255 replies to this topic

[thom]

Bertie,

I'm now worried that you might not be cut out for our proposed lunch at Red Chilli.

Go on, live a little - I think we should be the first egulleteers to try the Hot Wok Trotter.

Cheers

Thom

[BertieWooster]

Oh my brain's perfectly happy to try. My stomach has been so tuned after a couple of decades of veggie-ism to object however. Even eel causes me problems. But I shall enjoy you tucking in while I stick to rice and, uhhr, something else.

[YKL]

I can see this developing into a rather dodgy game of daredevil where you have to eat whatever food has been placed in front of you ... when ordered by someone else!

[Andy Lynes]

what exactly are these louts larger than?

Food writers who can't even spell their favourite tipple correctly.

[culinary bear]

Lunch today at the Red Chilli with a commis in tow.

The waiting staff have a tenuous grasp of English, but to be fair, it's better than the Cantonese skills of the commis and I.

We were given three menus - the fairly generous set lunch menu, the 'anglicised chinese' menu and the 'traditional chinese' menu. We quickly disposed of the first two and set about choosing from the traditional chinese. After failing to spot the husband and wife lung slices, we settled on three mains - the Hot Wok Trotter, the Crispy Smoked Sichuan Duck and the Hot Chilli Clay Pot Assorted Meats. We ordered soft noodles and egg fried rice in memory of Gary Marshall, and tucked in.

The smoked duck was, as Jay said, very similar to a standard crispy duck with pancakes, though the smokiness was definitely there. The clay pot arrived as a vast seething cauldron of meat (and fish) in a deeply flavoured chilli broth. Chicken, deep-fried tofu, tripe, mushrooms, fish balls, scallops, and pork, in a very generous portion.

The Hot Wok Trotter had been braised, boned, pressed, lightly battered, deep-fried, and came sliced on a platter. A good mix of crunch, yielding fattiness and lip-sticking gelatinous bits, and like all of the food, deftly seasoned.

Neither the commis nor I are particularly light eaters, and we admitted defeat about four-fifths of the way through the mountain of food. James's fisrt taste of tripe too, which is worrying considering he's from Oldham.

Together with two Tiger beers and two Tsingtaos, the bill came to a ridiculously cheap 41 quid.

You need to go. Everyone does.

Edited by culinary bear, 21 October 2005 - 09:32 AM.

[Carlovski]

The clay pot sound like a good bet for a solo diner, always problematic with chinese restaurants - I doubt I'll be able to persuade any of my family members to go.
I could probably pack away a few appetisers too!

[culinary bear]

Unless you're a fatter bastard than I, I sincerely doubt it. :) You'd need to be a very very hungry bunny indeed to put away a whole clay pot plus rice, never mind appetisers.

To give you some idea, the pot held about three or four pints, and was more than 3/4 full (for a tenner!).

Edited by culinary bear, 21 October 2005 - 09:55 AM.

[Carlovski]

Unless you're a fatter bastard than I, I sincerely doubt it. :)  You'd need to be a very very hungry bunny indeed to put away a whole clay pot plus rice, never mind appetisers.

To give you some idea, the pot held about three or four pints, and was more than 3/4 full (for a tenner!).

I'd give it a good go. Maybe some fairly light appetisers and go easy on the rice!

[YKL]

another quick note - had lunch at the Leeds branch on Sat - v good food, excellent value and I left v v v full!

the ma por tofu (aka Mrs sichuan spotty beancurd oojamacallit) - excellent - full of spice and fire - but could still taste tofu and pork - and a ginourmous portion

spring onion cakes - v good also - and reheated well at home, in a frying pan so that I could disgrace myself with stove side scoffing

The lap cheong rolls weren't bad either ..

Right - once work calms down intend to recruit some stomachs for a proper assault on the restaurant ...

Yin

X

Edited by YKL, 24 October 2005 - 06:32 AM.

[thom]

Oooohhhh.... another fine lunch (Manchester branch).

Did the lone dining thing today, with only a Manchester Evening News for company. Bliss.

