Red Chili

[david goodfellow]

According to Manchester Confidential they have moved to oxford road into the former Moso,Moso site

This has saved me a bit of a wasted journey as I'm due a chilli fix,perhaps this sunday!

[Gary Marshall]

i thought they'd only just refurbed the original one, maybe there's going to be two?

if it's a wet weekend, red chilli york may well be on my agenda.

[thom]

According to Manchester Confidential they have moved to oxford road into the former Moso,Moso site

This has saved me a bit of a wasted journey as I'm due a chilli fix,perhaps this sunday!

←

They've absolutely not moved, they've just taken on the Moso Moso site. I should know as ironically I am the "Number one Red Chilli Fan" quoted verbatim on Man Con...

I can't remember if I posted this here previously (so many forums so little time) but I think it's a valid point so I'll risk reiteration:

I did note on Red Chilli's website that as well as having expanded to four restaurants already (a predictable Leeds, a less predictable Bacup and Atherton) they also have plans for York, Nottingham and London.

That is hugely impressive and is a real success story for a Manchester based restaurant. I can't think of another Chinese restaurant group/brand which has rolled out so successfully?

I have noticed a few little dips in quality here and there, probably as a result of the operation scaling up, but in terms of quality and value it is still undoubtably the best place in town (and up there with the UK's finest).

Gary, I take it from your last comment York is fully up and running? How did your Red Chilli jaunt go on Tuesday?

Cheers

Thom

[david goodfellow]

According to Manchester Confidential they have moved to oxford road into the former Moso,Moso site

This has saved me a bit of a wasted journey as I'm due a chilli fix,perhaps this sunday!

←

They've absolutely not moved, they've just taken on the Moso Moso site. I should know as ironically I am the "Number one Red Chilli Fan" quoted verbatim on Man Con...

I can't remember if I posted this here previously (so many forums so little time) but I think it's a valid point so I'll risk reiteration:

I did note on Red Chilli's website that as well as having expanded to four restaurants already (a predictable Leeds, a less predictable Bacup and Atherton) they also have plans for York, Nottingham and London.

That is hugely impressive and is a real success story for a Manchester based restaurant. I can't think of another Chinese restaurant group/brand which has rolled out so successfully?

I have noticed a few little dips in quality here and there, probably as a result of the operation scaling up, but in terms of quality and value it is still undoubtably the best place in town (and up there with the UK's finest).

Gary, I take it from your last comment York is fully up and running? How did your Red Chilli jaunt go on Tuesday?

Cheers

Thom

←

Hi Thom,assumption is a funny thing. It does not actually say that they have moved ..However to quote "vast" site and not being able to get my head around TWO manc sites, what can I say.

I did actually phone the Manchester number to verify, and the honorable gentleman confirmed "we have moved".Perhaps we didn't understand each other.

When ever I have been, admittedly on a sunday or during the day they have been very quiet,clearly the evening trade must be more than brisk to support two sites.

For me to travel fifty miles (both ways)to eat chinese you may gather I'm a big fan.

You are of course right this is a massive success story, especially as its part of the manchester dining scene.

I see that the £8 three course lunch is now available at oxford road.Am I right in thinking that this was(is)the one on the portland st,venue?

[thom]

Hi Thom,assumption is a funny thing. It does not actually say that they have moved ..However to quote "vast" site and not being able to get my head around TWO manc sites, what can I say.

I did actually phone the Manchester number to verify, and the honorable gentleman confirmed "we have moved".Perhaps we didn't understand each other.

When ever I have been, admittedly on a sunday or during the day they have been very quiet,clearly the evening trade must be more than brisk to support two sites.

For me to travel fifty miles (both ways)to eat chinese you may gather I'm a big fan.

You are of course right this is a massive success story, especially as its part of the manchester dining scene.

I see that the £8 three course lunch is now available at oxford road.Am I right in thinking that this was(is)the one on the portland st,venue?

Hi David, I reckon you've caught Red Chilli at one of it's few quiet times. I often eat there at lunch and it never seems less then at least half full and in the evenings it is pretty much packed out through the week from Wednesday onwards. Sunday I'm not so sure about.

I love the fact that you can't book a table because it means you can always get in there to eat on Friday or Saturday night as long as you're willing to drink in the bar for half an hour (or even better in The Circus pub a few doors down - they'll even come and get you!).

