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The Red Pepper Sichuan Bistro
11 Allegheny Ave, Towson, MD 21204 410 832 7333 What a way to start the New Year with my first restaurant review of 2024. My new strategy this year will be to invite my friends who are die hard foodies to accompany me to the restaurants. The benefit is instead of ordering 1 dish for myself, I'll be able to order a couple of dishes and have a variety of flavors to review. Well, last night my friends and I traversed to Towson, Maryland, about 40 minutes from Bel Air, MD. Towson, MD is a college town where Towson University is located, lots of gourmet cuisines from all over the world, from Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Irish Pub, to Subway, Indian & Spanish to Caribbean food. Last night we went to The Red Pepper Sichuan Bistro, A Northern Chinese restaurant that specializes in hot & spicy. Now, I've been to restaurants who say they specialize in hot & spicy but when push comes to shove, they're not spicy or hot at all until I went to the Red Pepper Sichuan Bistro. Since I had my 4 friends we gave a thumbs up to try this place. It was fairly easy to find and as we entered the place was brightly lit and very clean. Art work surrounded the walls of the restaurant probably done by various artist. The menu was very unique offering large pictures of the specialty dishes which was very different than the typical menu at any restaurant. We browsed through the menu book, choose 3 appetizers that was definitely very spicy. One was spicy hot wonton, Dan Dan Noodles that are traditional spicy with minced pork and a cold spicy hot dish of sliced beef tripe and beef. There was definitely a spicy bite of Sichuan peppercorns with the very hot spicy hot oil. It was very hot that I could barely feel the tip of my tongue. Yes, we had a choice of different degrees of hot but we wanted to see if the normal hot was ok. Well, it was. Then we ordered Fried salty squid, sweet and sour chicken, spicy beef and a soup type base with beef along with a fried beef with chili peppers. Thank good ness we were able to enjoy a beer and our famous Korean Soju. The meal was hot enough that it got pretty warm. Now, I knew going in to eat out that I would have to compromise on certain things. Knowing that inflation would take a bite out of the value was expected. We received just the right amount of each dish, no more than what would usually be served prior to inflation but we understood. The price was as expected but the main reason was we got together with the guys to shoot the breeze and share laughs and a few beers. It was good to get out the first Friday of every month checking out different and interesting foods. The Red Pepper Sichuan Bistro specialized n hot & spicy and I knew the guys would enjoy it. and they did. The salty crispy squid was crunchy and just the right amount of salt with crushed chopped red and green peppers. The spicy wonton was swamped in hot chili oil and very tasty and delicious. The sweet and sour chicken was crunchy but didn't have enough sauce, I guess Northern Chinese cuisine doesn't give a lot of sauce like Cantonese Southern Chinese cuisine. The beef dishes were spicy hot but didn't have a unique beef flavor, just seemed like they added a whole bunch of veggies, well done over cooked and added beef that although very tender didn't really stand out for overall flavor. Just seemed like all sorts of ingredients were thrown in a pot and simmered for a while. If I visit again, I won't be ordering any beef dish that has a gravy. It might not be their specialty. The menu picture looked much different. The beef with hot peppers although spicy lacked some flavor, no sweetness or saltiness balance. Overall, our experience was good from a spicy hot restaurant but the dishes lacked flavor in terms of sweetness or saltiness. they need to balance salty with a sweet just as they should balance spicy with a salt and sweet balance. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being excellent, I have to rate the spiciness separate and I give that rating a 10. But for flavor I give a 5 and overall cleanliness of establishment and the great lighting a definitely 10 along with service a 10. If you want hot and spicy, I recommend this place but be careful when ordering any dish especially the beef with a gravy. The picture may be very enticing but the flavor wasn't there. Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com Amazon Prime Book: "The You Can Do It Asian Cookbook" #Chefwoocan, #Theredpeppersicuanbistro, #hotandspicycuisine, #szechuanfood, #towsonchineserestaurant, #marylandtheredpeppersicuanbistro |
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