辣不辣 Labula BBQ Sichuan Restaurant @ Hougang Village

It was 3pm on Labour day, the restaurant wasn't busy, but a few tables in the air-conditioned section were occupied. Ordering is digital via QR code and payment via PayNow, so basically no interaction with the staff. While I looked through Google Maps reviews for inspirations on the dishes to order, I realised numerous 5⭐ ratings from reviewers with 1 or few reviews, and very superficial comments - so i had my expectations managed. Firstly, the wait was pretty long for non peak hours, and the BBQ (skewers and 馒头) came first but were served luke warm. The rest of the dishes came in stages with 酸菜鱼 being the last. The 土豆丝 was too garlicky for my liking, 干煸四季豆 was ok, 辣子鸡 was also decent, but no comparison to those at People's Park food centre or options at Geylang. 酸菜鱼 uses dory fish and it was super tenderised, the soup/ flavour was distinct in its own way, but not meant to be a compliment (but won't say it's horrid). As a family, we've been to China many times, so we know what good tastes like. Maybe 2⭐ is a tad harsh, but 3⭐ means to me that I'll come back some day (but I'll rather drive to Chinatown or Geylang for my 川菜 fix.

If you like mala food. This is the place for it. It is always crowded with the 20s. The finger food like shredded potatoes, cucumbers and soy bean noodles are nice if not ate too regularly which I cannot stomach. Trid the mapo dofu, the chicken, the tomatoes eggs,bitter gourd with eggs, there are nice. I also order the sour vegetable soup, it is delicious. However there is only a catch. It is quite expensive if you dine regularly there. The take away will be better as it service cost is not charge. Will always goes for the bento sets which are reasonably priced for take aways.

Sichuan cuisine in air conditioned comfort. Grilled fish set lunch is very generous, half a fish may be able to feed two small eaters. The BBQ were quite single dimensional in terms of taste, the lamb chop needs more seasoning. 辣子鸡 was nice and crispy!

Ordered grilled fish (seabass), lazi ji and grilled pork belly and honey grilled wings, smashed cucumber and lemonade drink. They have 鸭屎茶lemonade（had it previously in chaozhou). All the food is great. I highly recommend the lazi ji ( you can see the meat here). Need to wait a bit for the food as it's freshly made.

Made reservations but they couldn’t even find my reservation. Who did I spoke to then? I even called them twice to change timing. But lucky they have a big table for us (7 paxs) as walk in. Recommended by my son. Food was good. Dory fish wasn’t that tasty. Will ordered another type of fish next time for their sour fish soup Skewers were good.