Northern Delicacies - Recommended - uses crushed peanut and black sesame seeds as a garnish. The thin broth is sesame based - some light chili heat, but I couldn't detect any sichuan peppercorn - points lost there. Very good rendition nonetheless.
Szechuan House (Burnaby) - Recommend - Authentic Chengdu style Dan Dan with a hot Chili Oil dressing. Very hot - both in Chili and Peppercorn heat. No crunchy topping (peanut or soynbean), however.
Golden Springs - Recommended - Chengdu Style Dan Dan. Could use more pork topping and it would have been better fried to a crisp. The peppercorn heat comes from both the sauce and the bit sprinkled on top. Soybeans instead of peanuts would have made it more authentic.
Richmond Public Market's Chongqing Stall - Not recommened - light on the sauce and nary any peppercorn.
Golden Szechuan - Mediocre - Chengdu-style dan dan mian - a vinegary chili oil dressing instead of the more ubiquitous sesame and/or peanut sauce. No sichuan peppercorn. A little disappointed in this one - since this is an "authentic" rendition. I could have been much better executed in my opinion....really needed sichuan peppercorn; and the pork should have been fried to a crisp.
The Place - Recommended - Could be my favourite. Deep and complex sesame chile broth. Plenty of ma la heat from the peppercorns. Nice crunch from the peanuts.
Peaceful - Recommened - Has a somewhat thin sesame dressing. Excellent pork mince and noodles (hand-pulled). There is a strong hint of sichuan peppercorn. Pork is properly fried to a crisp. Nice rendition.
Lin Chinese Cuisine (old version) - Recommended but no longer made - dressed in a dark sesame paste. Slightly sweet. I can detect a bit sichuan peppercorn. Very good and different. They seemed to have stopped serving it this way. If you liked this version, The Place serves an even better and deeper rendition.
Lin Chinese Cuisine (new version) - Recommended - This is the new version at Lin's. It is the more standard sesame-peanut sauce. Still good, but I prefer the old one which used an excellent toasted sesame sauce.
Chen's Shanghai Kitchen - OK - Nice thick sesame based broth. Lots of crushed peanuts on top. A hint of sichuan peppercorn. Good but nor great.
Ba Guo Bu Yi - Mediocre - Sesame and Peanut broth. I don't detect any peppercorn and it tastes and feels like they used commercial peanut butter. Much too sweet. The noodles tasted fresh and had great texture.
Ba Shu at the Crystal Mall - Not Recommened - This bowl would have been better without the spoonful of peanut butter on top. It is also vegetarian - it really needed that pork. And lastly and perhaps most importantly, I did not detect the flavour and numbing of sichuan peppercorn. Cheap and fast but really not worth ordering.
Toraratsu - Terrible - Uses premade udon. The broth is a thin sesame base with a hint of peanut butter. An izakaya's idea of dan dan noodles. Pass on this.
Wang's, Crystal Mall - Mediocre - run of the mill peanutty version. Wang's is all about XLB, really.