They are definitely planning to run the two sites concurrently and to be honest they'll play to very different audiences. The Portland St restaurant will suit the Chinese community whose live/work pattern takes them through Chinatown itself as well as the general city centre working/living/playing population.

The Oxford Road site is a shoe-in for students, being slap-bang in the middle of Europe's biggest campus, and will also clean up with the staff (and maybe patients if they can lug themselves out of bed!) from the adjacent hospital. Possibly they'll pick up a Chinese audience from the massive Chinese supermarket just around the corner as it's on-site restaurant, Tai-Pan, ain't great and has been resting on it's laurels.

They'll also pick up business from those in the know who are attending a gig at The Academy, a performance at The Contact theatre, or an exhibition at The Whitworth (all within a couple of hundred metres) and who knows, they might even convert some of the many spice-hunters who are heading to Curry Mile in Rusholme barely half a mile down the road.

As for the set menu's I'm sure they'll have ported them straight across from Portland St. I would say they might tweak the prices down to reach the pockets of students and nurses etc but to be honest considering the value they currently offer I'm not sure how much lower they could go without paying you to eat there.

Personally I'm not a fan of set lunches as they tend to play safe with please-the-masses dishes which don't show what the restaurant can do. For £8 a head for two you could get the hot poached lamb and rice for two and maybe accompany it with spring onion bread or Beijing dumplings?

See now I'm hungry all over again, and I've only just had breakfast...

I hope the 50 miles trip was worth it, let us know how you got on!

Cheers

Thom

[david goodfellow]

Hi Thom,assumption is a funny thing. It does not actually say that they have moved ..However to quote "vast" site and not being able to get my head around TWO manc sites, what can I say.

I did actually phone the Manchester number to verify, and the honorable gentleman confirmed "we have moved".Perhaps we didn't understand each other.

When ever I have been, admittedly on a sunday or during the day they have been very quiet,clearly the evening trade must be more than brisk to support two sites.

For me to travel fifty miles (both ways)to eat chinese you may gather I'm a big fan.

You are of course right this is a massive success story, especially as its part of the manchester dining scene.

I see that the £8 three course lunch is now available at oxford road.Am I right in thinking that this was(is)the one on the portland st,venue?

Hi David, I reckon you've caught Red Chilli at one of it's few quiet times. I often eat there at lunch and it never seems less then at least half full and in the evenings it is pretty much packed out through the week from Wednesday onwards. Sunday I'm not so sure about.

I love the fact that you can't book a table because it means you can always get in there to eat on Friday or Saturday night as long as you're willing to drink in the bar for half an hour (or even better in The Circus pub a few doors down - they'll even come and get you!).

They are definitely planning to run the two sites concurrently and to be honest they'll play to very different audiences. The Portland St restaurant will suit the Chinese community whose live/work pattern takes them through Chinatown itself as well as the general city centre working/living/playing population.

The Oxford Road site is a shoe-in for students, being slap-bang in the middle of Europe's biggest campus, and will also clean up with the staff (and maybe patients if they can lug themselves out of bed!) from the adjacent hospital. Possibly they'll pick up a Chinese audience from the massive Chinese supermarket just around the corner as it's on-site restaurant, Tai-Pan, ain't great and has been resting on it's laurels.

They'll also pick up business from those in the know who are attending a gig at The Academy, a performance at The Contact theatre, or an exhibition at The Whitworth (all within a couple of hundred metres) and who knows, they might even convert some of the many spice-hunters who are heading to Curry Mile in Rusholme barely half a mile down the road.

As for the set menu's I'm sure they'll have ported them straight across from Portland St. I would say they might tweak the prices down to reach the pockets of students and nurses etc but to be honest considering the value they currently offer I'm not sure how much lower they could go without paying you to eat there.

Personally I'm not a fan of set lunches as they tend to play safe with please-the-masses dishes which don't show what the restaurant can do. For £8 a head for two you could get the hot poached lamb and rice for two and maybe accompany it with spring onion bread or Beijing dumplings?

See now I'm hungry all over again, and I've only just had breakfast...

I hope the 50 miles trip was worth it, let us know how you got on!

