The proof is in the food at this classic Chinese Restaurant based at Millennium Square in Leeds serving a vast range of both very traditional Chinese cuisine and the more “English-Chinese” dishes, that are all delicious. Overall rating – 8/10.

I have eaten here a few times over the years and with the run up to the Chinese New Year I thought why not, let’s give Red Chilli another visit and actually review it. To be honest there aren’t many (or should I say not enough?) Chinese Restaurants in Leeds City Centre, but luckily, this is a good one!

Serving a VAST range of Chinese cuisine, the menu here is huge! You can select from the more “unusual” yet authentic “home-style” Chinese dishes such as Jellyfish, Pigs Intestines, Frogs Legs, etc to more recognised dishes like Chicken/Beef/Prawn in Sweet & Sour, Salt & Pepper, Black Bean, etc.

As the menu was so vast, and a lot of things took our fancy, we couldn’t decide what to go for, so we opted for one of the Set Menus/Banquets for 2 people. We went for the cheapest option which was £25pp – a bargain for how much food we had – it kept coming, and coming, and coming!! Even between courses you’re given free nibbles of pickled Chinese vegetables and salted peanuts.

So the first course was a choice of Hot & Sour or Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup – we went for the Hot & Sour as I really enjoy this soup and my friend had never tried it before. We both loved it and we were given a large portion filled with lots of ham and prawns and the usual vegetables etc that you would expect.

Next course was a plate of Starters; Crispy seaweed – this was ok but not something I would have usually chosen so we didn’t finish this. Pork & Shrimp Spring Rolls – not being a massive lover of Spring Rolls myself these were still good and came with lots of filling. And Spare Ribs in Cantonese Sauce – delicious and lots of them but they might be a bit tricky for some to eat as they were small and in batter, but still had the bones in them, so be careful!

Third course (nope not got to the mains yet) was an appetiser of Minced Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I hadn’t eaten anything like this before but it was bloody lovely to be honest! You are served a plate full of whole lettuce leaves, and a plate full of chopped up chicken and vegetables with lots of hoisin sauce to make your own wraps. Very messy, but really refreshing and delicious. We could have had this as our main to be honest, there was definitely a big enough portion!

Finally we get to our mains. By this point we probably really didn’t need any more food, but when it came out it smelled and looked absolutely mouthwatering so we obviously had to give it our best efforts! Within this Set Menu there are 4 mains to choose from, we went for the Crispy Shredded Beef in Cantonese sauce – a good classic dish which was delish. And the GongBao Diced Chicken with Peanuts & Dried Chilli – something different for me but this was really good and I would eat this again. This came with a LARGE portion of rice and large portion of bean sprouts to share. All the food was really good here, but yes I did end up taking 4 boxes of leftovers!! (Mum was happy!)

Overall the food was great, the service was polite enough and very organised but no real interaction, I think the whole place could probably do with a lick of paint/bit of a clean as I can’t recall it being updated in the years that I have visited, however the place was busy for a Monday night and I think that proves how good the food is here. Check out their website here.

Please, please, please do share your own views and comments with me on Red Chilli, Leeds and if you haven’t visited yet, I hope I have inspired you to go!

Share any photos of your visit here or anywhere else I have reviewed, or any meals that you have made from the recipes I have posted, for the chance to be featured on my social media pages! Find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or email me at jen@jensfoodblog.com.

Happy munching 🙂

Jen

@jensfoodblog

#jensfoodblog

x