I went for my old fave the stir-fried eel with chilli. Out of stock this week; must have had a run on it. Next choice, was the spicy lamb casserole, which is fantastic, if a little overfacing for one.

Seated with a mineral water and a green tea, the manager wandered over to say hello (he had remembered me from prior visits) and asked what I was eating. 'You don't fancy something different?' he said, on hearing my play-safe option.

Spicy I said, something suitable for a cold and rainy day (in Manchester? No...?). He pointed me towards some chilli pork dish, with a dryer thicker sauce, and a claypot dish with 'assorted meats and fish'. I went for the latter, remaining adamant I wanted a Chinese rather than an Western selection of meat, and it was outstanding.

As per the lamb casserole I had eaten previously this was a thinnish but intense soup, topped with chopped coriander, crushed garlic and chillis, and brimming with mushrooms, bamboo, lettuce and 'assorted meats and fish'. The sauce broth seemed slightly thicker than the lamb dish, but was even better for it.

Delving about, I found fat juicy scallops, finely scored tubes of squid, sliced fish cakes, fish balls, chicken, bean curd and (I needed a prompt on this one) pig skin. The latter is apparently dried and then salted, and then soaked in water before using in a dish. It was flavoursome and remarkably tender.

The amount of food was stupid, necessitating about 10 return trips between my rice bowl and the clay pot. Even then there was a third of the pot still full (though with the choicest morsels missing). I ate till I felt sick with pleasure, and along with a mineral water, huge pot of green tea and boiled rice it cost £10.20.

This could easily (EASILY) have fed two for lunch, meaning all in you'd be spending £5-6 each. Considering this is ordering off the full menu rather than any lunchtime special I just find that brilliant.

Whilst in there (it wasn't too busy today) two English businessmen, who had being tucking into an extensive but rather vanilla selection declared it 'bloody lovely', and told the manager they had seen some 'great reviews lately'. Both your readers in one place Jay.

Remember - this isn't an El Bulli style gastronomic reawakening. But it is just delicious, exciting, authentic, well cooked food, with good quality ingredients, good service and cheap, cheap prices. I love it here.

Cheers

Thom

[culinary bear]

Thom, you must have hollow legs - how on earth did you manage to put all that away?

I forgot about the squid in mine - and thanks for clarifying the pig-skin, I wondered what that was.

[thom]

Thom, you must have hollow legs - how on earth did you manage to put all that away?

I forgot about the squid in mine - and thanks for clarifying the pig-skin, I wondered what that was.

CB, I've only just reread your posts and only just twigged that you had the same dish. Must have been something subliminal. Or maybe they just have a load of pigskin which is on the turn, and are upselling it to any naive looking Westerners... Either way, it tasted good.

I was struggling towards the end, but I'm proud that all the important stuff was scoffed, apart from three or four chunks of bean curd and some smaller vegetable flotsam and jetsam.

That said, I am off out tonight with no time for eating, and so the meal above has become lunch and tea for me (efficient time manager that I am).

Cheers

Thom

[Carlovski]

mmmm, pig skin

So Thom almost managed it all - sounds like a challenge!
I reckon the trick is to leave the choice bits till last - eat the beancurd and veggies first - there is always room for a few more scallops!

[BertieWooster]

To be fair to Thom, that stuff was meant to be for two, only I never turned up. So he was only doing me (and the restaurant) a favour. If he gets heartburn as a result he'll probably sue me.

[thom]

Bertie,

Thanks for trying to cover, but I realised you weren't coming at that point, I just ordered it because I am a fat git.

There again at the weekend, with gf and the fruit of my loins in tow. The latter slept all the way through (a rare and wonderful occurance) leaving us adults to mop up a fish and beancurd soup - lovely thin and flavoursome broth, with flakes of white fish, succulent beancurd and coriander - and the aformentioned hot chilli pot of assorted meats.

With it we had boiled rice, soft fried noodles (ordered in case Thom Junior woke up - he didn't, we ate them), green tea and two diet Cokes. We shared everything, and just about got through it all. The price? £15.70.

