Red Chilli Chinese restaurant

[Gary Marshall]

best get a table booked for friday night then.... might save me from a station kebab on the way home.

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I missed this. I think Heathcote's new venture - Grado- had been mooted for the evening , but I am more than happy to dine back here.

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i thought grado for mid-afternoon snack.

[thom]

Another week, another dinner at Red Chilli. Saturday night - me, my better half and my dad and his.

We got there about 8pm, and as per normal it was packed. Only ten mins crammed in the little bar though and then we were seated, with menu's present and correct and mouth's watering.

Some of the old favourites made their usual appearences, but we also tried a couple of new dishes (nothing too "extreme eating", but new to us none the less). We had the following:

STARTERS

Spring onion bread

Everyone loves this. Two flat-breads, almost pan-fried like a roti or chappati, with spring onion chopped through them. Sliced into six pieces per bread we still ended up fighting over the last slices as they go sooo well with a Tsingtao beer.

Beijing dumplings

Another old stalwart - eight or nine plump little dumplings, seemingly filled with prawn, mixed meat and veg and chopped herbs. Served with a dark and vinegary dip which I could drink neat.

Salt and pepper baby squid

A new one for us, and well worth a go. Beautifully tender little squid, with the tastiest of tasty light coating, flecked with pepper and a hint of chilli. HUGELY moreish, but luckily we got quite a pile (even for a starter portion).

MAINS

Some slightly uninspiring chicken dish

My partner had this so I blame her. It's diced chicken which appears to be in a light dusting of salt and pepper batter (lending a crispness to the flesh of the chicken rather encasing it in batter). It's served dry, along with chopped chilli's and spring onion. Tasty, don't get me wrong, but not inspiring.

Shredded Pork with Garlic Shoots

This was great actually. It's basically the shredded pork and grean beans dish someone refers to upthread, but with a change of greenery. The pork is tender fragments, and the sauce is intensely meaty (almost Bisto-ish, but in a good way). The revelation though was the garlic shoots. They didn't taper or look in the least bit like leaves or shoots. Instead they were perfect thin green cylinders, about 3mm across and chopped to match-stick length. They had a snap and a pop reminiscent of aspargus, and a wonderful garlicky taste that was almost floral. Gorgeous.

Poached Lamb Chill Broth

Described in amazing detail elsewhere up thread, this is the standout dish, and one of the top five things I have ever eaten. A huge bowl of broth (it would easily feed two with rice) it has slivers of thin tender lamb, wilted leeks and lettuce, all piled up in a thin stock that is stacked with chillis of all descriptions, garlic, fresh herbs and more chilli and Sichuan pepper. Incredible.

Cod With Chilli

This dish seems to vary depending on the chef. On occassion it has had a dusted coating (similar to the chicken) which I feel is not needed, on Saturday though it was unadored, and a beautifully fresh and perfectly cooked piece of fish. Broken up into chunks of fillet it is served with sliced chillis and this fantastic thin, dark brown fungus (which has a texture disturbingly like the ears of small rodents - took my back to childhood days owning gerbils etc). The sauce is almost more of an oil and is stained orangy-red by the chilli's (as is the fish itself). A lot of heat, but very, very tasty.

With this we had boiled rice for four people. We ate till we were full (if not sick), and didn't finish everything off though we gave it a damn good go. Beers, the odd glass of wine and water added £24, but the cost of the food? Everything? Three starters, four mains (one of which could feed two) plus rice? All of it hearty portions? It was £12.50 a head.

Incredible, and one of many reasons Red Chilli is still one of my favourite restaurants. All this and the excitement of knowing there is still half of the menu I have yet to explore (much or which I have not eaten anywhere else, or even heard of).

The only fly in the ointment was the service. Normally it is friendly, sometimes it is clipped and efficient, but tonight it was sloppy. Despite double-checking the waiter got two of our mains completely wrong, and waiting for relacements spoilt the pace of the meal.

All in all though, a joy.

