Listen, if you don't know what putting your mouth through a paper shredder feels like, try the Sichuan pork in chilli at Barshu. Barshu has been serving what I can only imagine is authentic Sichuan fodder, (for surely you couldn't make this stuff up) for a good 20 years. It sits a stone's throw from Chinatown, north of Shaftesbury and it's worth the short detour from the mainly Cantonese Gerrard St and its environs. Intimate and intricate, the space and the wooden carvings that adorn it. It gives a sense that the proprietors want to give you a flavour of their beloved Sichuan culture as well as their food. And they don't hold back. There's no catering for those of a nervous culinary disposition here. The menu is unfathomably and reassuringly long. If you will make use of every part of your animal, that's will happen. Pig's feet stand next to Pig's ears who listen intently to intestines as they growl that nobody is being brave enough to eat them. Sichuan pepper and chilli feature heavily in many dishes. Two things I can confirm. The pork is most definitely in chilli. And the Dandan noodles are most definitely, as described, legendary. I spent the weekend trying and failing to create the same unctuous loveliness that arrived in a bowl in front of me. A more comforting, yet powerful concoction it would be hard to produce and for under a tenner, an absolute bargain. The noodles are fresh, soft, chewy. We could be in italy were the noodles not smothered in a minced pork and sesame paste concoction that adds to the velvetiness. Smoother than the cream in a Twinkie, word up. the Pork in Chilli came on a plate they snaffled from Wimbledon ladies champ Iga Swiatek once she'd finished brandishing it in celebration. In amongst a million dried chillies which have been fried with Sichuan pepper, you'll find hard nuggets of pork. They have been incinerated and infused with the flavours of the chillies and pepper that engulfs them. To eat a nugget is to be met with an initial pleasant fragrantness followed by a mouth who's only means of protest is to find another one and do it all over again. The treasure hunt through the chillies is fun. Just when you think you've picked every last nugget, a little rustling around reveals another, and another, and another. By the time your mouth can take no more, it's numb and that means you can start on the chillies. It's a mission but it's worth it. Rather like a Dostoyevsky book, I'm not sure anyone's actually finished one of these but everyone declares their love for it nonethelessless. You might describe it as a statement dish, were your mouth able to make any statement at all. Don't panic. The sensation dies down after about 20 minutes alongside two or three beers which the house are happy to bring you quickly. If that doesn't quench the flames, Shaftesbury Ave has a handily placed Fire station. After the madness you are then left with a very pleasant feeling. One that says you've been out, eaten something bold, interesting, mad. And you're ready for action. Step back out into the Soho night and go get some. there's plenty around and if you've dined at Barshu, you are well primed to crack on. read more

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After lots of fish and chips, we were dying for some spicy food while in London. Barshu answered our prayers (at least mine for sure). Their Szechuan-style cooking reminds me of Spicy City in San Diego. Their Fragrant Chicken in a Pile of Peppers (we called it popcorn chicken in peppers) was great but had very few chicken bits. We loved their Barshu Smacked Cucumbers. It has some sort of peanut-flavored sauce and a perfect cool down from the spicy dishes. Barshu is a popular spot and only allows you 90 minutes to dine. Since it's London, their prices are on the high side with a small portion. read more

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We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Barshu. The surroundings were pleasant (we were on the ground floor), service was professional, the meal was well paced and the food was very good. To be honest it wasn't as spicy/numbing as we were expecting of a Sichuan restaurant but the flavors were lovely. We would return. read more

If you find yourself in London and have a hankering for Chinese food, Barshu is AMAZING! We thoroughly enjoyed our meals and the service was great! Thankfully, we made a reservation because the place was packed. We ordered a few things to share and it was the first time I had Chinese beer. Not one bad bite or sip! read more

