| It’s Warm at Red 'N' Hot |
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| Food | |
| Tuesday, 08 January 2008 | |
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I usually do not write a review of a single restaurant because I prefer to write themed articles about food, such as where to get bubble tea or the best dim sum restaurants. However, I could not resist writing about my experience at this new Sichaun restaurant in Chinatown. This is not so much a restaurant review as a story about my experience dining there. Red 'N' Hot is riding the wave of a Sichuan invasion in London, following in the heels of Angeles, Sichuan Restaurant, Snazz Sichuan and Bar Shu, all of which I frequent for good and mostly authentic Sichuan food. When I first walked by Red 'N' Hot, I thought it looked disastrous. The décor outside and inside looks like the ubiquitous stereotypical Anglocised Chinese restaurant on some dreary high street in a part of England where the only Chinese residents are the restaurant owners and staff. The front window displayed a dozen or so buffet table offerings that clearly needed some love and attention, or perhaps customers. It did not help that the restaurant sat on that stretch of Charing Cross Road full of sad looking restaurants and businesses that seem like they have been exiled into the fringes of lively Chinatown. However, a friend of mine claims that this Sichuan restaurant may be the best in London. I reluctantly but curiously decided to give it a try. The experience I had there ranks as one of the most frustrating, interesting, and ultimately satisfying meal I’ve had in a long time. We walked in on a Saturday night without reservations. I really doubted we needed one gauging from my previous walk bys. A mistake. It was packed full. We informed the waiter of our willingness to wait and were acknowledged but he did not take our names. It was clear they were understaffed that night. He looked stressed in a way that you know the night is not going all that well. Probably someone or two called in sick. On one big table sat two women who were the only non-Oriental customers and who were also the only ones eating from that sad looking buffet table. On this busy night, when all the other guests were ordering from the Sichuan menu, the buffet table must have been at its all time low (literally, the trays were almost all empty, each with a few pieces of dried meat or vegetable jutting out of some dried up starched sauce). Not surprisingly, the women looked miserable. In addition, they could not get the attention of the busy waiters. As they waited, they were looking curiously at what the other tables were eating, plates full of chillies, nothing resembling the gloppy mess on their table. Finally, they went up to the counter and asked for the bill. Both women complained about the food and the lack of service. One of them asked for a discount as she barely touched any of the food. The cashier/waiter was embarrassed and decided to not charge her for the food. When they left, we asked the waiters if we can sit at that big table. We did not mind sharing if others want to sit there too. He said it is better to wait for a table so we agreed, only to find one minute later that two separate couples who came in after us sat down at the table to share. We made it known to the waiter our disappointment and he meekly apologised and said a table is opening up soon. So far, the experience we had would have made many people walk out the door and never returned. However, one thing kept me there – the food that was sitting on the customers table looked so authentic and tasty. I had to try this food regardless of the torture I had and most likely will continue to experience for the rest of the evening. When we were finally seated, we had already memorised the menu so we waved down one of the waiters (or rather blocked his path so he couldn’t escape us). You could not really tell if they were waiters. Judging from the way they walked, carried dishes, and spoke to and served customers, it seemed like their parents, uncles or aunties had just been pulled them off their computer games to help out on a busy night. We ordered kou sui ji, my favourite Sichuan dish consisting of chopped pieces of cold chicken drenched in a complex chilli oil sauce. In addition, we had to try the sui jiu nil ro, slices of beef stewed in a chilli broth with Chinese greens, and ma po tofu, the signature Sichuan staple of tofu cubes stewed with minced beef, leeks, and of course, chilli sauce. As we waited for our food, we witnessed a scene that only can happen in a restaurant as authenticly Chinese as this. One of the cooks came out from the kitchen to help out the overwhelmed and under-experienced wait staff. He is middle aged, with a Buddha tummy, wearing a cook’s hat, and began yelling at the wait staff the minute he walked in, a scene I’ve seen in many casual Hong Kong or mainland Chinese restaurants. He clearly had no experience ever working at the front of the house where one actually faces and speaks to customers. He tooked an order from a table and the entire restaurant could hear every word he screamed in repeating the order to the table. Then, he overheard another table speaking on their mobile phone to a friend who is late to meet them in the restaurant and apparently cannot find the restaurant. He came over to the table and insisted on speaking to the friend on the phone to give him directions. It became clear that the person on the other end of the line did not understand his directions so he offered to meet the person at the pagoda in Chinatown and walk him to the restaurant. Again, the entire restaurant can hear this conversation. During this exchange, the couple at the table befriended two girls sitting next to them and started exchanging stories about which city/village they came from in China. After the phone conversation, the cook bantered cheerfully with these two tables like old friends. I would pay extra to have such a waiter serve me. At one point, in the middle of all this, all four waiters gathered around a dish that had just come out of the kitchen to try to figure out which table it was meant for. When the food arrived, we were in a mood to eat again. The food was simply excellent. Each dish was uncomprisingly authentic, unapologetically cooked for the tastebuds of mainland Chinese diners used to Sichuan food you would get in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province in China. Therefore, it is not surprising that every one of the patrons appear to be from mainland China. The ma po tofu was alive, bursting with the tongue-numbing grinded Sichuan peppercorns and chilli bean sauce. The sui jiu nil ro was perfectly stewed in a chilli broth which was full of flavour. Before we ordered, I was thinking I could forgive the unprofessional service (the waiters were friendly so I cannot fault their personality) and poor atmosphere if the food rises above this. The food has excelled. But more importantly, I walked away touched by the refreshingly genuine, warm and quirky service provided by real people, not waiters. You don’t get this in London restaurants. Unfortunately, you may not get this much longer at Red 'N' Hot when their service professionalises. Red 'n' Hot 59 Charing Cross Rd Chinatown London WC2H 0NE (020) 7734 8796 www.rednhotgroup.com |
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