Spring River Chinese Restaurant

God help me, I just cannae get enough of divey dumpling dens awash with szechuan and little tiffins of soy sauce. If the menu is a giant piece of cardboard with photos of the dishes stuck on with tape under hand-​written captions, I’m there. If it’s BYO and cash only, I’m there. If you don’t know what half the things on the menu are and the décor is a weird mish-​mash of things that don’t go together, you better believe I’m there.
I was on the way to Chinese Noodle Restaurant when the picture in the window of the chilli beef soup caught me eye and lured me in like a man in a van with boiled lolly. Look at the photo I uploaded because words can’t do justice to this dish. The kid serving me goes «Are you sure you want to order this? Is very chilli, very oily.» Bring it on, kid. Out came a giant bowl of dark, rich steaming soup filled with beef, szechuan peppercorns, fresh chilli, garlic, cabbage (trust me, it works) and bean shoots and I went to town on that thing for like half an hour, you’ve never seen anyone so happy. At the end of it all I’d only gotten through half so they gave me a doggy bag and I heated it up with rice the next day and it was just as good.
Also got the Mapo Tofu to take away because Big Bad Bazza recommended it in his review. Also great. Soup chilli is greater though.

Stumbled upon this place while on the way to Hana Hana, and decided to check this out as it has one of my favorite sichuan dishes — Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐).
The value for money is really good, being you can get a good feed for sub-​$ 10 (which is a good thing, because this is another cash only eatery).
I’d definitely come back here again for the Mapo Tofu (or take a look at the other items on the menu)