Jiu Jiu Szechuan Restaurant, Auto-City, Prai, Penang

I love spicy food, and Szechuan food fits right into the bill.

We stumbled upon this gem of a restaurant quite by accident on our way back from Penang on the North-South highway, hungry and in search for dinner. Auto-City teems with restaurants and fast food joints. Jiu Jiu stood out since Szechuan restaurants aren't all that common in Malaysia. It's located just above Seoul Garden.

The reception area of the restaurant.

We ordered the braised eggplant in fragrant spicy sauce which was vinegary and spicy, with a touch of Chinese cooking wine (RM12.80). We loved this dish for its savoury yet tangy taste, very unique.

Another firm favourite was the savoury seared french beans (RM12.80) which had delicious tiny morsels of mui choy and minced meat.
Belly pork with Lao Gan Ma (RM29.80) was somewhat pricey and a tad fatty for my liking. It had a strong 5-spice powder taste.

We all loved the spicy bean ma po tofu (RM11.80), another Szechuan classic. Spicy and loaded with Szechuan peppercorns.


The ultimate dish of the night was undoubtedly the stir fried chicken with Szechuan peppercorns (RM25.80). Excellent bite-sized bits of deep fried, marinated, boneless chicken that just exploded in the mouth with savoury, salty, Szechuan peppercorn flavour. This dish was insanely good.

The bill for the 4 of us totalled RM115.00. The service here wasn't all stars however, the waiters and waitresses did not seem to understand English nor Cantonese, and our Mandarin proficiency was non-existent. Requests for water refills were slow in fulfillment. Nonetheless, the great food more than made up for this shortcoming. The food here was just a whole rich range of amazing flavours, all pleasing to the palette.


Jiu Jiu Szechuan Restaurant
1831-FI, Jalan Perusahaan Auto-City,
North-South Highway Juru Interchange,
13600 Prai, Penang.
Tel: 04-5013899
Fax: 04-5013898



Definitely a 4-bam for the terrific, spicy and super flavourful food!