255 replies to this topic

[olicollett]

I couldn't find the green beans with chilli and pork :(

[Gary Marshall]

the pork is under 'stir fried french beans and pork'

had it last night post races, dumplings as per and a hot pot for the first time in ages, it was probably the hottest one i've had.

think i've got my mate suitably addicted now.

[olicollett]

the pork is under 'stir fried french beans and pork'

had it last night post races, dumplings as per and a hot pot for the first time in ages, it was probably the hottest one i've had.

think i've got my mate suitably addicted now.

Cheers Gary - think I'll have to try the lunch next time i'm in leeds :)

[eatenmess]

went there last friday, awesome stuff, razor clams, chilli squid to start then braised pork joint and whole sea bass with stir fried veg and a sauce which had an extremely tough guy or chicken amount of chilli in and around.

pork and sea bass were just too delicious i'm always a bit cautious about ordering a good fish in some places but this was so perfectly cooked i couldn't believe i was in a supposed Chinese restaurant.

that with a jade rice (beautiful with juicy chunks of prawns in) noodles and egg fried rice was so much food. feasted on it for the rest of the weekend.

did somehow 'lose' a £20 note in the bill. we all counted the bill before we left the table then Mr Wong came out saying we hadn't given him the right money. so as not to cause a fuss i just gave him the extra 20 and my number. 2 days later he called up and said he has found the £20 which was very honest he could have simply forgotten about it or carried on with his waiters story. will be going back for sure when im next in the area.

[thom]

Nice story about the £20. It's a refreshing bit of honesty, in many restaurants that would have gone straight in a pocket, or at best a tips jar.

Jealous you tried the razor clams too, i went last week and the specials list had about four razor clam dishes on it all of which tempted. Sadly I was with someone who claimed to have tried Red Chilli three times in large parties and had not been wowwed on any occassion so naturally I was compelled to hit him with double whammy of hot poached lamb and spring onion bread.

He's one of us now...

I'm due back there on Tuesday and unless they've cleared their job-lot of intriguing seafood I'm going to be treating myself to one of the razor clam variations. Which dish did you plump for Eatenmess?

Cheers

Thom

[eatenmess]

im not too sure, it was off a separate specials menu, it wasnt too hot and it was slightly sticky with a few cooked chilli in there.

its not everyday someone is honest. he seems a really nice chap though, was talking to him about hong kong and china and what not.

[thom]

Yeah, it was a seperate specials menu which was a loose set of four or page laminated pages.

Your one sounds like it might be razor clam in the infamous "grandma's sauce" which crops up all over the standard menu; it looked damn rich and sticky in the picture and that was the dish which caught my eye.

Yum, roll on Tuesday.

Cheers

Thom

[eatenmess]

thaaaaaat was it! grandma's sauce. her sauce was damn good.

[Harters]

Don't you just hate it when you're the only punter in a place throughout the whole time you're there?

I was out and about this morning and remembered that Red Chilli has a branch in the land that time forgot - or Atherton as the locals call it.

The menu's a bit different from the Manchester one - for instance there's no french beans with pork - although there is just french beans with chilli. And some of the more offaly offerings don't seem to be there. However, truth be told, I was feeling a little off colour and didnt think I could face anything particularly challenging.

So, gongbao chicken and boiled rice. Enormous portion (which I almost managed to clear) - peanuts providing crunch; chilli more than a background flavouring; halved cloves of almost raw garlic giving a "twang". Good dish - I liked this a lot.

[olicollett]

Another visit to Leeds - Spring onion bread and Stir fried french beans with minced pork were both excellent as expected! The heat on the beans was perfect, not too hot and it complemented the flavours of the beans and pork without drowning them out

[Gary Marshall]

The drop in temperature this week meant red chilli has gone right up the list of places i fancy eating in at the moment, and friday lunchtime provided an excuse for a trip.

I went with two RC virgins and had warmed them up for my recommended dishes (no prizes for guessing) beforehand and they were happy for me to order, though proving that they can't be trusted, the minute my back was turned i came back to the table to discover prawn crackers had been ordered, no, no, no, all stomach capacity would be required!

First up beijing dumplings and crack dipping sauce, i could eat these all day long, also guotie dumplings which this time seemed to have a slightly different filling to the beijing and a different sauce, in york they're virtually identical. (there's definitely variations between branches on many subtle things).

Made the mistake of saying to bring all the mains when ready and that meant they were arriving as we were scoffing the starters but no great issue.

pork and beans were declared the number one dish, quite chilli hot , nicely oily, a great winter dish. Second favourite was the hot pot, though i notice it is now billed as mutton, not lamb, and this one was lacking in the 'maggot' chillis entirely, whether this was them thinking we couldn't handle the truth - i mean the chilli or a change of style i don't know, but it was a shadow of its hottest self but still hot enough to be interesting and was declared a success. Final dish the more mainstream crispy shredded fillet beef, which was in third place, the proper RC dishes were clear favourites! rice and spring onion bread completed, and with a few beers and tea £20 a head.

another couple of converts

[Harters]

Lunch in Manchester.