Cheers

Thom

[Bapi]

Sterling chap that you are Thom, may I just say how delighted and grateful I am that you have selflessly taken it upon yourself to eat the entire friggin menu; before we lunch there together.

[culinary bear]

I'm eating there with a friend tomorrow (Wednesday) - will choose something suitably off the wall.

thom, I can't work out the pricing - the assorted meats is a tenner, rice and noodles a couple of quid each... did you get the soup and drinks for free? :)

[thom]

I'm eating there with a friend tomorrow (Wednesday) - will choose something suitably off the wall.

thom, I can't work out the pricing - the assorted meats is a tenner, rice and noodles a couple of quid each...  did you get the soup and drinks for free? :)

CB,

Did you get the right lamb dish then? How was the rest of it?

The assorted meats was £7.50, as are (i think) all the clay pot dishes. Not sure what menu you looked at; maybe they have a more steeply priced one for people they don't like the look of?!

See you soon

Cheers

Thom

[culinary bear]

You know, I checked up on it yesterday - the clay pot dish at the top of the list is 10.00, which is why it stuck in my head. All the other clay pot dishes are, you're right, 7.50.

After two pints in a pub just down the way, we ordered crispy sea bass with sweet vinegar, the poached lamb in spiced broth, and sichuan Mrs Spotty's beancurd. I had to quietly phone Thom to consult on the lamb dish - I thought I'd found the right one on the menu but wasn't too sure. :)

Matt and I looked at each other over the bowl of poached lamb (this sounds like a gay Mills and Boon, I know) and mouthed the following words to each other :

"Fuck me, could they have fitted any more dried chillies in this?"

Beautiful, tender lean lamb, beansprouts, spring onions, explosively fragrant herbs and spicing, and a healthy (okay, probably unhealthy) amount of chilli - we picked out at least twenty dries chillies as we went. It was hot - very hot - but multidimensional too; the heat was well balanced by acidity, saltiness, the natural juice and meaty taste of the lamb and the amazing fragrance of the fresh herbs. Both Matt and I wanted to drink all the copious broth between us, but feared for our digestive health the next day.

The beancurd had a lovely texture - not congealed and hard like you sometimes find, but slippery, just holding its shape. Slightly more subtle spicing than the lamb - mercifully - and a dry sauce of minced pork, nuts, chilli, garlic and spring onion. Really good, and a nice partner for the lamb.

We were both surprised by the seabass. Take one seabass, batter it, and deep-fry whole, head, skins, fins and all. Set it on a platter of what I can only describe as a 'proper' sweet and sour sauce, and that fairly describes what we had. The waitress filleted it with two spoons! The bass was fresh and clean-tasting; the sauce pungent yet not acrid, like so many takeaway sauces; the batter was crisp and light, and we were impressed.

We were both ravenous, and did justice to the food. With three beers each, egg-fried rice and noodles, the bill came to less than 50 quid for the pair.

If you haven't been, go. Seriously, I'd trade all the crappy mediterranean places in Manchester for this one little gem. It was absolutely heaving (we had to wait ten minutes for a table) and westerners were outnumbered by the local chinese by 3:1.

Edited by culinary bear, 03 November 2005 - 04:58 AM.

[thom]

That's fantastic CB, I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

I have to say, your post eloquently nailed the main point about the lamb dish which is the fact you will wolf the whole lot in spite of the crazy chilli heat.

When I last ate it the spice was intense, and to be honest I was sat there with my chopsticks not quite sure how I was going to eat another mouthful (delicious though it was).

But, you do go back, again and again and again. What I found amazing was how the immense up front heat was completely balanced by the complexity of other flavours in the broth. I don't know how it works, but the stucture of the dish just keeps the fire at arms length, even though you certainly know it's there.

Very clever, and very delicious.

The seabass dish sounds spot on. Thats one on the list for next time then.

Cheers

Thom

[culinary bear]

But, you do go back, again and again and again. What I found amazing was how the immense up front heat was completely balanced by the complexity of other flavours in the broth. I don't know how it works, but the stucture of the dish just keeps the fire at arms length, even though you certainly know it's there.

