Golden Sichuan Chinese Restaurant, Chinatown, Sydney

Golden Sichuan is a good restaurant that often gets overlooked because it's next door to that roti sensation, Mamak.  It must be heart-breaking to see the queues outside the Malaysian restaurant when your restaurant is only half full. But I'm attracted to this place simply because the lack of queues, when I'm in Chinatown and feeling hungry, I know I can always rely on Golden Sichuan.

Golden Sichuan Chinese, Chinatown, Sydney

It must be heart breaking to be located next to Mamak and seeing the long queue for lunch and dinner, but that's what Golden Sichuan, on Goulburn Street in Chinatown must contend with.  Mamak has seen off many, many restaurants next door.

In fact, in what must be a compliment, Golden Sichuan is probably one of the longest running restaurants on that site.

We really don't like to queue, even for Mamak, so Golden Sichuan is great for a feed without the wait, although you do pay for that privilege.

Golden Sichuan, Sydney Chinatown

If you are into sichuan (szechuan it's spelt a thousand ways) food, then Golden Sichuan should be on your list, especially if you're looking for something in the CBD.  For those not familiar Sichuan is a province in south western China.

I'm guessing it must get cold because the food can be very spicy hot and the cooking involves very strong flavours.  But this is balanced with very plain and sometimes uncooked sides, especially cucumber and tofu.  The pork pancake above is a case in point, lots of oil and flavour in the pork and raw shallot to be eaten with starchy pancake and cucumber.

The plain noodles above is eaten with very spicy sauce - this is one of my favourite dishes!

The cucumber in sichuan sauce above is fantastic in the past, today the sacue was on the plain side.

While the food is good, I agree with other reviews - this place is pricey for what you get, especially compared to other, more glam restaurants nearby like Golden Century (yum!) and especially to the many food courts around Chinatown.  Oh, and you earn Qantas frequent flyer points here - still I'd prefer no points in return for better prices.