Spicy Tan @ Suffolk House Hotel, Chichester
Suffolk House Hotel, one of two hotels in Chichester's city centre, is a somewhat tired Georgian building in need of an uplift.
The owners have decided against doing the restaurant catering themselves and a Malaysian couple have taken over Spicy Tan at the back of the small hotel.
The restaurant is in keeping with an old-fashioned hotel. There are red velvet curtains, swirled vividly-patterned carpets and dated wallpaper plus a few far-Eastern touches including delicate hanging cloth swathes.
Cream leather-style chairs and white and silver decorated mirrors complete the look, with western songs adding to the mix.
The menu takes on a number of countries' cuisines including Thai, Indonesian, Japanese and, naturally, Malaysian. So expect some of their national dishes, one of the more well-known ones including beef rendang, a dry braised meat curry with coconut and Malaccan turmeric chicken.
Many Malay dishes are similar to Indonesian ones such as nasi goreng, a fried rice with strips of meat or prawns with omelette dish. Satay's on the menu too as well as sambal udang, a side dish with a fiery temper.
But the restaurateurs know the British love affair with Thai food and have all the usual suspects to pack 'em in: Thai fishcakes; tom yum soup; chicken pad Thai and red or green curry. It's a short menu: 6 or 7 for a set lunch of one main dish with rice and salad or 15 for dinner's two courses. Red chillies decorate some dishes' entries, three chillies giving the warning of hot, very hot. Some dishes are found on both menus.
Thai green curry, my choice, was made with authentic sweet basil, the chef apparently only going for the genuine article, found, incongruously, in Worthing where he also sources curry or lime leaves, coriander, lemongrass, galangal (ginger) and tamarind.
Served on a small plate which just kept the spicy thin sauce in check, the strips of chicken were overtaken in quantity by copious bamboo shoots, A mound of rice, a few mushrooms, a rather sad unnecessary salad and evocative sweet basil.
Service is friendly, hospitable and attentive. Why, I was even offered more of the curry but I moved on to the desserts – three rather Western ones bar lychees. These were tinned pineapple-stuffed ones served in a glass avocado dish on a plate with a doiley.
Smarten up the place a bit and this could have punters interested in crossing the threshold for some authentic Malay food, unknown in this area. But my advice is ditch the tinned fruit.
My bill came to 12.30 not including a tip.
Carol is a chef, former restaurateur and editor of Savour, the Guild of Food Writers magazine.
Spicy Tan @ Suffolk House Hotel, East Row, Chichester PO19 1PD
01243 531318
Open: Tues-Sat Noon–2pm and 6pm 'til late. Sundays 6pm 'til late.
Food: ***
Service: ****
Atmosphere: ***
Disabled access: A little narrow for larger wheelchairs and there are a few steps plus an awkward front sliding door.
How to get there: Take the A27 to Chichester, exit at the Witterings roundabout. Follow Market Avenue to East Street. Turn left here, then right on Little London. The road becomes East Row.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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