness of fresh chillies, although perhaps unsurprisingly, the heat overpowered the other flavours. In contrast to the twice cooked pork, the fish fragrant slivers of pork were definitely a winner. The meat cooked with pickled chillies as well as ginger, garlic and spring onions married to make a particularly flavoursome dish. The legendary noodles were anything but, being more spaghetti like and rather bland, albeit we may have destroyed our tastebuds with all the spicy food by that point!

My personal opinion is that Bar Shu is more hit than miss. The portions of each mains were fairly sizeable and even at £9 each, were not that bad value. The food I enjoyed and there are dishes we missed out that would tempt me back to. The number of Chinese people eating at Bar Shu was also a good sign, albeit they are probably the only people likely to order the delicacies of Bird’s Nest dessert and Frog Jelly. I don’t think even I’d be tempted to try the Bird’s Nest dessert and certainly not at £48 a pop. The service was fine, although I didn’t like the absence of a breakdown on the bill. With our bellies full and including a couple of beers each plus the service, the bill was a fairly reasonable £29 a head.  If you like spicy Chinese food, you should definitely check Bar Shu out. It is a cut above most Chinese restaurants, but you will pay for the privilege.