Cheers

Thom

Edited April 21, 2008 by thom (log)

[Gary Marshall]

Tuesday night boys beer night the other week was infiltrated by our respective wives and as such we headed into the bright lights of York to sample the delights of the newish red chilli, (although fair to say we were dragged if not quite kicking and screaming, slightly petulantly across the road from our favourite the Aagrah indian whose lamb chops i could eat well, for a very long time).

I had warned them of the nature of the menu but as friends are chef/foh respectively are game on for most culinary adventures, we tried not to go down the chicken with ginger stir fry route.

i have absolutley no idea about chinese food so it was unfortunate that i was left in charge of the ordering, but in the kingdom of the hungry the one who's had drunken meals in red chilli is king, so off we went.....

couldn't remember any starters of merit from previous trips/reviews so we had the mixed platter of satay, spring rolls, dumplings, salt and pepper ribs and an extra prawn toast - got to have prawn toast, and i'm a fan of dumplings so we thought that was job well done.

what arrived was the aforementioned platter minus the dumplings but with prawn toast and naturally the extra prawn toast we had ordered. I called the waitress over with the accepted sign, a waved napkin.

She was convinced i was wrong and the platter came with prawn toast, i was pretty convinced my reading & memory skills weren't that bad, though at one point even my wife muttered 'you are sure about this aren't you?' though that was more due to the fact that our table was now surrounded by earpiece wearing staff who had come out of no-where bit like the agents in the matrix, it was slightly intimidating, though as the she got the menu out to prove her point, thus of course proving that i was right, a swift conflab with the boss concluded that the dumplings would now accompany the main course, disaster averted.

the platter was nothing special to be honest, no hint that this was a better than average operation.

next up was a crispy duck, well you've got to have a crispy duck haven't you? it was duck and it was crispy and there were pancakes, not much else to add.

we then stepped up to dishes i could remember, poached lamb hot pot and spring onion bread, a pork dish that there was a nice picture of in the menu and a chicken dish hmmm, can't quite remember that one either, but rest assured it wasn't with ginger and spring onion.

the lamb hot pot didn't disappoint, and bloody hell that onion bread is greasy isn't it? far more suited to an absolute skinfull as an aperitif, but although i wasn't going mad on the beer the ladies were on their second bottle of gavi, so it all went. the pork and chicken were fine, and the dumplings did make an appearance and were superb.

all in all a pleasant night out, we could probably have ordered less, so we racked up a fairly big bill (in the context of an impromptu night out) of £130+ but the everyone seemed happy enough, it's certainly a good looking restaurant the fit-outs are certainly getting glitzier as the chain rolls out.

so i'm getting there, i think i've had about 6 meals at red chilli, and now i have nailed down a starter and a main course, eventually i'll be able to make up a full banquet without relying on the old standards

[thom]

You're getting a taste for this Gary, though disappointed to not see a return of the chilli pigs maw...

I was in the Manchester branch on Saturday actually, and it was another good meal. One caveat, the service was warmer and efficient at the table (my two sons got spoilt) but getting the food out of the kitchen was painfully slow, especially with said two boys overtired, hungry and going a bit mental.

They did apologise (the staff, not my kids) but the restaurant was only two thirds full (2:00pm on a Saturday) so I can't see a reason for it. We ordered spring onion bread as soon as we sat down to try and placate the kids. Then the waitress double-checked later that we did want the bread before the mains ("Just whatever comes first!") and then it STILL took about another twenty minutes.

Excruciating...

Anyway the spring onion bread was delish as per normal (yummy grease does go well with a Tsingtao or two) and we got a chicken with spring veg for the kids which was spot on for them. Super-tender slivers of chicken in a middling but tasty brown sauce and plenty of mange tout, carrots and a couple of types of Chinese mushroom.

Soph had scallops with celery and lantern peppers. The scallops were beautifully cooked, but to be honest I'm not convinced about pairing them with celery. Tasty enough as component parts, but it didn't wow me as a dish. Not sure what is meant by a lantern pepper either but they looked like birds eyes to me and added a nice bit of heat.

