Are you a die-hard chili-junkie, locked in a constant search for a stronger buzz, that undiluted high? Did your last attempt at blowing your taste buds with a vindaloo land flat?
Well fear not, for London, as the most cosmopolitan city in the world, is a trove of different cuisines. And where there are chilies, there is probably a restaurant serving them in London. So let’s take a look at a couple of easy taste-bud blowers.
Despite all the silly bravado, there actually is a rational explanation for liking chilies. They ARE like a drug. According to recent thinking, their consumption leads the body to release serotonin, the chemical the brain uses to create happiness and pleasure. In the case of chilies the secretion is caused by the initial feeling of pain created by ingestion, which the body instinctively counters.
So where can you get a potent kick in a restaurant near you? Well, you may not be surprised to read that your local Indian is one place. I am sure we have all heard of vindaloo. But that’s nothing, compared to phall (pictured below). Any Indian restaurant I have been to can serve up a phall, which, like so many “Indian” standards including Cobra beer and chicken tikka massala, is actually a British dish invented by people of Asian descent in the UK. But Indian restaurants hardly ever put it on the menu, and when I order it, I invariably get a worried look from the waiter who then says “sir, you know it is very spicy?”. Once the dish arrives, its red colour spells danger, and it also reflects its make-up, which is basically ground chillies and a touch of ginger in a tomato base. If you feel like having a personal sauna, followed by an exhilarating buzz once the heat wears off, then this is your dish at the Indian. It also tends to ensure that nobody else at the table touches your platter and you are able to eat it peacefully while still tasting other people’s orders.
But it’s not just well-known cuisines like Indian and Thai food that pack a punch. It’s also worth knowing of that region of China called Szechuan, which is known throughout Asia for its chilies. Of course, while we speak of hot Indian and Chinese food, we tend to forget that chilies are indigenous to neither of these regions. They started in America and were exported worldwide where they were then bred differently in different regions, leading to the wide variety we now find.
Szechuanese chilies are not the hottest in the scale, but they definitely pack enough of a punch to get noticed. They are also quite large and flavourful, and give a nice unique taste to Szechuanese cuisine. So if you like chinese food and chilies, then leave the Cantonese staples of Chinatown behind and look a little harder to find Szechuanese. There are at least two such restaurants in the West End worth mentioning.
The first, Bar Shu, is the glitzier alternative. It is located on Frith Street in Soho and boasts a nice dark designery interior with intimate tables, as well as separate rooms for large parties. Its food comes in rather expensive, at 40-50 pounds a head. But it is good, offers many alternatives, and is known, according to a Chinese friend, as the dating hangout of Chinese embassy staff. It is also worth trying the fiery Chinese liquor on sale there. Maybe stick to a single shot however as it is almost as strong as lighter fluid (I haven’t checked on the latter, and just thinking of a certain scene in Withnail and I).
The second option is a street away on Charing Cross Road, and is called Red & Hot. It is almost exclusively packed with Chinese, much more relaxed and while the décor doesn’t compete with Bar Shu, the food definitely does, and the price tends to come in at a much more reasonable level between 20 and 30 pounds a head. Make sure you try the specialty, of pork or beef “Sichuan Style Lavishly Topped with Chilli & Sichuan Pepper”. The only thing as memorable as the food is the awfulness of the menu translations and some of the staff’s English. I remember asking if they had snake, for the waiter to say “yes, yes” then bring me a menu of “snacks.”
Anyway, there are some suggestions. I am very open to other people’s advice on places to go in London off the beaten track to experience hot food,so let me know your tips in the Comments.
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