Red Chilli Manchester Review

There are two Red Chilli locations in Manchester, one on Oxford Road opposite Big Hands bar and the other on Portland Street on the edge of Chinatown. Both locations have the exact same menu and the quality and taste of the food used to be consistent across both sites, however since the Chinatown branch employed a new manager and chef the dishes no longer taste the same, even though it is the exact same menu, more on that later.

The food on the Red Chilli menu is more main land China, Sichuan / Beijing than Hong Kong Cantonese, so there are a lot of spiced dishes with an emphasis on dried chilli, hence the restaurant name I would guess. The food is always incredibly fresh and the portions are very generous. Recommended dishes include hot and sour soup and salt and pepper chicken wings to start. There are two types of hot and sour soup at Red Chilli, the seafood hot and sour soup and the Beijing hot and sour soup, it is the latter that I would recommend, it is the most incredible soup I have ever tasted. It is obvious this soup is made fresh in the restaurant and not pre-bought from a wholesaler as the taste and consistency changes each week. It is difficult to describe the taste because although it is the same soup and tastes the same, generally, the amount of chilli, pepper and vinegar changes weekly giving it a slightly different taste each week. It is almost like comparing  one wine with another. For main course dishes, the gung bao beef and shredded chicken in Cantonese sauce are my favourites.

Gung Bao Beef

The beef is more like sliced steak and is always mouth wateringly tender with the most amazing spiced garlic and peanut sauce. The shredded chicken is not like they typical deep fried crispy chicken that western palates might be used to but big strips of chicken covered in a light batter, deep friend and stir fried in a sweet and spicy sauce. As mentioned earlier, the chef at the Chinatown restaurant has changed recently so the gung bao beef is nothing like it used to be and more like a dried beef with pepper dish. It is for this reason that the Oxford Road branch is now the Red Chilli of choice for me.

Crispy Chicken

With regards decor and service both restaurants have their advantages and disadvantages. Oxford Road is much bigger and you rarely struggle to get a table whereas Chinatown you may have to wait depending on when you visit. The service at the Oxford Road restaurant is often quite poor with waiting times being far too long on occasion and in many cases dishes not coming out at the same time, oftentimes they will bring one main course and a side dish for another person meaning neither party can start to eat. This type of service rarely happens at the Chinatown restaurant. Prices are slightly higher at the Oxford Road branch for some reason and at Christmas they increased prices by 10% and would only accept cash. This is what prompted us to start going to the Chinatown branch, although the change of manager and chef prompted us to go back to Oxford Road.

The managers at both restaurants have changed a lot recently and I am sure this has much to do with the service and quality of food. Parking is easier and cheaper at the Oxford Road restaurant and the food is in my opinion still as good as it always was. I can’t say the same for the Chinatown restaurant.

All things considered though, Red Chilli is one of the best Chinese food experiences in Manchester. There are also branches in Leeds and York.