Numb Restaurant 川麻记 @ Marina One

NUMB Restaurant is good if you're into modern Sichuan food. The vibe is nice & classy - it’s right by the waterfalls so it feels like a nice escape from the office They just launched a new "Wild Origins" menu & they’ve adjusted the spice and numbness level perfectly so it's not overwhelming and suit local taste What we tried: ~ Sichuan Spicy Fish Mint Salad ($11.80): Definitely an acquired taste! Very herbal and unique ~ Signature Sizzling Fish Fillet with Tofu: Comes out bubbling hot. The fish is super tender and the tofu soaks up all the flavor ~ Marbled Wagyu Beef in Guizhou Sour Soup ($42.80): My favorite Tangy, fermented broth that cuts through the rich wagyu perfectly ~ Yunnan Wild Mushroom Black Chicken Soup ($24.80): Really earthy, comforting, and great for sharing between 2-3 people We also had their Pink Guava and Wild Bayberry jasmine iced teas, which were super refreshing and saved our tongues from the heat. They also have a promo right now for free bonus credits and waived corkage if you top up a membership. Space-wise, it’s pretty big with a couple of private rooms, so it’s a solid spot for a date or a group dinner after work.

We kicked things off with the Flaming Applewood-Smoked Wagyu Beef Cubes, the ultimate showstopper. They come in a book-shaped box, and the pages get torched right in front of you—revealing smoky, melt-in-your-mouth beef cubes that are pure, juicy perfection with a peppery kick in every bite. Next up, the Golden Broth Crispy Rice Pot with Abalone & Seafood — a triple threat for the taste buds. The crispy rice soaks up all that rich, golden broth, and the seafood’s so fresh it’s giving ocean luxury 🐚✨ Then came the Sichuan Yuan Yang Hotpot with Seafood—and wow, this one brings the heat. One broth’s rich and spicy, the other light with that signature numbing tingle. Load it up with prawn balls, lala clams, beef tripe, luncheon meat, and crispy veg—it’s a flavor explosion. We wanted to try the Iberico Pork Belly (sold out, rip 💔), so we went for the Numb Mouth-watering Spicy Chicken instead — bone-in, juicy, and that Sichuan numbing heat hits just right. It’s the kind of spice that makes you sweat but you can’t stop eating. Tender, flavorful, and totally crave-worthy. Drinks were a whole vibe too — earthy, floral, and super smooth. Perfect balance after all that heat.

My first time trying Numb Restaurant, and I was honestly quite impressed. The flavours were bold but well-balanced, with that satisfying mala kick that doesn’t overwhelm

Absolutely thrilled with the dining experience at Numb! Their new duck menu is an absolute standout—soft, juicy, tender duck with creamy spicy taste. The Double-Boiled Blood Curd with Dual Chillies is both rich and complex, with a satisfying heat that lingers perfectly. And the bullfrog with pickled peppers is tender, flavourful, and cooked impressively. Each dish showcases authentic Sichuan flavours with depth and intensity. To balance the heat, I highly recommend trying their refreshing beer for 4.8 dollar per glass. A must-visit for anyone craving true Sichuan cuisine—highly recommended!

The logo design of this restaurant is quite creative: the “m” in “numb” is replaced with the Chinese character 川, which clearly shows some clever thought behind it. According to earlier reviews, new dishes were supposedly 50% off, but unfortunately when I arrived, there were no new dishes at all 😅. 😭 🍎 Flaming Applewood–Smoked Wagyu beef cubes This is undoubtedly the restaurant’s signature dish. It’s featured not only on the poster at the entrance but also promoted on the desk calendar at every table. The dish includes a performance element: when it’s served, the staff will remind diners to take photos or videos 📸🎥. Before the plate is taken out of its square box, it’s briefly torched with flames, just like in the menu photos, giving it some visual appeal.🥩 The wagyu is cut into small pieces and drizzled with black pepper sauce. The texture is good, thanks to the quality of the beef. However, the applewood smokiness is barely noticeable, mainly because black pepper sauce is an extremely dominant sauce—and it’s also spicy 🌶️. This kind of sauce easily steals the spotlight and overwhelms other flavors. Typically, black pepper sauce is used on steaks that aren’t at peak freshness (such as those sold at hawker stalls), to mask certain flavors with its intensity. If the chef truly wants to convey the “layered progression of flavors” advertised on the menu, the sauce pairing really needs more consideration. 😶 🐸 Zigong-style Bullfrog with fresh chillies🌶️ This is a must-order for frog lovers. When ordering, I was initially complaining that the restaurant uses online ordering yet offers no spice-level options, which felt very unprofessional. However, after telling the server I wanted mild spice, the final dish was actually a pleasant surprise.🫣 As expected, Szechuan cuisine abroad has become very internationalized. When I visited Chengdu before, I already noticed that Szechuan food in big cities has adapted a lot—almost any dish can now be made non-spicy. I even once had non-spicy “water-boiled yak” in Yajiang, which was incredibly creative and showed real skill from the chef.👍 This bullfrog dish follows the same logic. The chef removed the sharp heat of the chilies while retaining the complex layers of seasoning. The sensory burden is reduced, but the flavor remains intact. Of course, “mild” doesn’t mean completely non-spicy—it’s about level 1 on a 1–10 international spice scale 🌶️. Since bullfrog is a protein that doesn’t absorb seasoning easily, the mild spice results in some pieces being slightly spicy and others not at all, which makes it very friendly for diners who don’t like heat. This dish was so good that it actually outshone the wagyu. 🎃 🍵 Fortune blossom Jasmine Matcha This is the restaurant’s signature drink, also printed on the table calendars. The matcha flavor is on the bitter side, and the jasmine aroma isn’t very prominent. If you stir the top layer of milk foam more thoroughly, the texture becomes smoother and easier to drink. It works well as a palate cleanser, and honestly, it’s probably more impressive visually than in taste. 🍵 Some people say this restaurant’s Szechuan food is not traditional and lacks the “soul” of Szechuan cuisine. But what exactly counts as “traditional,” and who gets to define its “soul”? Those who claim Szechuan cuisine is nothing but heavy oil, heavy salt, and heavy spice clearly don’t understand Szechuan food and have very limited exposure.🤧 The process of Szechuan cuisine adapting and going global is the history of culinary progress. You cook what the era demands, and you eat what health requires—this is simply the natural order of things. Twenty years from now, today’s Szechuan style will itself become “traditional.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’d rather give 4.5 stars to this brilliant restaurant but this stupid Google map doesn’t have this option!