Sichuan's signature noodle bowl: chilli oil and sui mi ya cai (preserved mustard greens) cutting through wheat noodles slicked in sesame, soy and a quiet hum of cracked Szechuan peppercorn. Golden Wok's Szechuan pork dumplings drop in alongside for body.

Dan dan mian is a Chengdu street dish, named for the bamboo carrying pole (dan dan) that the noodle hawkers used to balance their stoves and bowls from. The original is mixed at the table by the eater: chilli oil pooled at the bottom of the bowl, noodles on top, ground pork and sui mi ya cai over that, stirred up hard to coat each strand.

The sui mi ya cai is the funk that separates the real bowl from a Westernised version. Slightly fermented, slightly sour, deeply savoury, it adds the umami backbone that nothing else can fake. Get it from any Asian grocer.

Brown the pork hard so the edges go properly dark; pale pork doesn't carry the dish. Choy sum added at the last second cuts the heat. Cold light beer or jasmine tea alongside; the dumplings as a heavier counterpoint to the noodles.