Mapo tofu @ Mr Zhang’s Kitchen
8–10 Myrtle St, Liverpool, L7 7DP
Described, often, as Liverpool’s most authentic Sichuan restaurant — sometimes by people who have even been to Sichuan — Mr Zhang’s is divided into upper and lower sections.
Upstairs is a brighter and airier hotpot restaurant, selling mostly hand-pulled noodle dishes. Downstairs is slightly dingier and the menu consists mostly of dishes to be eaten with rice.
Both serve fantastic food but, being a great fan of both dinge and rice, more often than not I choose to eat downstairs.
Mr Zhang’s caters largely to Chinese students from the nearby Liverpool and John Moores Universities — whose campuses exist almost on top of each other in the adjacent ‘Knowledge Quarter’. This is reflected in the sole English sign in the restaurant being an A4 sheet of paper with ‘CASH ONLY’ printed on it, sellotaped to the front door of the dining room.
Whilst this is exciting to some, myself included, those who might feel a little bit intimidated shouldn’t do — English menus are available, and staff are patient and happy to talk you through the extensive number of options.
The dry fried chilli beef with blistered green beans and pork-stuffed aubergine in XO sauce are both highly recommended.
For me, though, the pick has to be the mapo tofu. Soft, silken tofu cooked with minced pork in a rich, heavily aromatic chilli sauce, hot with mouth-numbing Sichuan pepper.
Including a bowl of perfectly fluffy, short-grain rice a portion here costs just over a tenner and would be easily enough to feed two. Just make sure you get something extra on the side if you’re going to split the meal — maybe the crispy garlic ‘typhoon shelter’ prawns.
Another option — to take a visit to the restaurant’s small buffet section where a mixture of meat and vegetable dishes are served to you, with rice and a bowl of soup, on a segmented metal canteen tray.