Braised pork belly with preserved cabbage.

Mountain of tasty, slithery, fatty piggy. The cabbage in with the small amount of clingy sauce giving a savoury/salty note. Some briefly cooked choi sum providing crunch. Absolutely lovely.

As an aside, I was gobsmacked at the amount of food being tackled by the various young thin Chinese couples also lunching. Vast. Simply vast.

[david goodfellow]

Careful John, you'll become addicted like the rest of us

[SaladFingers]

Talking of vast amounts, I took a freind there recently and between us ordered five starters and a couple of mains, thinking we'd make an afternoon of it but there's only so much you can eat!

[Nayan Gowda]

Went to the Manchester branch last night, and quite frankly wasn't impressed.

Serving staff seemed to have perfected not making eye contact, spilling drinks without mopping up and serving across people while they are eating.

I was the only meat eater and had S&P Squid, Crystal Layer Pigs Ears and Mrs Spotty's Bean Curd.

The Squid was passable, but lacked freshness and punch. The Pigs ears were rather good in their slithery, porky, crunchiness, while the Mapo Dofu wasn't the best rendition I've had (I think I prefer the one at Red n Hot), but definitely better than I can make at home.

The three other diners all went for the 18GBP Vegetarian Banquet. Gave me the chance to try the spring onion bread, which was really greasy, under-seasoned and hadn't even been nodded at by a spring onion; the other elements of the banquet were equally forgettable.

Going by the other reviews on this thread, I'm putting the whole experience down to a particularly bad night for the kitchen and FoH so will not discount returning.

As a slight aside, I thought the wine list a touch odd. Nothing really on there that matched the food. Might give them a call to have a chat about that...

[Harters]

Another solitary lunch - the oft reported French bean/chilli/pork dish.

I do like the almost total dryness of this dish - makes such a change from most Chinese offerings. And, with so little sauce, there was almost nothing to slosh down the front of my shirt.

By the by, I asked for "still water". Got given a glass of tap (which was fine) and was charged £1.50 for the privilege (which was not so fine.

[Timperley Chris]

I'm ashamed to say that it has taken me until yesterday to break my Red Chilli duck. Finding myself alone in Manchester and rather ravenous I thought it was about time to right that wrong. I ordered Bejing dumplings and hot and spicy poached pork (following recommendations on here)with steamed rice. First observation was the portion size - immense. Second observation was how damned fine the scran was! Right from the warm salted peanuts, through to the bucket-sized inferno of chillis, garlic, lettuce and pork, this is the closest thing I have found to food as it is in parts of Hong Kong and southern China.
I swilled a bottle of TsingTao and some Chinese tea and left sweating heavily, grinning from ear to ear and only seventeen quid lighter.

ACE!

[MaLO]

Lunched in the Manchester branch today. It was magnificent.
I have been looking at this thread for ages (some of the earliest post are hilarious) but today was the first time I had managed to get over to Manchester. After an earlyish start, no breakfast, and then the joys of the Trafford centre, I was ready for a feed.
I nearly always choose Indian or Thai over Chinese as I don’t like the standard Anglo Chinese slop most places dish up - usually featuring a shocking sweet red sauce with sad meat topped with mounds of onions no matter what you order.
This was different. The individual dishes both looked and tasted different, moreover they tasted good.

We ordered
Beijing dumplings
Poached salty duck
Hot spicy beef
Spicy hot poached lamb
Sichuan Mrs Spotty’s beancurd with minced beef
And some fried rice

There was so much food - too much in truth. The lamb was huge – easily enough to feed two with nothing else but a little rice. When I saw the waitress approaching with a vast cauldron I didnt imagine it was for me! I still have a heap of the lamb and some beef in the fridge for when I get peckish later on.
With a beer, a glass of juice and all the grub it came to about £36 for two. Bargain. Can’t wait to go back.

Martin

[Soundman]

Just returned from our first visit to Red Chilli Leeds for a couple of months, and I'm pleased to report it was excellent, guotie, salt pepper squid and spring onion bread to start, then mutton hotpot (the one loaded with chillis and schezuan peppers), braised pig joint, green beans with pork and chilli and some rice.

It was the perfect combination, all dishes we've had before, but cooked as good as they get. The best thing is, there's a carrier bag full of leftovers waiting to go in the fridge, so that's breakfast sorted.

