Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 25 and Version 16 of Red And Hot, NW1 1JD

Sichuan restaurant just off Euston Road, between Euston Station and King's Cross St Pancras Station. They aim for authenticity of atmosphere as well as cuisine; laughing and talking loudly is encouraged.

The menu presentation has evolved since this place opened, though the dishes remain similar. It used to be divided into cold dishes and hot dishes, and included the advice that the best way to order is to have all your dishes arrive at once, rather than starters followed by main courses, and that the usual custom is to have your meat/fish/veg dishes first and then plain rice at the end "to make sure that you're full". As of December 2009, however, the menu has been rearranged into the more-Anglicised categorisation of starters, main courses, accompaniments, etc, and the more "interesting" dish names (those translated directly from the Chinese, e.g. strange-flavoured rabbit, fire-exploded beef tripe) have been replaced by less exciting titles.

We've visited here a few times now, in 2007, 2008, and 2009 and have never had trouble getting a table (even on a Friday evening in December 2009) and never seen it full.

Kake, claud, Juliette, and Sam first visited on a Tuesday evening in June 2007. When we arrived at 8pm, it was reasonably quiet, but got busier and noisier (though not unpleasantly noisy) later on. We'd booked, but probably didn't really need to. The first dish we decided on was a cold one, "strange-flavoured rabbit"; it wasn't particularly strange but was certainly good (mind out for the bits of bone, though). Two of our three hot dishes were ones I'd had before, but these renditions were among the best I've tried: fish-fragrant aubergine, and ma po tofu (a replacement for the preserved egg dish we'd wanted, which was off the menu that day). We also ordered fire-exploded beef tripe, which turned out to be a good contrast to the other dishes. Some reviewers have complained that the dishes here seem to lack variety, all involving "a slick of fierce-looking red oil"; I do see their point, but I recommend they try the beef tripe. Our fifth dish was chicken in Chong Qing special sauce; rather soupy, and not hugely interesting. Five dishes, a £20 bottle of Rioja, and plain rice for four came to £78 including service.

Kake's next visit was on a Saturday lunchtime in April 2008; again, we'd booked for our party of three, but really hadn't needed to as the place was empty when we arrived at 12:30pm and stayed almost entirely empty throughout our meal. Strange-flavoured rabbit and fish-fragrant aubergine were again good; we also tried the dry-fried green beans (very good), the drifting-fragrant prawns with cumin (excellent flavour but slightly overcooked), the stuffed wonton dumplings (perfectly fine), and the hot and sour soup (disappointingly lacking in complexity; the only note that came through sufficiently was the sourness). These five dishes, plain rice for three, soup for three, tea for three, and two large bottles of water came to £66 including service.

Our most recent visit was by bob and coworkers, on a Friday evening in December 2009. Arriving at 8:30pm, we had no trouble getting a table as there were only eight other customers. As mentioned above, the menu is now structured into starters and mains, so we went with the flow. bob's hot and sour soup starter was "in a Beijing style" according to the waiter, so not actually hot as such. Jack had "diced rabbit" (née strange-flavour rabbit), which he really liked (and bob agreed). The other two of our party had chicken and sweetcorn soup; one of them felt it was a bit salty.

Moving on to mains, hot and numbing pork (sliced pork in broth) was pretty good, pork not overcooked and certainly hot and numbing as described. Sichuan pig's blood special was interesting and quite tasty, incorporating luncheon meat (which worked quite well — don't be put off by this) along with the congealed blood. Pig's ears in chilli sauce, a cold dish, had plenty of chilli heat (the chef made it hotter for us on request); we weren't entirely sure about this one and might not order it again. Stirfried pig kidneys were very good; the sauce wasn't all that hot but it had an interesting flavour beyond the chilli heat. Chong qing special baby chicken (chopped and deep-fried crispy chicken with dried red chillies) had a rather high bone-to-meat ratio — our waiter explained that this was a "very typical" dish but it was a bit of a pain to eat.

Aubergines with minced pork were pretty good — the vegetable fans in our group really liked them. Pea shoots in vegetarian stock with preserved eggs and mushrooms were also good; the pea shoots were really tasty and the broth was good too. Dan dan noodles came in quite a small portion, and not as good as those bob tried recently at No. 10 in Earl's Court; the noodles were really soft, and there was less meat than at No. 10. Plain steamed rice also came in quite a small portion.

Service on Kake's 2008 visit was a mix of amusingly incompetent (when spoken to in English) and acceptable (when spoken to in Mandarin). They refused to give us tap water, and they only had one kind of tea. Things were better on bob's December 2009 visit; service was much more helpful and they were happy to supply tap water.

bob's verdict: I will be going back (and Jack wants to come too).

Kake's verdict: I'd be happy to accompany bob!

See also:

• Time Out review
• The Independent review
• Chowhound thread
• Dos Hermanos review
• Valkyrie Karen's review
• Hollow Legs review
• Food Stories review

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