Hey! Chili – Nottingham
U-Canteen could have gone however out with the hyphen and in with the exclamation as Hey! Chili takes its place in a sliver of area on Heathcoat Road. The staff behind this enterprise are new to Nottingham however have already got a web site in Loughborough which has been round since 2021. The restaurant could be very primary inside with a few neon flashes from motivational quotes that make me roll my eyes. It’s the type of place I can solely think about going for a fast lunch with a pal. The spartan inside and no frills expertise don’t put me in thoughts of a comfortable date evening location. It’s fairly arduous to nail down the place they specialise, maybe world fusion is as shut as you will get with “Tapas” and burgers on the menu alongside conventional Japanese dishes in addition to different Asian influences.
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Popping in on a Tuesday lunchtime noticed a surprisingly busy area, the ten or so tables virtually full. Heartening given current challenges in hospitality! I nonetheless didn’t maintain out hope after I noticed a restaurant that appears to be attempting to be all issues to all individuals with their menu. That mentioned I used to be all the time going to pattern the extra conventional Japanese fare with ramen being prime of that record. I went for the garlic pork tonkatsu (£14) which arrived in report time, particularly given that they had a couple of covers on.
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The broth itself was fairly good, I’d say the garlic flavours dominated barely an excessive amount of however it nonetheless had a comforting depth suggesting loads of hours cooking away. The proteins have been each pleasing and nicely cooked, char on the pork and barely runny yolk on the egg. Noodles have been maybe probably the most spectacular, a welcome chew to them that felt handmade/pulled though I couldn’t affirm if that positively was the case. The one criticism was most likely the associated fee with the lies of Pho and Lanzhou coming in that little bit cheaper with larger parts and even the superb On a regular basis Folks have a lunch deal of a snack and ramen bowl for £16 that additionally offers you extra to your cash.
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