[david goodfellow]

It fealt like a form of betrayal, last year, when I jumped ship and popped around the corner into Chinatown proper to try Red-n Hot. What I thought at first was to be a brief flirtation, turned into a bit of a love job, and we have been going there (mostly) ever since.

Our recent visit to London's Chilli Cool clearly brought comparison to my first Sichuan love. So I needed to re-establish our relationship as it had been tested last year by way of a poor meal.

I knew which two mains to order and my wife wanted to try the Soft shell crab again but this time with a different sauce from the one we nearly sent back last July.



Just as I remember it, nothing changed, even the weather. Downstairs to heaven.

The manager tells me chef Old Xie has retired and is back in China
New chef ( and perhaps just as accomplished ) is Gang Wang, pictured here with our charming waitress, who,s name escapes me.



One must try again dish was the Gongbao diced Spring Chicken, a sticky goo-ey plate of loveliness.



I'm not quite sure what it is that draws us back to this dish, again and again. Perhaps its the sweetness, the crunch from the peanuts married with the spring onion, or the tender chicken and thick garlic slices. Just a fab dish for us.

One new thing for us on this visit was an additional nine page menu of "specials" and new arrivals. We were tempted by a few but opted for the safe route for this visit, but there really is a massive choice on both menus, most of which deserve exploration.

Another "safe" dish for us, Stir fried French beans with chilli and Minced Pork. Real comfort food, tasty mince with crunchy beans and not too much chilli.
Bang on the money.




She who must be obeyed, thinks the Spicey hot poached Lamb is too hot to be enjoyed, I of course disagree, but I am a bloke so of course we just had to have it, most if not all of it for me, and a big doggy bag to take home. Yee Hee.



Now this really is a huge dish of food and the picture does not convey the true size, as the quantity is nearly twice that of the other dishes.

Surprise, surprise Cilla, the first couple of spoonfuls are acceptably pleasant. No fierce heat, which raised a smile on my wifes face tempting her to try some. We both agreed, just right.
My next couple of spoonfuls caught me out big time, I must have chomped down on seven or eight birds eye chills which chokingly induced an irritating cough which I was concerned would attract the attention of the other diners. I did'n't want this, as tears were coming into my eyes and beads of sweat in the form of a moustache was evident under my nose. Lack of respect has caught me out and taught me a lesson, its still as hot as hell. I have to take refuge in the boiled rice and glugs of water.

One thing is evident between here and Chilli Cool and that is the different types of chilli used. Here they use the exceedingly hot birds eye propped up with sichan peppercorns and chilli oil. Chilli Cool (and Red-n-Hot)use the larger dry red chilli which is no where near as hot, more aromatic when dry fried to release the pent up aroma.

Our final dish was Stir fried soft shell Crab, chilli (what else?) salt and pepper.



Again a mini mountain of food, with absolutly no waste in it at all. Very pleasant eat and somewhat different texturally to the other food. We managed to eat all of this dish, so no need to doggy bag it. Yum, Yum.

Yes we know gluttony is a sin but we did order a bit extra so as to share our meal a bit with you, and we did of course have a doggy bag so things were not so bad after all.

We are more than happy to report our love affair with Red Chilli has resumed and furthar courtship shall continue over the coming months.

Our preference between Chilli Cool and here is most certainly the latter and its a damb site closer to where we live.

Watch this space.


All the above (enough for four or five) including a couple of glasses of wine, a pint of lager, and tip was £50.

Thank you.

Edited by david goodfellow, 19 September 2010 - 02:46 PM.

[Soundman]

Don't know if you've noticed David, but the hot poached lamb has improved recently, it's served differently, in a dish which highlights the lamb rather than making it look like a bucket of chillis in broth! Only on our last visit to the Leeds branch was it served like this, so I was interested to see in your photos that it's served similarly over the Pennines now. As for the Green beans and pork dish, a true classic, the same everytime, and no worse for that.

[MacD]

I really wish they would open a branch in Liverpool. We have one (to my knowledge) place that serves some very good Sichuan food, but as it is the only place I have eaten it, I have nothing to compare it with ... It's called Chilli Chilli, and the picture of your lamb dish looks very similar to the beef hotpot they do, and it's gorgeous. They also do the beans and pork, a great spicey, sour, glass noodle soup, some minced pork dumplings and some others too. Very addictive.

Anyone know if Red Chilli have any expansion plans to this end of the M62?

[david goodfellow]

Don't know if you've noticed David, but the hot poached lamb has improved recently, it's served differently, in a dish which highlights the lamb rather than making it look like a bucket of chillis in broth!

I think your right, the lamb is most prominent now, hiding the chillies between the layers of meat and iceberg lettuce and that is what caught me out. Still I shall know next time.

Anyone know if Red Chilli have any expansion plans to this end of the M62?

