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Was actually scrolling around social media and got to learn about the existence of yet another dining establishment that is serving up mainland Chinese-style Xiao Wan Cai around the island — this would be Old Cheng Du 老成都 小碗菜 that is located within the Sprouts Food Place food court within JTC Summit which is just walking distance away from Jurong East MRT Station. These folks are actually an extension of the Old Cheng Du Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant 老成都川菜 concept that is located in Chinatown. The stall should be quite an easy find within the food court being the first stall located right beside the Drinks stall as one walks into the food court; apart from serving up mainland Chinese-style dishes in Xiao Wan Cai format, Old Cheng Du 老成都 小碗菜 also does serve up a small variety of dishes in the standard format found at most mainland Chinese-style establishments that works great for communal dining.
One of the dishes that we had decided to go for was the Ma Po Tofu — we had visited Old Cheng Du 老成都 小碗菜 on a weekday during lunch service so most of the dishes that are being displayed at the counter are freshly-prepared for the day in anticipation of the lunch crowd that would stream in just slightly after the timing which we had arrived. Old Cheng Du 老成都 小碗菜 does not describe the elements that comes with their various dishes; that being said, the Ma Po Tofu does come without much surprises — think soft tofu cubes that comes with a meat sauce that also is accompanied with chili oil. We liked how the Ma Po Tofu doesn’t turn out to be too greasy; there was definitely a savoury and meaty note that came with the meat sauce that came over the soft tofu that does not require much effort to chew through, while the chili oil does come with a slight bit of numbness that one would expect out of Sichuan chili peppers with a pretty manageable level of spiciness for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of heat — would definitely go well with a bowl of rice on the side to mop the meat sauce all up.