I had the chilli pigs maw which is a (very sizable) cold starter and this time I was sober enough to remember it! It was actually delicious. The dish is heavily dressed with chilli and sesame oil, and the maw itself lent only the faintest piggy undetones. It's really all about the texture and it is very different from any stomach tripe I'd had previously.

It's actually got quite a hard, rubbery texture with a real bite to it, and is served finely sliced into little strips on a bed of cucumber-based salad. I'm guessing it could have been boiled or poached? Although it doesn't sound particularly appealing the mouthfeel is actually quite nice and chewing on it is a pleasure when you get to suck all the intense chilli-sesame dressing off.

Can't remember the exact price actually but with beers, rice and drinks for the kids (yard of ale, snakebite and black etc) it came in the high £30's. Not bad at all.

Oh, and just to add we finished off with honey buns from Ho's Bakery around the corner (6 small ones for a pound). These are gorgeous, and wonderfully simple - soft, slightly sweet dough shaped into a small bun, brushed with glaze and with a decent doughnut-style hidden filling in the middle consisting of a paste of coconut and honey. Very more-ish...

Cheers

Thom

[Gary Marshall]

i've been reading sharks fin and sichuan pepper by fuschia dunlop on holiday this week and it certainly makes a visit to red chilli more likely, this time perhaps no chicken with ginger and spring onion!

more interesting in the early part of the book when she is learning the ropes of sichuan cookery , especially for me as i know less than nothing about 'chinese' food never mind regional chinese cookery

[CalumC]

Looks like im paying this place a visit sometime.

[Gary Marshall]

i've been reading sharks fin and sichuan pepper by fuschia dunlop on holiday this week and it certainly makes a visit to red chilli more likely, this time perhaps no chicken with ginger and spring onion!

more interesting in the early part of the book when she is learning the ropes of sichuan cookery , especially for me as i know less than nothing about 'chinese' food never mind regional chinese cookery

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well 2 months later on a freaking cold day and armed with some insight into sichuan cookery i went to red chilli leeds yesterday for a quick lunch, i didn't want to force my dining companions into the far reaches of the menu and at £8 for 3 courses they were very happy with the lunchtime menu, whilst i went straight for the poached lamb broth with some spring onion bread, and by god it was good.

i'm not one for super hot dishes and found this very manageable, yes the heat builds up, but in a warming way, not in a omfg how much chilli is in that? way, despite the fact that there are f*ing tonnes of the blighters in the soupy sauce.

previously i would never walk past akbars in york to go to red chilli but at the moment armed with a little knowledge courtesy of Dunlop, i'm more than a little keen to go back. Friday probably.

[thom]

Get you Gary! We'll get you back on that cold chilli pigs maw before long...

I went back for the first time in too long with Jay about a month or so ago and was stunned to see the menus and interior had been completely updated. Gone was the standard red/green/gold Chinese decor and in it's place was an almost chic (if cheap) fit out with lots of dark wood, moody lighting and a bamboo ceiling.

It was actually pretty cool.

New dishes on the menu were good to see, and generally standards were as high as ever.

I can't remember everything that we ate (the waiter tried to stop us from ordering more than two or three dishes. He failed) but we had the fillet beef rolls (like spring rolls but with a soft, maybe rice noodle skin) which were good, prawns with chilli (delish and messy) and chopped lamb ribs (gorgeous fatty little nuggets of chopped ribs on the bones, almost dry crusted with cumin and coriander) and more.

All in all it was great, though I did notice that the same chilli sauce (maybe premade en masse?) cropped up on the beef rolls, the prawns, and possibly even one other dish (which escapes me for a moment). It was very tasty indeed, but hopefully not an indication that the food production is becoming too centralised and soul-less.

Oh, just remembered, I actually did pop back with a friend about two weeks later. Lamb chilli broth, rice, spring onion bread. The classic combo. No suprises, thus it was arse-kickingly good.