I'll ask the question on my next visit

[Gary Marshall]

i find the hotpot varies everytime i have it, sometimes it's incredibly hot, others it's fine, i suppose it depends who's cooking.

[Harters]

I don't know what the lamb dish at Red Chilli used to look like but David's photo makes the new presentation quite similar to the version of the dish round the corner at Red & Hot (as his, my preferred choice for Sichuan in the Rainy City).

By the by, when I was last wandering through Chinatown, I spotted a Hunanese place. Anyone tried it? Can't recall the name, but directly opposite Ho's Bakery.

[david goodfellow]

Is this the one your on about John?

Good old Manchester Confidential has its finger on the pulse of the City.

I am slightly confused in as much as I thought it was a new place, but according to this its been around some time.


Just checked and they are different places. The latter is indeed across the road from Red n Hot but I have not been to either of them,,,,,,, yet.

[Harters]

I'm confused now David. I didnt think there were 2 Hunan places. I wasnt paying too much attention at the time. I'd just come out of Ho's and was munching on one of their mini honey buns (well recommended)- whatever the name is, it's directly opposite Ho's (and , therefore, opposite side of road from Red & Hot)

[MacD]

I finally made it to Red Chilli last night - I've been really keen to try it, as I have only ever been to one Sichuan restaurant (Chilli Chilli in Liverpool) and after all these rave reviews of Red Chilli, I wanted to see if our one cut the mustard (or should I say "cut the chilli"...)

I wanted to try the hotpot dish for comparison between the two places, and I also wanted to try something new. So we ordered the beef hot pot, belly pork with preserved vegetable casserole, spring onion bread, green beans with pork and boiled rice.

(As an aside, Prawncracker asked upthread whether the hot pot dish everyone raves about on here is a lamb version of "water boiled beef" which is a literal translation of a very traditional Sichuan dish. It is definitely the same dish - it's also called water boiled beef in Fuschia Dunlop's book. The secret behind its umami and real depth of flavour is in the chilli bean paste, which is the main ingredient of the sauce).

Anyway - for what it's worth, our thoughts (and comparisons, where we have them before) on the dishes we had are:

The hotpot was great - very similar to the one we have at our regular haunt in Liverpool, but not as hot. Having said that, people on here have said that the heat can vary from day to day and chef to chef, as it can in our place. But it was delicious nonetheless. I would say that the broth was slightly better than the one we're used to, but that the use of iceberg lettuce is a bit strange, as it becomes soggy very quickly - the traditional dish would usually have celery and chinese leaves, which remain crunchy.

The belly pork with preserved vegetable casserole was not what I was expecting from the reviews on here. It looked and tasted pretty anaemic (although after eating the hot pot many things would ...). It was comforting in a way, but still rather bland, especially as the menu gave it a two chilli rating - there was absolutely no heat or chilli in it at all. And I couldn't taste or see any preserved vegetables - it was all fresh chinese leaves, glass noodles and a little bit of pak choi. The slices of pork and leaves were in a pale watery broth.

I was convinced they had given us the wrong dish, so I queried it, but they insisted that it was the right one. There is another similarly named dish on the menu - Braised Sliced pork Belly with preserved Cabbage - which does not have a chilli rating, and could be what I got. But even if it was, there seemed to be no evidence of the preserved cabbage (and it has a really distinctive flavour). We had the leftovers for breakfast this morning, and it seemed to improve with a bit of age, and with the addition of some soy sauce, but the jury is still out on that one.

The French beans with pork was nice enough - a different rendition to what we're used to. The Red Chilli version includes chilli bean paste and is more generous with the pork. "Our" one is simpler, with whole green beans, whole dried chillies and sea salt - I think I prefer it like this, as the plain crunchy beans are a better foil for all the complex flavours in the other dishes.

Finally, the spring onion bread - I hadn't realised we had had it before in the Liverpool restaurant until I tasted it. I'm not sure that I like it - it's very like a Chinese version of Roti, but the grease was too much for me, and there was very little spring onion in it. The one we'd had previously was smaller and flakier in texture and had more flavour - but I wasn't a great fan of it then.

Overall, it was good stuff - the hot pot in particular. If anyone has any ideas on the mystery of the belly pork dish, I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

The staff were lovely too. Prices are very good, but the beer has a big mark-up at £3.60 a bottle - should have stuck to the draft. I was pleased to try another Sichuan place and also pleased that I think the one we have closer to home seems to measure up ok! I hope I haven't bored you with my musings... :o)

[Harters]

Dunno what the pork dish was - but it doesnt sound like the pork with preserved cabbage - which doesnt have noodles or broth.

[codheadred]

Mac D I have been past chilli chilli a few times on the way to the station I will definitely try it, I wanted sichuan friday but settled for another trip to delifonseca rather than drive to Manchester.