Spiced

Spiced is a Chinese/Sichuan restaurant located on 156th Avenue NE in Bellevue, Washington.

I was visiting the area a couple weekends ago and joined some buddies for lunch. This place can bring heat on a pleasurable heat scale and a numbing (Sichuan peppercorn) scale. Each dish, if applicable, has a rating of 0 to 3 stars for heat spice and numbing spice.

Nearly three years ago, Spiced was named as one of the eight best Sichuan restaurants in the Seattle area by Serious Eats.

My friends enjoy the cold bar foods just as much as the temperature-hot items. You can select three different cold items (combined as one order) for $7.99. They would recommend the pig's ear.

I went with the Hunan Style Pork Rib ($14.99): tender pork ribs on a bed of sprouts and bombarded with red chiles. It's served in a bowl that's kept hot with one of those gel fuel cans. The dish has amazing flavor, and the broth that collects at the bottom of the bowl is gold. No, you don't have to actually eat the red chiles.

My friends also enjoyed the Toothpick Rabbit and the Cuttlefish with Pickled Chili. The rabbit was not gamy, just flavorful and retaining a tad of juiciness. The cuttlefish should be a favorite for seafood lovers.

I've read other reviews and saw that the Mapo Tofu is another dish to try. Will remember that for the future.

If you're wanting some Sichuan cuisine, head over to Spiced! 8/10