I also tried Red Hot and Spice (if that's the right name?) around the corner which is a new Sichuan place with sites in Birmingham and London. It's an upstairs site, the decor is fine, the service is flaky, and it has the most complicated menus I've ever seen (enigma code like multi-option buffets with all sorts of caveats and provisos).

In fact on one of the menu's they charged you for food left on your plate to stop you over-ordering which means if you're tight on cash you'd have to eat till you were sick or stuff it in your pants to avoid a surcharge.

What about the food though? Well, it was fine. The dry-fried lamb with cumin was (if I say so myself) less good than the near identical version I make at home from that Chinese Food Made Easy book (one of the simplest and tastiest Chinese dishes ever - I eat it weekly), a baked fish dish was fine, but the revelation was the introduction to "smashed cucumber with delicious sauce".

Effectively it's chopped cold cucumber (the initial "smashing" with a cleaver is meant to feather the edges of the chunks so they absorb the sauce more) with a hot thin sauce of soy, rice wine, maybe chilli oil, garlic and sesame oil. It's astoundingly moreish and apparently it's a traditional light side-dish to have with hot, oily Sichuan dishes.

I shall look for it at Red Chilli, and recreat it at home (it's also in the Chinese Food Made Easy book).

For me Red Chilli still holds the top spot, no contest.

Cheers

Thom

[RDB]

Funny that Thom, I raved about the crushed cucumber on another post somewhere on here. It really makes cucumber very exciting and as you say moreish

[thom]

Funny that Thom, I raved about the crushed cucumber on another post somewhere on here. It really makes cucumber very exciting and as you say moreish

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Hello there, long time no speak! So they do it at Red Chilli? Excellent, that's on the menu for my next trip then (give me a week or two).

Possibly for another thread but have you tried Juniper redux yet? Great reviews and I was on the phone to Michael Rimenschneider only today. All sounds very exciting and I'm hoping to get down next week.

Cheers

Thom

[RDB]

Funny that Thom, I raved about the crushed cucumber on another post somewhere on here. It really makes cucumber very exciting and as you say moreish

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Hello there, long time no speak! So they do it at Red Chilli? Excellent, that's on the menu for my next trip then (give me a week or two).

Possibly for another thread but have you tried Juniper redux yet? Great reviews and I was on the phone to Michael Rimenschneider only today. All sounds very exciting and I'm hoping to get down next week.

Cheers

Thom

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Hello indeed. No, sorry it was at Red & Hot I had it. No am hoping to go at some point, in my mind I am calling it Restaurant Michael Rimenschneider to avoid any previous associations

[Mr Wozencroft]

Just to let you know there are a few smacked cucumber recipes in fuchsia dunlop's Revolutionary Cookbook. Few things in life are as satisfying than smacking a cucumber.

[thom]

Just to let you know there are a few smacked cucumber recipes in fuchsia dunlop's Revolutionary Cookbook. Few things in life are as satisfying than smacking a cucumber.

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The version in The Chinese Food Made Easy cookbook seemed a bit weird as it had slivers of carrot in it and lacked any sort of chilli (which I'm sure was present in the Red and Hot version).

So I went with her general recipe for the dressing - garlic, balsamic vinegar (she suggested this as alternative to some Chinese black vinegar), toasted seasame oil, Shaoshing wine and light soy sauce, and a pinch each of salt and sugar - but excluded the carrot and added a splash of chilli oil.

She did the dressing cold but I served it up hot (onto cold smacked cucumber - I liked the contrasting temperatures) as again I'm sure that's the way it was in Red and Hot.

It was bloody delicious and took five mins start to finish.

And if "whacking one's cucumber" isn't a rather fine new euphemism then I'll eat my double entendre.

Cheers

Thom

[Iestyn]

I've seen this thread surface repeatedly, and vaguely noted the rave reviews but no more than that as I'm never likely to be in the area.