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Loved loved loved this spot! A must-try -- especially if you don't have a lot of authentic Szechuan food where you come from. Going on my short list of places to come back to in London and to recommend to others. Really cute atmosphere and decent service. Small place, so can feel a little cramped -- I recommend coming during an off hour. Late lunch / early dinner at 2 or 3pm was perfect! Everything we tried was great -- but we definitely over-ordered! You can easily share 4-5 appetizer and/or small meat dishes and be good here. The specials are huge bowls of assorted meats that are definitely a whole meal for 2 (but so delicious). Loved everything from the pork roll appetizer (which is actually delicious thinly sliced carrots rolled in pork), to the smashed cucumber (a great cooling vegetable dish to go with everything else), to the cold sliced beef appetizer with beef tongue (super spicy and yummy), to the beef and onions (tender, classic beef that even picky people would love), to the special mocai -- which came in a huge bowl of spicy broth with fish balls, tripe, prawns, thinly sliced beef, luncheon pork (like SPAM), etc. I added the pork intestine, but I'd recommend that in a dry wok instead, so it gets crispy. The chicken feet were probably my least favorite -- I loved the crunchy texture and that they were already cut off the bone, but a little too much on the sweet side. Maybe they can be ordered in a different sauce? read more

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The food is delicious. The service is acceptable. I'm not sure why people impose their Western standards on an establishment known for the most authentic Sichuanese in London. Most of the low ratings suffer from sheer ignorance. But I digress. We had the dan dan noodles, spinach and ginger, potato slivers in vinegar, and the chicken in chilis dish. The menu had a lot of the powerhouse courses you'd expect from a Sichuanese restaurant. You must ask for Málà explicitly if you want true Sichuanese spice and numbing. I will admit, the peppercorn was lacking a bit and we didn't get that truly face numbing experience. But overall the food was delicious. read more

Barshu - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

Made a reservation on a Friday night, seated on time upstairs! Vibey interior and bustling atmosphere. Service was fine, it just gets busy so you might need to flag someone down. The food was great and portions were generous. I liked the variety on the menu, but definitely get the dry pot or something similar - super spicy and numbing with a lot of meats and veggies you can customize or add on. Everything was flavorful and the chongqing noodles had good texture and were nice and oily (that's the speciality of that region!) it's definitely a spicy oily meal so come with an empty stomach. read more

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The food was delicious and full of great flavor in every dish. The restaurant is small but well decorated, creating an inviting atmosphere. Our server, Angel, provided wonderful and quick service--attentive without being intrusive. Overall, a great dining experience! read more

Great restaurant! We booked a private room (6 people), which was a good idea - it was spacious and had Lazy Susan Food was super flavorful and veeeeery spicy at times. A highlight for me would be a smashed aubergine, smashed cucumber, soft shell crab and mushrooms. Food came very quickly and staff were lovely. read more

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We found out about Barshu in the Michelin guide for London, and it was recommended to us by the concierge as a good option in the theater district. We got to the restaurant early for our reservation, and they sat us- all good. There were papers on the table to fill out the numbers of what you wanted on the menu. So not fancy. We did. No one came over right away. We waved a server over. She came and took our order- didn't really talk that much... ok... We ordered spring rolls, spicy shrimp, chicken fried rice, and pineapple sweet and spicy pork. The food came all at once. They did not bring the spring rolls first, which felt kind of like they were rushing us. The spring rolls were very thin and crispy (spring roll cigars? lol), and just ok. The mains were good. No complaints. The shrimp was the hottest thing I have ever tasted. When we were done, they brought the bill. We paid, and we were zelle'ing each other money, as you do, when one of the servers or the manager came over and asked us to leave because they had people waiting! We were a bit shocked. We had arrived early for our reservation, and had not spent that much time there. We had literally just paid the bill like 2 minutes before. When we left there were not a ton of people waiting. So we were kind of insulted. So food - good. Yes - good option for theater district. Ambience - not so much! read more

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We came on time with a reservation on a Saturday night. It was chaos. A booking didn't mean much at all. Took 30 minutes to get seated.