Cheers

Thom

←

Just clicked on your link on another ongoing topic,but can not access the menu as they have "exceeded their bandwidth quota"

I am salivating at the thought of trying again ,the lamb hotpot,gongbao chicken,crispy pork.etc However I am going to look at your previous recommends as its too easy to stick with the same dishes because I enjoy them so much.

I think the lamb hotpot is my very fave dish even though i spend a lot of my time picking most of those fiery little red buggers out of the dish.Its stunning value given the portion size and we generally doggy bag it as we always have three courses,and as you know they are incredebly generous portions.

I have been meaning to try Red n Hot for ages now but on my drive up to Manchester,I am already eating(in my mind) those same dishes mentioned above.

Well,another time perhaps.

Its a cert for tomorrow now(Red Chilli).

Edited February 21, 2009 by david goodfellow (log)

[Gary Marshall]

morning thom,

the york branch has been open a while now, 6 months maybe? it's now firmly on the rotation and is i think now my favourite casual dining spot, usurping akbars which i love.

Even better mrs m has caught the bug and completely independently suggested that we should go on sunday afternoon

going to have a good look for the shredded pork and garlic shoots and if you make it david, let me know if you undiscover any gems!

[david goodfellow]

morning thom,

the york branch has been open a while now, 6 months maybe? it's now firmly on the rotation and is i think now my favourite casual dining spot, usurping akbars which i love.

Even better mrs m has caught the bug and completely independently suggested that we should go on sunday afternoon 

going to have a good look for the shredded pork and garlic shoots and if you make it david, let me know if you undiscover any gems!

←

Oh Gary I wish that I had the menu in front of me now.

I may try the shredded pork myself,although Mrs G served me up some stunning belly pork for thursday dinner.

I may go down the seafood route as Thom is clearly,well in the know.

I may well end up with the lamb hot pot!

Oh decisions,decisions but what decisions.

In the mean time I shall make do with a Wrights Pie,while I watch The Mighty Potters beat Portsmouth(pretty please God).

Enjoy your meal and we will share notes over the coming days.

[david goodfellow]

Well guys I did make the journey back,and what a good feeling it is,when you return somewhere and it is the same staff.

This is especially true when you know its the same chef.

Old Xie is his name.I know its correct because I thought I had heard it wrongly and I asked the manager to write it down for me.

Xie(his surname)roughly translates to "thanks",however the manager suggested that I do not call him Mr Thanks.

Every time that I have been here,he has been in the kitchen.(where are you Mr Ramsay).

I had it in my mind to try some completely different dishes this time,but in the back of my mind still craved the Spicey hot poached Lamb.This was put to bed by "she who must be obeyed",stating that it was too hot and somewhat overpowers the other dishes.

Mindful that to argue the point,may have influenced the mood for the rest of the day I happily conceded,thinking that we could get an initial order in of three mains ,and tag the hot pot on later.

As you may gather I am not a real "starter fan"apart from the"ribs" I think the real action is the mains.

Well we pondered,and pondered a bit more and finally decided on Gary,s recommend of stir fried French bean with chilli (what else) and minced pork.

We also tried the Painter Daqian spring chicken

Also on the list was Stir Fried crab with a choice of three sauces,spring onion and ginger/sweet chilli/big grandma's sauce.

Now I have a feeling that I have eaten this dish before with the sweet chilli sauce,so we opted for "big grandma" instead.You have to be careful with this one if you have brittle teeth, as a big part of the fun is biting and sucking the innards(ooh you are awful).Be careful also,with the spiky parts of the legs they can be lethal.

Each and every dish was superb ,the wonderful saucing,all different,and all very morish,had me craving for that extra dish,but I was defeated by the portion sizes and was absolutley stuffed.

The very simple looking pork dish is packed full of flavor and the Daqian chicken with its sweet sticky sauce was divine.The crab is sufficient to feed two people.

and so very delish.

We have eaten at many starred restaurants over the years,and thoroughly enjoyed most of them,but hand on heart this place really hits the spot time after time,which begs the question.

Is this not a candidate for at least a bib gourmand?

P S the bill was a "cheap as chips" £34 plus 10% tip which included a pint of lager,a large glass of wine,boiled rice,and spring onion bread! Oh,nearly forgot the perfectly drinkable Manchester tap water,(foc).