09/05/20
New spot alert. Taste of Shu feeds locals the most authentic Szechuan cuisine in town. I don’t think there’s another place like it. My favorite Chinese restaurant, Lam’s, is more of a Cantonese style. Taste of Shu is different. I could definitely tell by scanning the menu here that this place is as Szechuan as it gets. Don’t get too frightened or disgusted, but peeling open the menu you will find dishes like: sliced beef and ox organs in chili sauce, fish belly soup, pork with black fungus, fry sautéed frog, spicy pork intestine with tofu pudding, pork blood tofu and intestine in flaming pan, and specialty bovine stomach. Sound appetizing? Taste of Shu offers authentic Chinese Szechuan dishes, clearly. I’ve never even heard of entrees like those. I opted to not dive right in for my first visit and for starters I ordered the mapo tofu. Just so much flavor packed in this bowl of tofu. It comes served in a hot oil base with peppercorn, pork bits, scallions, and heaps of tofu. The hot oil sauce is homemade and I will forewarn, it can be a tad bit spicy. Not an incinerating burn, but for the average, it’ll be a mild to medium enjoyable spice. For me though, I rarely eat spicy foods on the regular, so it was a bit on the hotter side. My tolerance levels tipped and I had to spoon the entire bowl of white rice with the tofu to dampen it down. I was very close to asking for another bowl of rice, but didn’t want it to be too amateur hour on my first time in. The rice really goes well with this dish regardless of trying to dampen it down or not, it’s a nice combine with the tofu and hot oil base. You will experience loads of savory flavors from this chefs special recipe that’s even hard to explain for the waiter that served me. Just know, it’s dang delicious. This was one of the better mapo tofu versions I’ve had. Top 3 easily. On my next visit, I’m looking forward to trying their fish fillet broth and pork belly (both recommendations from staff).