Feb 16, 2022 It was a late and rainy night in London and my hotel was right across the street so decided to grab a quite bite here. It was just me so I could only try limited items. Really craving for a substantial soup to fight the cold and wet weather so I went for the big one - Braised Pig stomach and chicken with pepper in a pot. I'm sure it sounds odd to most people but from experience this dish, if well done, would do the trick. The soup was very well done, all the herbal ingredients were there and certainly substantial. The staff is also quite friendly. I wish I could sample more dishes....they looked very good at other tables! read more

Barshu - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

Amazing and authentic food.. dishes were fresh and spice level was perfect .. the peppercorns hit perfectly read more

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My absolute favorite Chinese restaurant - the flavors are beyond delicious. Do not miss!!! read more

Barshu - Cabbage with Chili - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

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I was really excited to try this place out because of the high ratings on yelp. Not sure what happened but the service was bad. We ordered three items, sweet and sour pork, rice, and some dumplings. Pork came out first then ten minutes later the dumplings. 15 minutes later no rice. I asked the waiter where our rice was and she said it's cooking. We seen about 3 others tables get their food first even though we came in before them. Some of them even got rice and were served before us. About 45 minutes later we get our rice. I was trying to eat my pork with my rice. But by that time my sweet and sour pork was cold. I was super pissed, to the point where I didn't even want to eat anything anymore. I really wanted to just pay for the pork and dumplings, not even eat it and just leave. Not even an apology. Nice looking place but that's the only thing good about it. SMH. What a joke!!!!!!! read more

It was a real pleaure to eat at Barshu. The food was great, solid 4*. Oddly not quite as hot / numbing as I've had before. The Dan dan / buckwheat noodles quite small. A few dishes did take a while to come which was a shame. However, the real pleasure came from all of the waiting staff. Attentive, smiling, a pleasure to talk to. I will be back and highly recommend! read more

Barshu - Do we think this is going to be spicy? - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

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Great authentic Sichuan cuisine if you are in the mood of some spicy food. Something about Sichuan chef, they really know how to cook. Highly recommend this restaurant. read more

Came to London and visited this place in Chinatown and it showed me how much food sucks here .. please don't go here. Regular kind of noodles does not taste good and food in general has low quality. I have a pretty big voice and I said "excuse me" and waved my hand but the two waiters just stood there and ignored me. I went up to the counter to ask for hot sauce and the waitress did not even know what that was. She FROWNED AND SAID "hot sauce? What's that?" In my mind I'm thinking. " yea hot sauce because that's the only way I will eat this pricey food" She went on to say " hot chili" and im like sure. My family and I hurried to eat and gtfo. Money waste time wasted . Don't believe the other reviews please. They prob manage it . read more

Amazing restaurant! Feels like you are in China. Service is good, waiters are very friendly and helpful. The choice of dishes is large and various (with fish, seafood, pork, beef, chicken, vegetables or tofu) I got the mapo tofu and it was absolutely delicious! Definitely worth the try if you are in London or just looking for traditional and authentic Chinese food. read more

Barshu - Mapo Tofu - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

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Good service! Food had great flavours tried the frog legs for the first time. I was amazed how nice they tasted. Would defo recommend with a big thumbs up. read more

Very authentic but limited in lamb. The only cumi dish I could find was dry wok beef cumin €16.50. Service was excellent. Update 5/2017: Fantastic service. Tasty Szechwan food and lively atmosphere. Skip the long Lines at the other places, this authentic experience blows them away. Not too crowded, just don't cry that the food is spicy. It's supposed to be :) read more

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Second time I have been at this place. One of my all time favorite Sichuan restaurants. Very authentic, be prepared for an all-Chinese audience. Also, be prepared for extremely spicy foods. I started with a traditional hot and sour soup - loads of pepper but really nice. Next was a cucumber salad that looked like something that had already been once eaten. It took some mind prepping to overcome my inhibitions but it was really good. Then I had beanthread noodles with slippery cabbage. Spicy but not mind numbing, tasted good, actually very good. Couldn't get more in or I would have tried. I'll be back for more. read more

Barshu - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

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My favourite meal in London, hands down. I would've eaten 3 more meals here if I had more time. The staff were friendly, the menu is great. Food delicious and spicy in the most perfect way. Authentic! read more

