Red Chilli

70-72 Portland Street

Manchester

M1 4GU

H & G planned a fantastic night out, which included karaoke at Lucky Voice and then dinner at what is apparently one of the UK's finest Chinese restaurants, Red Chilli. They specialize in Szechuan and Beijing cuisine, and since we were in a large group of eight, we went a little crazy when ordering. Half a crispy duck with pancakes, two orders of salt and pepper ribs, two orders of spring rolls and an order of Beijing dumplings were soon on the table and everyone dug in eagerly. The crispy (and not-at-all greasy tasting) spring rolls had what was maybe a charsiu pork filling which was delicious, though some of us burned our mouths on them as they were so piping hot. Duck was scrumptious and flavorful, and the ribs were amazing, to the point where I was left gnawing on the bone to try and get every last scrap of meat off of it. Then the mains started coming, and what you see pictured above is the spicy stir fried belly pork, baby pak choi with garlic sauce, and a spicy poached lamb dish. Some of the other things that were ordered include spicy fried prawns, spicy fried chicken, a meat and seafood hot pot, lemon chicken, and a noodle dish which A had to send back as it ended up being spicy even though she specifically asked for something that was not spicy at all. Aside from that, and the rather boring crispy noodles (stick to the steamed rice), everything else was fantastic and we finally had to quit once everyone started moaning about how full they were. All of this food, plus a couple of rounds of beer, came out to slightly under 20 quid a head (normal people that don't order like greedy nutters should be able to get out for half that). If you're ever in Manchester, make sure you go here.