MELBOURNE | 川湘楼 Red Chilli House is a Southern Chinese restaurant that’s opened in a three storey historic building in Chinatown, from Steve Xu, the owner of Queen Street favourite Red Cliff. I popped in to take a look for What’s On Melbourne.
Expanding on the menu at Red Cliff, Steve’s new restaurant features plenty of favourites from that restaurant, plus an assortment of new dishes. The menu is predominantly drawn from the culinary traditions of China’s Hunan, and Sichuan provinces, in particular Steve’s hometown of Chongqing.
Chongquing is known for its distinctive jiang hu cai style of cuisine, named for the fact that they deviate from traditional dishes. Jiang hu cai dishes are known for their liberal use of chilli and Sichuan peppercorns, and draw inspiration from China’s diverse regions, fusing Chinese and Western culinary techniques. Forgotten dishes are revived, and new dishes are created.
Seafood is a big focus at Red Chilli House, and this was reflected in the selection of dishes that I tried when I had a chat to Steve and told him that I was happy for him to bring out the dishes that best showcased what Red Chilli House is all about.
Braised yabbies, served with your choice of garlic or chilli sauce, over a bed of thin wheat noodles, is a must order dish. The chilli option is an exercise in balance and restraint, with bold flavours that pull your tastebuds in different directions without being overpowering. Also be sure to order the kongfu master sauerkraut fish (suan cai yu). Its an aromatic broth filled with green peppercorns, pickled mustard greens, and catfish. A wonderful expression of the classic hot and numbing aspect that Sichuanese food is known for.
Other dishes include things like DIY malatang (Sichuan-style hot pot), sliced beef brisket in golden sour soup, and chilli deep fried fish. For non-seafood options, I highly recommend the fried chicken cartilage with salted egg sauce, roasted Sichuan lamb ribs, and cold, numbing mountain jelly with beef tripe salad.
To drink, its Chinese beer, tea and soft drinks. You can also BYO wine with a corkage of $5 per person.
川湘楼 Red Chilli House
119 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9798 8888
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Sun – Wed: 11:30am to 3:00pm; 5:00pm to 10:30pm
Thu – Sat: 11:30am to 3:00pm; 5:00pm to 12:00am