Having been previously stuck in mediocre tourist joints in Lisle Street, I researched my visit to London's Chinatown this time and wound up here, across Shaftesbury Avenue and slightly out of the mainstream. Had stir-fried cured duck breast with asparagus, which was good, moderately spicy, though the duck had been cured enough before cooking that it had lost that highly distinctive duck taste and could have been any meat. Also, an appetizer, beef tripe with fresh chili, which intrigued me as I'd never had tripe outside of a bowl of pho. I hadn't realized this would be cold. It was well-cooked, moderately chewy, but the two stars of spiciness on the menu (the duck had had one) turned out to mean extremely spicy, more so than I could comfortably eat. I took the bulk of it home and had a few pieces at a time over the next couple of days. read more

I will DEFINITELY come back to this place. I ordered the dry-braised ox tendons and it was soooo good! I love all the spice in this restaurant and th service was great. I love that they have pictures for every single dish they make because I would've never ordered the ox tendons had I not seen a picture of them. I will come back and try whatever it was the table next to me got. Since their menus have pictures, I can just look for it and point. It's also great that this restaurant is located in Soho because that makes it easy for me to go for a night out on the town after dinner. I'm from San Francisco, so I consider myself a Chinese food snob. I can say that this place is in my top 5 of Chinese places. read more

If you want some great tasting hot and spicy Sichuan food, you can get your fix here. The restaurant is also quite clean and nice, definitely a step above the usual Chinese restaurants. They have a good selection of dishes and the best thing about the menu itself, is that it has pictures. So if you are not familiar with the dishes, you can feast with your eyes first. You can pretty much find all sorts of meat, poultry, seafood, intestine on the menu. In terms of the dishes, I really like those special Sichuan dishes made with loads of dried red chili peppers, and you have to dig through the peppers to find your food. They are so delicious with the heat from the pepper and numbing tingling sensation from the numbing peppers. They are usually not as spicy as they look, but definitely not for the faint-hearted. I think you should at least have one of those dishes on your table. There are also plenty of non-spicy dishes. I have to say, they are not as good as the spicy ones. We once ordered oxtail with turnip and that was quite disappointing. Overall, it is a great choice for Sichuan food. read more

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Bar shu is one of two places I go to for spicy Sichuan Chinese food in London. The other being Bashan. Both have good dishes For this dinner, we ordered quite a big number of dishes. My favourites were the mouth watering chilli chicken, water boiled beef and spicy pigs ears. So delicious, especially if you like spicy food! The rice here is quite good too, and it's quite a comfortable restaurant. read more

Barshu - Pork belly - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

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I would have liked to give Bar Shu four stars but the prices are quite expensive. That being said, for London they serve above average food and healthy portions. For those that like pictures, the menu is full of them to assist you in ordering. Some dishes are hotter than others so be sure to ask when ordering. The chicken dish we ordered was mild/medium on the spicy scale but just enough kick. They are quite busy so bookings are a must! Gong Bao chicken with peanuts An authentic version of the famous dish, named after a nineteenth century gorvernor of Sichuan Braised sea cucumber with spring onion With minced pork and preserved mustard greens Stir-fried yard-long beans With minced pork and Chaozhou preserved mustard greens read more

