Chilli Pot

The restaurant was suggested at the hotel where I stayed. The quality and the service was really nice, but it’s not an authentic South East Asian food, as it is owned by Chinese people. They mix Chinese food with Thai, Vietnamise, Malais etc. What I took, presuming that it was Thai, was actually Chinese. What a disappoimtment!

I went here with a group of friends, and none of us were disappointed! Everyone said how lovely the food was — it was well presented and very tasty. We went for the early evening menu — what a bargain! I will be returning here :)

This is the Liverpool CBD, so my Southeast Asian culinary expectations are moderate at best. The sign advertising a £8.95 two-​course lunch special (glass of wine or beer included) has caught my eye numerous times, however, so I eventually gave in to the temptation of what I thought would be an interesting and (relatively) economical lunch. Chilli Pot was a letdown on both fronts.
My glass of house red was easy-​drinking, fruity and enjoyable. As for my partner’s coffee, we were disappointed to find out that they only had filter, but it turned out to be surprisingly good.
Things started to go awry with our starters. My Vietnamese pork cakes were well-​presented, but minuscule and dry. The girlfriend’s spring rolls were similarly small-​proportioned and very bland.
Granted my seabass curry was advertised as «mild,» but what I ended up getting scarcely tasted like curry at all — or like anything else for that matter. There’s more flavor intensity in the gravy on a Sunday roast! The dish was garnished with cashews, but there were no cashews in the sauce. The fish was delightfully cooked.
The ambiance was quiet and pleasant, and the servers prompt and polite, though the paper table coverings (made to resemble cloth) indicate less than a fine dining establishment.
The real surprise came with the tab at the end. My admittedly dull «but at least economical» lunch plus (tiny) starter ended up setting me back the equivalent of a fantastic dinner at a quality gastropub. It turned out that the seabass option adds an extra £3.50 to the «lunch special;» while my girlfriend’s diminutive and flavorless spring rolls cost a whopping £4.95. Lesson learnt, clearly. Unless you’re one for Tesco freezer-​aisle quality at three times the price, dressed up in a white (paper) tablecloth, check out Chaophraya at Liverpool One instead.