Chilli crab @ Mr Chilli Chinese Restaurant
92 Seel St, Liverpool, L1 4BL
There are two branches of this well-loved Sichuan restaurant in Liverpool, one on London Road and the other on Seel Street.
The London Road restaurant is a bit more laid back, a bit more genteel. Food arrives at a reasonably sedate pace, Chinese pop ballads play over the speakers, there is time and space — usually a lot of space — to enjoy your meal.
Eating at the Seel Street branch – which set opposite Pogue Mahone’s Irish pub and a few doors down from the Arts Club – is a much more fast-paced, bordering-on chaotic, experience. It’s loud and crowded, especially at the weekend. Chinese news blares from a giant TV, families and big groups of friends gather around bubbling hot pots full of heady stock.
Perhaps owing to the higher turnover, perhaps because of the more discerning palates of the huge numbers Chinese students who eat here, the food is also about 20% better.
I suppose the clue’s in the name, but it being a Sichuan restaurant Mr Chilli leans heavily on heat. Mouth-numbing boiled beef, mapo tofu and stewed pork shank with chilli sauce all pack a big spice punch.
The pick of the menu, for me, however is the chilli crab. Jointed and fried with spring onions and a ton of dried chillies. The sweet flesh from the claws, and the rich brown meat of the head, is complimented perfectly by the heat. Soothing cool provided by an ice cold bottle of Tsingtao. A truly amazing dish.
Although possibly not the thing you should attempt to eat - as I last did - after discovering you have two huge cavities. You will end up accidentally chewing on quite a few pieces of shell. It’s also good idea to make judicious use of the wet napkins provided and to keep your red-oil soaked fingers away from whatever you’re wearing, especially if you’re planning on going anywhere nice afterwards. You don’t want people to start calling *you* Mr Chilli.