Despite being a vegetarian, I generally consider myself an adventurous and accepting sort of eater who never shies away from new cuisines or copious amount of chilies. But apparently, traditional Sichuan cuisine and vegetarianism is a little like oil and water. At least, that's how I felt perusing the menu at the acclaimed Sichuanese restaurant, Bar Shu in London's Soho. It was one of those menus where even if you didn't stray beyond the quarantined 'vegetable' section, failing to read fine print, meant you might find minced pork in your fried green beans. From what I could tell, I only had two options, since there were only two veggie dishes demarcated with a chili for "hot." (I need spice). And much to my dismay, when queried, our waitress, who was irritated that I'd even had the gall to ask her a question instead of just placing my order, curtly assured me that Bar Shu's most popular vegetarian dish is the "pock marked Old Woman's beancurd" - named for the "smallpox scarred restaurateur" who invented the dish. Oy. Call me prejudiced, but ordering a meal that references a highly contagious disease was the opposite of appetizing, and the accompanying photograph of the soft beancurd, pocked and jiggling in a thick red sauce, did absolutely nothing to make it any more so. I knew if I went ahead and ordered "diseased tofu," no matter how tasty it was, I'd spend most of my time imaging this wrinkly old Chinese lady's face and it's unfortunate bout with smallpox - which had so wrongly become the namesake for her dish. My sister struggled through her order for a slightly different reason: the food coming out the kitchen, which we had spied while waiting for our table, looked amazing, however, the pictures of the food on the menu, did not. We're aware that this is fairly typical Asian phenomenon, but still... couple the bad photos with the endless off-putting descriptions (cloud ear fungus, strange sauce, slithery mouth feel), and we were both at a bit of a loss. Help! Someone well-versed in Sichuan! Guide us! Tell us what to do! But our abrupt waitress had little interest in the task, so we ended up with a handful of hit-and-miss dishes (my "stir-fried vegetables" was nothing more than a pile of stalky greens - before placing my order, when I asked if they could throw in some tofu for good measure, the waitress delivered her matter-of-fact "no" in a way that I understood right away meant "and that goes for everything else you might have been wondering if we can do too"). On the upside, the food was fresh and of high-quality, and our appetizer of garlicky cucumbers was *unbelievably* delicious; we used the drippings from this dish to jazz up everything that followed. By all accounts, this was a rather authentic Chinese dining experience, which probably would have been better if we'd brought one of our Chinese friends with us... simply to point us to what we *should* order. Though, authentic or not, the rushed, impersonal, "I don't give a damn" service was really off-putting, and I really would prefer not to be talking about smallpox when I'm dining. And I hate to admit, but I missed the customary token fortune cookie. read more

Barshu - Bar Shu - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

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I found this place highly scored in this site, therefore I had expected too much. While pictures on the menu looked all gorgeous, but tastes itself are so so, not so impressive one. read more

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This place has it all! (Except for vegetarian. They don't reallly have that down.) You can have your Szechuan spicy or spicier, your meat identifiable or non-identifiable, your chills regular or numbing. We always go for the Szechuan king prawns, hot and numbing beef, dry fried chicken, and loads of rice to cool it down. They do some interesting things with bean curd as well. I tend to go here once every few months - good for an impressively large and fancy meal. Everything is served family-style, so don't expect your food to come in any particular order. If you sit upstairs, it's less cramped and drafty but the servers are less friendly. Downstairs you'll sometimes get the owner, who can give you menu and cooking tips. Definitely book ahead. read more

- Chinese restaurant with just great Sichuan food - reservation recommended (very popular); BUT: you only have 1,5 hours for eating then the table will be given to the next guest (I don`t like to hurry with eating) - service okay, not too friendly (but that`s Chinese style I think) - tables were a little dirty (even after cleaning); also Chinese style - menue with pictures so that you can see what you choose (very helpful) - spiced pig's ear with chilli and fresh coriander (7.90 GBP): very special but tasty - Gong Bao prawns with cashew nuts (18.90 GBP); Gong Bao chicken with peanuts (11.90 GBP); Twice-cooked pork belly (9.90 GBP); Dry-fried green beans (9.90 GBP): authentical Sichuan food (as I have experienced it on a trip to China) - dessert: Lai's glutinous riceballs stuffed with sweet black sesame paste; 3 pieces, not really sweet (4 GBP); Deep-fried taro rolls; 3 pieces, sweet (5 GBP) Conclusion: Great food! read more

Barshu - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

I like this place, just for the food. So I don't think i've ever had Szechuan cooking before and I'd been looking forward to it. On arrival we were promptly told to wait because we didn't have a reservation, felt like we were being paraded in public because we didn't. Once we were shown to our table we were given an amazingly menu full of high res images of each dish. The food arrived and it was just superb. I'd braced my self for a big hit of chillies but the heat was a pleasant one, not over powering. Even the pickled veg very hot but nice. Really want to go back and sample other dishes so if anyone wants to go give me a shout yo! Misses five stars because of the service. read more

