When the weather’s absolutely freezing, one way of warming things up that doesn’t involve crippling yourself with a sky-high energy bill is from the inside out. Step forward some of London’s hottest dishes; fired up with all the chillies to bring the heat.
The kerabu perut at Mambow
Clapton - 78 Lower Clapton Road, London E5 0RN
There are plenty of gaspingly hot dishes on Abby Lee’s Malaysian menu here in Hackney to keep you nice and toasty but it’s this beef tripe dish that we’re most interested in. At Mambow the tripe is braised and then grilled on the koro before adding in the key ingredient - the sambal belacan chilli sauce made from fermented shrimp and guaranteed to have you reaching for a Hong Kong milk tea to calm things down a bit.
Scotch bonnet cordial at Akara
Borough - Arch 208, 18 Stoney Street, London SE1 9AD
With one London restaurant critic likening this no-alcohol treat at Aji Akokomi’s new Borough restaurant to “like drinking liquid fire” we reckon it’s just the tipple to ward off any winter chills. Want something a bit stronger? Then opt for the fully alcoholic version which comes with Element 29 Vodka instead.
Pig’s ear in chilli oil at The Sichuan
Shoreditch - 14 City Rd, London EC1Y 2AA
When a Sichuan restaurant picks out one of its dishes as particularly spicy and ‘packing a punch’ then you know you’re going to get a full-on mouth-numbing treat. Lots of the food on offer at this Shoreditch spot will hit a high mark on the heatometer, but this porky treat is seriously spicy. The tender pig's ears are sliced and “bathed in a bold chilli oil”. Are you ready for the challenge, they ask? Well, are you?
Bombay burner at the Cinnamon Club
Westminster - The Old Westminster Library, Great Smith St, London SW1P 3BU
Only available on their evening a la carte menu, this side dish at Vivek Singh’s Westminster restaurant is so hot they make you sign a disclaimer before you eat it. The lamb mince is stuffed inside Scotch bonnets but if that wasn’t enough to make you reach for a lassi they also blend in a range of other chillies including, jalapeño, bird’s eye, and Dorset Naga which is is capable of reaching a million on the Scoville scale.
Jamaican’me crazy extra hot wings at Wingmans
Soho and Kilburn
The eyewatering Carnival-inspired hot wings at chicken wings specialists Wingmans are the hottest thing on their menu. They’re covered with Scotch bonnet hot sauce and to ensure you don’t forget this in a hurry that’s then sprinkled with extra chillies for good measure. Get some fire fries on the side if you want to go all in.
The hottest curry challenge at City Spice
Brick Lane - 138 Brick Ln, London E1 6RU
If you feel like you have something to prove when it comes to ingesting seriously spicy food and you’d like to bask in a warm glow that doesn’t just come from the food, but because you’ve done something altruistic, then head to City Spice. Because if you manage to finish their curry challenge they promise to donate the proceeds from your bill to charity. But beware, this is a beast of a dish made inferno-hot with a sauce made from deseeded chillies with the seeds added later along with more of the hottest chillies known to mankind, including the Carolina Reaper. “Not for the faint-hearted” they warn.
The Red Lantern at Hutong
London Bridge - Level 33 The Shard, 31 St. Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY
There’s a definite theatrical bent to this dish at high-rise restaurant Hutong as it comes to the table in a wooden casket. Once the lid is lifted you’re presented with a veritable heap of Sichuanese ‘Facing Heaven’ chillies forcing you to dive around with your chopsticks to find the crispy soft-shell crab hidden within.
Khua kling muu at Plaza Khao Gaeng
St Giles - 103-105 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1DB
Luke Farrell’s restaurant at the Arcade Food Hall hopes to transport Londoners to the humid coast and jungle area of southern Thailand. There are a lot of heat-packing dishes on the menu but the khua klin muu merits a special mention. A dry minced pork curry made intense with green peppercorns and fragrant chillies, this is a dish to make your eyes water, in a good way. You might want one of their iced Thai teas with condensed milk waiting on the side though.
Monika fish at 805
Old Kent Road, Hyde Park, Hendon
The signature dish at West African restaurant 805 is its monika fish. It’s a whole grilled croaker fish that’s first marinated in a range of seasonings and spices before being chargrilled and then finished off with a load of chilli sauce. It comes to the table with fried plantain and the kind of heat that’ll have you removing at least one layer of clothing to acclimatise.
Reaper tenders at Dave's Hot Chicken
Soho - 40 Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 7ER
This LA-born but Nashville-influenced fried chicken spot recently opened its first UK restaurant in London, making a big song and dance about whether the Brits could cope with their Reaper option. After a bit of publicity-seeking to-ing and fro-ing the blisteringly hot chicken made the menu. Diners are asked to sign a waiver before they eat which warns you that you may experience reactions that include sweating, shortness of breath and, in extreme cases, heart palpitations and stroke.
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