Chen's Mapo Tofu (Downtown Gallery)

$13.90
The mapo don is bomb, soup is bomb, even the veg is bomb too!!!! Would defo come back again

I think one of the effects of CB is that it makes you crave for food that is not easily found in your heartland neighbourhood.

Would love to have a bowl of steaming hot rice topped with the silk smooth tofu coupled with fiery red Szechuan chilli sauce!

Initially, I was a little hesitant when I saw the menu as I’m not sure of their standard of spiciness. In any case, I shared the value meal with my colleague and ordered dry Dan Dan Mian of which the soup version on the menu looks spicy🔥
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Though it’s a pity that the noodles aren’t cooked to al dente, I was glad that it was only a little spicy. Topping it off with crispy popcorn chicken just makes it perfect! Also had a nibble of the Mapo tofu and it’s legit SPICY🥵
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6A Shenton Way
#02-29
Singapore 068815
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decided to change up my routine and get the eggplant don instead of my usual mapo tofu! It was decently good but I’m a little bummed about the lack of soup. The bowl of soup that usually accompanied the mapo tofu don was so good! Would stick to mapo tofu in future ✌🏼 ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

At Chen’s their mapo tofu don ($8.80) isnt super bold and strong but somewhat mellower and subdued, so it was a surprise when i encountered a really sear-my-tongue off spicy one when i visited chen’s recently. Maybe it was a heavy-handed chef or just a tweak to a recipe but wew, it definitely packed a punch. That was said, it was still hella flavorful and paired really well with their japanese rice…Just be sure to have some water on standby.

Spice is a big thing here: i got the value set dry dandanmian, mapo rice bowl, sichuan popcorn chicken, and luohanguo herbal tea ($16.80 for those who wants the best of everything). The mapo tofu is the heat inducing kind of spice which takes some time to set in, making the rest non-spicy in contrast.

I would come back here for their soup dandan mian (more delish!) and wanton soup. Overall, queues are <5mins during lunch time. Fast kitchen service though i find slightly pricey for simple fare.

Can always rely on Chen’s for a heart warming bowl of Mapo Tofu.
Sze Chuan peppers and spices are well balanced, packs a small punch of heat and as you eat your way through the gravy-laden rice bowl, you’ll get the occasional savoury punch from their fermented black beans.
Haven’t found that many Mapo Tofu spots in town, but this is definitely one of my favourites!

The Mapo Don here was definitely one of the best I’ve had! Loved the depth of flavours in here, with a clever mix of spice and numbness along with salty parts from the added fermented bean paste. Rice was fluffy, cooked just nice and given in a generous portion. That aside, our first bowl was extremely salty even though I’m a fan of stronger flavours, but thankfully the friendly servers were very nice to offer to change a new one for us. They did mention too that the default flavours at Chen’s are heavier and customers can request for less salt, so just take note.

My favourite part of the meal was actually that unassuming little bowl of chicken soup! It was super flavourful, comforting (reminded me a bit of the Hong Kong style wanton noodle soup) and complemented the don so well that I think I can easily down another 3 bowls. 😂