Red & Hot

Part of a nationwide group of Szechuan restaurants, Red & Hot is more upmarket than its address would have you believe. Surroundings are cool & calm, with starched white tablecloths & unflustered staff, but the menu reads like an A to Z of potent regional specialities. Famous appetisers of ‘husband & wife pork lung slices’, marinated duck’s tongues in chilli sauce or hot & spicy beef tripe are all here. Likewise, popular mains include fired-up, dry-fried frog’s legs or tender kidney ‘flowers’ (cross-hatched pig’s kidneys that ‘bloom’ when flash-fried). If searingly hot offcuts aren’t your thing, you might prefer sesame-laced dan-dan noodles, gong bao chicken (watch out for the Szechuan peppercorns) or king prawns with peppers in garlic sauce. At lunchtime, bowls of noodles are mostly under a fiver.