However, I noticed that there is a new(I think- haven't been there for a while) place on Charring Cross Rd called Red & Hot which is Schezuan with sister restaurants in Manchester and Birmingham.

Given the reviews on here if its a sister restaurant it'll be straight to the top of my to do list, but I just wanted to check if it is, as its called Red & Hot, not Red Chilli as per the title. Anyone know?

Thanks.

Apologies- having re-read the thread, I see Red Chili is an entirely different place as it is in Manchester and Leeds, not Manchester and Birmingham. So do any of you Northeners have a view on Red & Hot?

Edited December 15, 2008 by Iestyn (log)

[Harters]

Iestyn

From Thom's mention above (#133) I think he is referring to Red & Hot.

Been past the Manchester one a couple of times but thought the menu layout very off-putting so havnt yet been in. Perhaps one day, when I've more time to suss out what to order.

John

[RDB]

I have posted about it on one of the Manchester threads, I really enjoyed it. Menu long and portions huge, but the food is spot on. Not that I am an expert on chinese food, but what I liked about it was, it tasted nothing like what I associate with chinese food.

[Gary Marshall]

just been to red chilli for a swift lunch, they've pulled the usual business lunch offer and replaced it with a significantly more expensive 'christmas lunch menu' . there is indeed a surcharge on the bill , headed as such, the waiter said it was for december only and went to the staff, who knows?

anyway onto the good stuff, great beijing dumplings to start, then the green beans, chilli and pork dish for moi, a random mushroom with dumpling on top combo with pak choi for and two stir fry lamb dishes. All v tasty the bean dish especially so, though i thought it also had the garlic shoots in too but now see that's another dish. I can see that would be a good partner to the lamb broth.

[Gary Marshall]

a late 'light' lunch yesterday as a prelude to a few xmas drinks in york, steamed pork buns 3 of them like tennis balls in size but luckily not texture , the beijing dumplings which are the ultimate hangover fix, and the lamb broth which was noticably hotter than the leeds version but after the inital 'F$% me that's hot' got scoffed with some egg fried rice. my mate couldn't believe the lamb was a portion for one in theory.

the food was £17 !

we left stuffed and rolled into the living room for a few pints and then a few hours later rolled back to Akbars for some dinner

[Gary Marshall]

Another red chilli trip last night, beijing dumplings and guotie (sp) to start then lamb broth, french beans and garlic/chilli, a guong something chicken (with chilli and peanuts) and a crispy fillet steak with yes, chilli, rice and spring onion bread.

the lamb broth was slighlty more manageable than last time, the beef a bit like beef in ok sauce with a batter and the chicken a bit like hoi sin sauce, the winner all agreed was the beans, by far.

so now i need some new dishes, i've no idea about chinese and don't fancy the offally bits, had a mild shock last night when a plate of what looked like a gelatinous sliced terrine appeared, couldn't think what it could be and it appeared to be nothing we'd ordered it was crunchy pigs ears and swiflty taken away.

so any further recs appreciated, i don't know if they have different menus in the branches but i couldn't see the bean dish but with garlic shoots as described upthread or the smashed cucumber but i might have been looking in the wrong place and the dish descriptions aren't exactly verbose are they!

ps the discretionary charge has now gone.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Gary Marshall (log)

[RDB]

They don't do crushed cucumber as in the one at Red & Hot, but do a delicious sliced cucumber with crushed garlic.

Like you Gary I am not up on chinese food, but have always found how Shiczuan cooking in particular treat veg is fantastic.

[Carlovski]

Like you Gary I am not up on chinese food, but have always found how Shiczuan cooking in particular treat veg is fantastic.

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I agree - in particular the way they usually top them with pork!

