It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride of excitement and disappointment (but mainly excitement) with this place. Let me explain.
Much anticipation ensued when we spotted a newly-opened Chinese restaurant around the corner from my work earlier this year. Brick Lane has more restaurants than you could shake a stick at, but has lacked a decent Chinese for a long time. The next nearest lunchtime option is Noodle King; about the best thing I can say about this place is that their servings are significantly larger than a Pot Noodle.
Our excitement increased when we spotted Red Bar’s menu—full of Szechuan and north-eastern Chinese specialities, many of which we recognised from the excellent Gourmet San (further down Bethnal Green road, but not open for lunch). Now Szechuan food excites me—it’s spicier and more intensely flavoured than the Cantonese-style food which most Chinese restaurants in London serve. What’s more, as a less well-known and spicier option, it’s usually prepared to a higher standard for more of a Chinese clientele.
My excitement was soon tempered, though, by a number of failed attempts to eat there at lunch. Red Bar’s opening hours can be a little sporadic, and it was a while until we got to eat there.
Boy, was it worth the wait.
The first thing we tried—Yu-Hsiang shredded pork—stuck with me as a favourite. Tender strips of pork, Chinese mushroom and vegetables come in an intensely flavourful sauce, full of garlic, chilli oil, Chinese wine and vinegar. Servings are big, and with some steamed rice this will leave you very satisfied.
I developed other favourites over a series of visits. Beef brisket with tomatoes is really tender, served in a thicker, delicately spiced sauce which is full of flavour. Lamb on fire (who can resist “on fire”?) comes wrapped in foil and surrounded by a slightly strange burning gel; it’s marinated in Chinese wine and spiced with lots of cumin, which for a moment almost recalled some of the curry joints down the other end of Brick Lane. But with black bean, the wine and other flavours, it makes for a tasty combination which I’d not tried before.
Another stand-out is sea bass, baked and served in foil with spring onions and (again!) a rich, intense sauce which also features cumin. Western cooking usually tries to avoid overpowering a fish like this, but here it totally works, the fish juices adding into the mix of flavours and producing something really rich and sublime.
This being Szechuan food of course, chilli does feature quite highly. Most of the drier dishes come with both smaller dried red chillis (quite lethal, but mainly just there to garnish and imbue flavour) and slices of the larger fresh red and green chillies, which are quite edible and tasty when cooked (taking the seeds out helps a bit). Some dishes, like the chilli king prawns, come with a giant pile of both.
It’s not all spice though; one soup starter we tried, while very large, was rather too watery. On the other hand, braised chicken and mushroom (which turned out to be virtually a soup) is excellent, with a dark fragrant broth and a generous helping of different dried mushrooms. Veggie dishes also turned out great, with yu-shiang sauce suiting the sweet sautéd aubergine particularly well.
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After a bunch of evening visits, it was a while until we tried the place again at lunchtime. So there was another rush of excitement a few weeks ago when we spotted the introduction of an unlimited £5 lunch buffet, which on our first visit included a dish of giant mussels!
The mussels sadly never returned; and the buffet options on the whole leaned a bit more towards their Cantonese-style takeaway menu, which we generally ignore at dinner in favour of the more interesting options. But these dishes are better done than the usual Chinese buffet, and with more of a chilli kick too. The buffet featured things like fried chicken, a great stew with beef, pork ribs, fish in a sauce, battered fish, tofu, noodles, egg-drop soup and more. Tasty and great value for money.
Disappointment was in store again, though. Demand seemed low for the buffet (we were the only customers sometimes) and they stopped doing it. Here’s hoping it comes back!
One question which many will ask is: how does Red Bar compare with Gourmet San along the road (one of London’s most recommended Szechuan restaurants)? It’s not yet as popular, so no queues to get a table, and some of the dishes which I’ve tried at both were slightly better presented down the road. But there’s really not a lot between them in terms of flavour, and on their top dishes I think Red Bar has a slight edge on the competition. They try a little harder than Gourmet San with the decor too, but it’s still fairly basic—it’s the food that matters here.
Price-wise it’s all very reasonable too, and unless you’re particularly hungry, you can easily share 3 main dishes between 4 (or 2 between 3). In fact, sharing is the best way to go with this food.
In short, a great local restaurant, and just what the area needed. There are lots more dishes for us to try (including some untranslated ones, some of which apparently are Hangzhou specialities, for even more variety!) and we’ll be back again and again.
In summary
Red bar and restaurant
132 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 6DG
0207 729 9954
Open 5pm-11pm, and usually for lunch on weekdays!