Exactly - it's a really lovely dish. I wonder if giving blood an hour before had anything to do with my head spinning?

Matt's just back from his 3-month stage at Michel Guerard's 3* place in Landes, and said he really appreciated 'blood-and-guts' food again. :)

Oh, and Thom - have you seen the natty automated paper dispenser in the Gents? It's brilliant....

Edited by culinary bear, 03 November 2005 - 07:11 AM.

[Bapi]

Since I was meeting a Uni friend in the Malmaison Bar at 3.30pm last Saturday afternoon and since I knew where that might ulitmately end up. I insisted that we had something to eat to line our stomachs before we ventured near a pub. Having telephoned the sage like Thom - and him having guided me in the right direction as to what to order- off we set- leaving a rather plished Johny Vegas nursing his pint.

As suggested - we disregarded the "bog-standard" menu and went for the spicy one. First up were cold starters of Sesame Hot Beef and Spicy Pig's intestines. Each dish consisted of thin slices of meat cotaed in an oily and super hot dressing. The sesame beef was not too overpowering as sesame oil can ,on occasion be, if not used sparingly. Then onto the sar of the show the lamb Chilli broth- just as good as has been described above. This dish had the lot- heat, depth, spice,mountains of lamb and brasied greens and those fiery chillis- which I rather foolishly had a few of. Loved it - and at £7.50 for a portion - a bargain which one person would surely struggle to eat alone. The only slightly disappointing dish was the Gung Bo King Prawn- very acceptable but just that. But then I fear anything would have pailed against the lamb dish. With some rice and perhaps a couple of Tiger beers more than we needed, the bill was £40.

Thom- I am up for the sea-bass dish. Will give you the nod when I am given another pass. But as my A&E Consultant friend was found by his wife asleep on the toilet at 4am the follwing morning. It may be some time.

Edited by Bapi, 01 December 2005 - 10:09 AM.

[BertieWooster]

The cod slices in chilli are gorgeous.

[thom]

Bapi, you are so hard-core! Your friend comatose on a toilet, and Johnny Vegas trailing in your wake (a lucky escape for him by God!) - you are an animal.

Glad you liked the Lamb Chilli Broth, it really is the standout dish for me but the seafood has also been excellent and there is a lot more to explore. The sweet-soy seabass is a goer, and Bertie I note your recommendation regarding the chilli cod.

Let me know when you are unshackled from your domestic duties, and the Trotter's Club can reconvene. Have to drag Gary over too, and Bertie if you can find a chink in your busy schedule you should come along as well.

Too much chilli and Chinese beers all round then?

Cheers

Thom

[Mrs Woman]

Hello Thom! Hope you and yours are well

We're off to see Ian Brown in that there Manc tomorrow and will be needing sustenance at some point. The bloke is wanting to go to Kwokman again but I may try to steer him to this place instead. Whereabouts is it and do you know what time it's open 'til (as Kwokman seems to be open all night!)

Cheers in advance

[thom]

Mrs Woman!

Well I never, it's a small world. Good to hear from you; life is good with me and hope all is well with you.

Your bloke likes the Kwok Man? I used to go there quite a lot (they were always good with big parties) and it was fine, but it has gone off a bit over the last couple of years (new owners?) and last year it got absolutely crucified for breaching various H&S laws (pics in the Manchester Evening News of floors covered in stale grease, rat droppings, cockroaches etc...). Put me off a bit.

Still got an appetite? In that case try Red Chilli, as it's great, though I don't think it's open past normal opening hours (11:00? 12:00?). Kai's used to be the place for Chinese at 4am, but since that went up in flames I've tried a few of the more downmarket Chinese on the street betweeen Princess St and the Arch. Not great (I suspect the last one gave my brother food poisoning) but choices are limited past midnight.

Of course, theres a lot of logic behind the adage that places that stay open at unsociable hours serving unsociable people (present company excused of course) do so because they're too poor to compete at the prime times. Of course following a logical argument in the early hours of the morning with full-blown drunken hunger-anger is easier said than done...

