For many people in the Netherlands, Chinese food means something very specific: a familiar takeaway menu. Tasty, but it is only a small corner of one of the richest and most varied cuisines in the world. China has countless regional kitchens, and Sichuan is perhaps the most distinctive of them all.

Good Sichuan cooking is not about being as hot as possible, but about balance.

Why Chinese food took on its own meaning here

Chinese cuisine came to the Netherlands roughly from the early twentieth century, brought by Chinese sailors who settled in the port cities. Later it blended with influences from the former Dutch East Indies, and so the familiar Chinese-Indonesian restaurant style was born: milder, sweeter, with thick sweet-and-sour sauces. A valuable tradition in its own right, but not a reflection of how people eat regionally in China.

The taste of mala

Sichuan cuisine is known for a flavour you rarely find elsewhere: mala, the interplay of spicy (la) and a gentle numbing, tingling sensation (ma). That tingle comes from Sichuan pepper, which confusingly is not a chilli at all but the dried berry of a special plant. Chilli brings the heat, Sichuan pepper the tingle. Yet spicy is only half the story: a good dish is layered, with spicy, sweet, sour, salty and umami in balance.

The building blocks and techniques

A number of ingredients and techniques keep returning:

• Doubanjiang, a fermented bean and chilli paste, gives many dishes their deep, savoury base.
• Dried chilli and chilli oil bring aroma and warmth, more than just sharpness.
• Garlic, ginger and spring onion form the aromatic foundation.
• High-heat stir-frying and dry-frying, where ingredients slowly lose their moisture and become intense in flavour.

Dishes that define the cuisine

A few classics show how heat and refinement go together: mapo tofu (silky tofu in a spicy, savoury sauce), dan dan noodles (with a rich, gently tingling sauce), kung pao (chicken with peanuts and dried chilli) and fish or beef in fragrant chilli oil. Always it is about balance: the heat carries the other flavours rather than overpowering them.

Fine-dining level, not a takeaway box

At Sichuan Food, authentic Chinese cuisine at fine-dining level takes centre stage, with fresh produce sourced daily from the market. Where the takeaway tradition is about speed, here it is about craftsmanship: dishes prepared and presented with care. You taste the difference.

And the Peking duck?

Our specialty, the Peking duck, originally comes from Beijing, not Sichuan. Yet it fits this story perfectly, because patience and technique decide everything. With us the duck comes in three courses: first the crispy skin in thin pancakes, then a clear duck broth, and finally the duck meat prepared three ways, carved at your table. Read more on our page about the Peking duck in three courses.

Where to eat authentically in Amsterdam?

Sichuan Food is in the heart of Amsterdam, on Reguliersdwarsstraat, near Rembrandtplein. We were once the first Chinese restaurant in the Netherlands to be awarded a Michelin star, and you still taste that background today. Explore the menu or reserve a table.