Angeles

ANGELES

Cuisine: Sichuan

Nearest tube: Kilburn

Address: 405 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 7QL

Tel: 020 7625 8686

Sichuan food is Cantonese food's younger, sexier sister. This is where she lives.

Don't get the two mixed up - as far as Chinese cuisine goes, the two are a world apart. Sichuan is a heady mix of strong, spicy, aromatic flavours, and whilst Angeles serves both Sichuan and Cantonese food, the former is definitely the best option.

This is one of those restaurants where Chinese people go - the restaurant is always packed full of locals crowded round a bubbling hotpot. I have yet to try the hotpot, but the menu is so good that there's plenty to be getting on with in the meantime. 

The restaurant is split in half - the left side is a grotty all-you-can-eat buffet, serving stodgy crap like sweet and sour chicken for the local yos and yoettes. Stay out of there, lest you catch a stray bullet. The right hand side is the bustling hub of Sichuan activity, in a spacious dining area that affords you a good peek at what everyone else is eating.

The food is truly excellent. We go for a platter of mixed grilled skewers, which include ox tongue, curried squid, cuttlefish cake, tofu, sweetcorn, king prawn, spicy lamb and chicken wings. All are delicious, with the cuttlefish particularly outstanding - a wonderful spongy texture, perfectly crisp on the outside, with a sweet teriyaki-style sauce. Main dishes include mapo tofu, a little too oily but with that distinct pungent soybean flavour unique to this dish. The stir-fried green beans with chilli are delicious, spicy and savoury, and the dandan noodles are wonderfully moreish, in a tasty, meaty sauce with that aromatic Sichuan aftertaste. 

Mapo tofu and green beans with chilli

My one problem with Sichuan food is that it's not the healthiest cuisine - most dishes are rather oily and greasy - but the unique flavours more than make up for it. Despite feeling a little bit sick afterwards, I thoroughly enjoyed this tasty meal that is far more lively than its oriental counterpart.

If you haven't tried Sichuan before and you have an adventurous palate, get yourself down there for some red hot foody action.

Service 4/5

Food 4/5

Value 3/5

Ambience 4/5

Total: 15/20

Why you should go there: Authentic food bursting with flavour.

Don’t leave without trying: Green beans with chilli