[Gary Marshall]

red chilli on sunday, getting the hang of this now, as you sit down order the drinks and the beijing dumplings as they can take 15 mins to prepare (but worth it) then settle down and get stuck into the menu.

this time we tried another couple of new dishes, salt and pepper baby squid to start and garlic shoots with shredded pork. After a slight diversion where they first bought out salt and pepper ribs (note this does happen quite regularly here, i do point at the menu to ensure maximum clarity but not too bad, last time they brought us a pressed pigs ear dish that had most of the table blanching in horror), they took that away and eventually the squid arrived, they were fine, reasonably fried but not exceptional in the way the dumplings and dipping sauce are.

Mains were the beans and pork dish which is just superb and the aforementioned shredded pork and garlic, now this was ok but just not in the same league as the prok and beans, no hot pot as mrs m isn't a massive fan and i wanted to try the garlic pork but couldn't miss out on the green beans!

2 portions of egg rice a few beers (at a credit crunch unfriendly £3.70 a pint!) and a very direct when paying 'would you like to add a gratuity?'.

I can forgive them as the food and service warrants a tip but it's hardly best practice!

[Amy D.]

I went to the red chilli in leeds on saturday, it was the first visit by myself, the OH and a couple of friends, and after reading this thread I was expecting great things. My OH and a friend both went for the forever vegetarian set menu, the highlight of which was the vegetarian hot & sour soup - a revelation for my soup hating boyfriend, although the main tofu and aubergine dishes were more average. Whilst they both enjoyed the set menu, it definately wasn't the best value for money in this restaurant & if one of them hadn't also been eating the meat dishes I think they would have gone a bit hungry, or at least needed to order more food. For the carnivores of the group we ordered the Guotie which were really moreishly tasty.

Then arrived the spicy hot poached lamb, in its huge bowl, the lamb was suclently tender, and the broth complex with spices. It seemed a shame that someone tried to ruin the dish by adding quite so much chilli (easily triple the amount you could ever want to consume in a single serving), and then adding half a jar of firey chilli oil in the centre of the dish, and then a handful of chopped chillis on top. I enjoy chilli, I really do, & I was expecting hot, maybe a some persperation, I even stupidly thought my seven years of eating Bradford curries may have built up my tolerance levels. Obviously not. The flavours were brilliant, it just proved very painful eating.

The belly pork clay pot arrived second & my friend feeling defeated by the lamb quick moved to eating this dispite her disapointment that the pork wasn't in big chunks but instead came in long thin slices. Personally I found the pork bland after the lamb dish, although this could easily be due to the destruction of my tastebuds by the firey chilli broth, so I continued to eat the lamb, desparately trying to avoid the central mass of chilli oil. still with two of us eating the lamb we ended up leaving a good portion, & whilst I can't bear to waste food I really couldn't imagine trying to eat leftovers of this particular dish.

I enjoyed red chilli & will definately return as the restaurant is good value, has a great atmosphere & some good food. though I think it'll be long time before I try the chilli poached lamb again!

I have to say though foodwise (from what I've had so far) the red chilli is outshone by two other great value chinese restaurants I've been to recently - one Szechuan in the capital is "My Old Place" on Middlesex St, & the other is a good example of cantonese and local to me is the "Rising Sun" in chesterfield.

[thom]

easily triple the amount you could ever want to consume in a single serving

No, no, no! Untrue! Wrong! I am living proof.

To paraphrase The Simpsons if you don't eat it how will you ever become desensitised?!

Personally I do find the initial heat intensely peppery (as do most first-timers) but it's certainly not unbearable and you soon eat through that.

The trick is don't eat the little dried chillis. They are there for the heat and flavour that cooks out of them into the dish, after that they can be treated as garnish.

Unless you're a real heat-freak.

Glad you broadly enjoyed your experience and that you'll be back though. You'll build up your tolerance in no time!

Ohhh... I'm all in the mood for hot poached lamb now...

Cheers

Thom

Edited March 9, 2009 by thom (log)

[Amy D.]

I could have done with homer simpsons wax mouth aproach!

I didn't see any little dried chillis in the dish but lots of flecks of chilli, either dried or well cooked fresh, throughout.

perhaps I should try the mancunian version...