Oh, directions: Red Chilli is in a basement (used to be Beaujolais) on the junction of Portland St and the side st that leads off it to the Chinese Arch (I always get Chinatown streets mixed up). It's on the right as you walk down Portland from Piccadilly, halfway between Yates and Princess St.

Cheers

Thom

[Mrs Woman]

Hi Thom!

Unfortunately we got to red Chilli after midnight so it was shut and we went to Kwokman instead. I didn't know about all that health & safety stuff, wish I had as it would have made us go elsewhere and I wouldn't have had such a bland meal. Had some hot and sour soup that was not much of either although it was rather plentiful and had some lovely large juicy prawns in. Even more disappointing was 'pork with aubergine in spicy sauce' - which turned out to be tiny bits of minced pork with a shedload of aubergines in a kind of soy flavoured sludge. Hey ho.

Thanks for the PM, will reply in a mo

Ian Brown was fabulous by the way. He even had the bloke (liverpool fan) singing along to Georgie Best Wonderland (or whatever it is).

[Gary Marshall]

Right.

I'm going to red chilli tomorrow.

I have all afternoon, a willing accomplice, and an expense account.

Tell me what to order

[thom]

Gary,

Good work fella. I say tan the arse out of your expense account, I hear the boss at your new place is a real tightwad...

I'm sure other people on here will proffer plenty of opinions but I'd try and hit the following:

Lamb chill broth
Much described above, pretty firey, but it's so good you just keep eating. tender lamb, wilted lettuce, a mound of garlic and coriander and more chillis then would ever seem sensible, all in a huge pot full of intensely flavoured thin broth.

Sea Bass with sweet soy
This has been on my 'to do' list for a while. CB had it and rated it winner - whole seabass, fried till tender, and served on a plate covered in sweet and sharp sauce. Expertly filleted at the table with nothing more than a pair of spoons too.

Any soups
Might sound like a cop out, but I think the soups are great. The sweet and sour with trio of seafood has a huge pepper kick, but I actually think I prefer the seafood and beancurd soup, witch has a clean taste and real depth of flavour.

Stir-fried eel with Red Chilli
This is one of my favourites. I once had the eel crumbled into chunks, but generally it is served on the bone, with eel the thickness of a carrot cut cross-section into chunks. The meaty eel really works with a sticky sweet glaze, and the chillis give it a kick of heat. Although you can eat it off the bone I tend to crunch the small stuff up like you do with Chinese duck etc.

Pork in broth with fine noodles
I can't remember the exact name of this dish, but I had it with Jay on my first visit. After the full on taste-bud assault of all the chilli, pepper and garlic in the other dishes, this is decptively gentle. But, the pork is wonderfully tender, and the flavour of the broth really comes through.

Spring onion bread
Not that you will be short of food, but I quite liked this bread. It's kind of like a chapati/tortilla style flat bread, with chopped spring onion in it. A little greasy as I think it is fried in the pan, but tasty, and it would be great fodder to eat with a few beers.

Above and beyond that there are still plenty of dishes to go at. I'd had quite a few of them, and although some of the 'safer' choices aren't much better or different than a decent Cantonese chinese I would say on the whole you won't be disappointed whatever you go with.

Make sure though that you get the authentic menu (I think the English menu is the one which also has 'winelist' written on the front), and try a few diversions into the more challenging stuff.

Jay and I had the stir-fried pig intestines with Chinese black pudding which was suprisingly good (if not outstanding enough to warrant a repeat visit) and I have been meaning to get around to the 'hot wok trotter', 'chilli shredded pigs maw' and the intriguing sounding 'blessed the whole family' (purely because I want to know what it is).

Enjoy it, and let me know what you think. Also, try and find some very important clients in Manchester who you MUST visit for a boozy lunch...

Cheers

Thom

[Bapi]

As ever a veritable tome from Thom :) Have spoken to "Al Murray " from Westow and we will reconvene for this lunch in the New Year sir. And eat the above list whilst we are at it.