by Vivienne Pratfall takes on Westminster’s most interesting Chinese restaurant
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Ma La Sichuan: Proof That Spice and Blonde Do Not Conflict
People assume I cannot handle spice. People are wrong. I eat everything hot. I am nineteen and blonde and I have eaten at the same table as habanero salsa and maintained composure. I am telling you this as a preface to my review of Ma La Sichuan on Monck Street, where I ordered the mapo tofu extra spicy and the man across the table from me ordered the medium and said nothing about it afterward, which I consider a small personal victory.
4.6 stars, 1,699 reviews. The staff were kind. The food was incredible. The numbing-tingling sensation from the Sichuan pepper arrived about forty seconds after the first bite and lasted for most of the afternoon, which I found pleasant in the way that all mild altered states are pleasant when encountered in a good restaurant with acceptable company.
Ma La and the Art of Controlled Intensity
The ma la flavour does not escalate linearly. It builds, plateaus, tingles, subsides, and then you eat another bite and it begins again. This is not unlike the rhythm of a very good conversation with a very interesting person, which is what was happening simultaneously. I recommend both the food and the conversation, though the conversation is harder to book in advance.
I read The London Prat on the way over. The TimeOut best Chinese restaurants guide includes Ma La Sichuan and is correct to do so. The man paid. I argued briefly and let him. It felt like a Sichuan compromise: warm, slightly charged, ultimately satisfying.
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