12 dishes you'll see on every Sichuan menu

If you walk into a Sichuan restaurant anywhere in China, the menu will list 60–100 dishes. Most of them are local-name regional variants you'll learn over years. But twelve dishes recur on essentially every Sichuan menu, and ordering them is the standard way to introduce yourself to the cuisine.

The mala backbone

Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) is the canonical introduction. Silken tofu in a doubanjiang-and-Sichuan-peppercorn sauce. Order it; it's almost always good.

Kung pao chicken (宫保鸡丁) is the second introduction. Diced chicken with peanuts and dried chillies. Less heat than mapo, more sweetness.

Twice-cooked pork (回锅肉) is the home-cooking benchmark. Pork belly first boiled, then sliced and stir-fried with leeks and bean paste.

The fish-fragrant family

Fish-fragrant aubergine (鱼香茄子) — no fish in the dish, just the flavour profile. Sweet, sour, garlicky, mildly spicy. The aubergine version is the most ordered.

Fish-fragrant pork shreds (鱼香肉丝) — same flavour profile, with pork.

Noodles and dumplings

Dan dan noodles (担担面) are the canonical Sichuan noodle. Dry-style mixed at the table; chilli oil, sesame paste, preserved vegetable, minced pork.

Sichuan wontons in red oil (红油抄手) are the dumpling equivalent. Thin-skin wontons in a chilli-oil-and-vinegar dressing.

The cold dishes

Mouth-watering chicken (口水鸡) is the most-ordered cold starter. Poached chicken in chilli-oil sauce.

Bang bang chicken (棒棒鸡) is the calmer cousin.

Sliced beef and tripe in chilli oil (夫妻肺片) — historically called 'husband-and-wife lung slices'; now beef and tripe.

The big ones

Boiled fish in chilli oil (水煮鱼) — fish slices submerged in chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. A banquet centrepiece.

Sichuan hot pot is on every menu either as a full setup or as a smaller individual hot pot. Sichuan-style is heavy mala; Chongqing-style is heavier still.

How to order

Pick three from the above for two people: one tofu or vegetable dish, one stir-fried meat, one cold dish. Add a portion of plain rice (米饭). Order light beer or chrysanthemum tea — both cool the palate.

The Sichuan numbness (mala) is the point of the cuisine, not a bug. Lean into it. If the heat is too much on first try, drink the beer rather than water — water makes the burn worse, alcohol breaks down the capsaicin oils.