Barshu - High definition menu! - Szechuan Near Me - London, XGL

Yesterday after a Matinee musical, we decided to go for some Chinese food in or around Chinatown. With so many tourist traps there, we did some Internet search and stumbled across Bar Shu. It's technically not in Chinatown, but just across Shaftesbury st in Soho. The restaurant itself is quite cleaner and nicer than most Chinese restaurants, and the prices are higher compared to other Chinese restaurants in the area - basically, you pay for quality :-) I had the prawns with cashew, while the other members of my party had the roster pork leg, chicken with cashew, and chicken in chilli. I'm not an expert on Chinese cuisine, so I can't comment on the authenticity, but what I can say is that everything was divine! Especially the pork leg is recommendable, it tastes absolutely phenomenal, amazingly seasoned. One note to remember: if it says 'hot' you better believe them - I've never had food as spicy as this! read more

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I was in London for a couple days in November and caught a head cold...what better remedy than spicy Szechuan! I read the reviews here and was impressed by the apparent fact that they do not tone down the spiciness, and I was looking for burn-my-face-off ultra-habanero hot. The restaurant is actually quite nice, and the staff are friendly. This is not a cheap run-of-the-mill chinese restaurant, it is a respetable establishment serving up authentic high quality cuisine. Even the toilet was sparkling clean, the entire restaurant is meticulously kept. I ordered hot and spicy soup for starter, and then the very spicy boiled beef dish. The latter was amazing, it was full of oil-roasted chiles, both red chiles and the mouth-numbing small Szechuan chiles. The beef was superb, very tender. My mouth was tingling, and I broke a sweat, but I ate the entire dish...I almost contemplated ordering a second! Highly recommended for those who like Szechuan style food... read more

Service was slow due to the place being packed. And our order wasn't correct. But the good we did get was very good.

Great Meal - If you like spicy this place is for you. Great menu for Sichuan. The service is friendly for a Chinese restaurant in a Chinatown. Always fast and business like service and the food comes out as it is ready. Lamb chops was a hit, so was octopus- both were very flavorful. Ordered a safe dish too- muxu pork which ended up being bland. Overall- it's a return spot for us. Good food and great prices read more

Maybe a place for non-Chinese customers to come, but definitely a terrible restaurant for native Chinese. 同胞远离 Chicken with Chilly: extremely over-fried and sparse & small-piece chicken with LARGE amount of chilly and Chinese pepper, making this dish like a game of charcoal-like chicken seeking exploration. Garlic-flavor Seasonal Veggie: Very very stiff veggies! Perhaps only a few second of water-boil before stir-fry. Garlic is also not completely fried. You will experience a pretty strong taste of raw garlic. Hope you are not a vampire. read more

Recently reopened after a fire, Bar Shu has taken the opportunity to renovate the space and come up with some terrific huge posters showing off their food. Bar Shu is no ordinary British Chinese restaurant but showcases Sichuanese food in all its raw, tongue-meltingly hot glory. I had Sichuanese food on my recent trip to China and this is the real thing. I think the pictures indicate strongly the spiciness of the food with all the raw chillies and also from the red hot looking sauces. You will find lots of dishes with unfamiliar names but the staff are on hand to explain and make recommendations. Prices are expensive but this is unique Chinese food in London read more

To help put myself through school, I worked as a waiter at a "gourmet" Chinese restaurant in Salt Lake City, near the ski resorts. This was an unusual place in that it was not your typical Chinese restaurant, on many levels. The owners were from Taiwan, they had "imported" the head chef and other employees directly from there, and they all lived in a huge house on the side of a mountain overlooking the valley (and the restaurant). They ran the restaurant like a tight ship, very hardcore, and it was very successful. I can't say it was lots of fun to work there, but I will say it taught me to handle very stressful situations, how to deal with a serously tough boss, and how to earn money by focusing, being professional and working hard. The reason I mention this here is that for the first time I've encountered a restaurant that approaches the atmosphere and quality of my former employer. The food on the menu here reminds me of the late night dinners we used to have after the restaurant closed, when everyone on staff was fed, family style. At the time I didn't always know what I was eating, but it was sure good! I could sense everyone was missing their homeland, and these special off-menu meals helped them deal with the homesickness. Bar Shu does a great job of providing its diners with adventurous, delicious Chinese food, and I'm glad I've found it! read more