The elegant room with full-length windows feels airy and bright. In addition to booth seats, there are alsoprivate rooms for parties. The Fujian-born kitchen team ensures the authenticity of each dish. The must-try lychee meatballs are deep-fried pork stuffed with chopped water chestnuts for crunchiness. Scallion aromas and pleasing textures depict the Quanzhou speciality, crispy tofu skin rolls with a five-spice pork filling.

Mapo tofu is a world-famous Sichuanese classic dating back to the Qing Dynasty. Word has it that this century-old shop is the true original source of this numbing, spicy dish, invented by Lady Chen. Silky tofu, ground beef and spices are cooked in a stone pot that stays hot for a long time, perfect with a bowl of steamed rice. Zhong dumplings and lotus leaf-wrapped steamed pork in spiced rice flour are also worth trying.

The owner’s collection of souvenirs from her trips around the world gives this spacious dining room an endearing quirkiness. Her wanderlust also translates into her quest for quality ingredients from around the globe, to be cooked in an authentic Sichuanese style. Roast pigeon smoked with Sichuan pepper leaves is simply unmissable. Cold appetisers like lamp-shadow sliced grass carp are also well made. You can opt for half portion for some dishes.

This low-key dining concept doesn’t need a sign. The owner-chef Lan Guijun is a local legend who took Sichuanese to the level of haute cuisine so gourmands will always find their way here. The rooms exude rustic charm, dotted by ceramic art and pottery made by the chef himself. Before you can taste his elegant, elaborate multi-course meal that brings out the ingredients’ natural flavours, you need to book a table with a deposit.