Local Knowledge: Don’t Be Fooled by the Name – Red Chilli Sichuan Is About Much More Than Spice

Close your eyes and picture a Chinese restaurant in Perth. Whether you’re picturing your local Chinese takeaway, a banquet restaurant or your fave dim sum place, chances are you’re thinking of a restaurant that’s rooted in Cantonese cuisine, one of the eight great Chinese regional cuisines. Cantonese cuisine has dominated the food scene across Australia for decades.

I have Cantonese roots too, so I’m family-bound to say that Cantonese cuisine reigns supreme, lest I face the wrath of my mama (aka my grandmother). I grew up having meltdowns in a bashed-up Toyota Camry while my family fought to find a spot at a CPP carpark for our monthly dim sum catch-up. To this day, Hong Kong network TVB still blares out from my mama’s TV. All this to say, I’m a big fan of all things Cantonese. Please keep this in mind while I spend the next several paragraphs telling you about how great Sichuanese cuisine is.

“Chengdu is famous for food, pandas and shopping,” Joo Joo Ge, the staff manager at Red Chilli Sichuan, tells Broadsheet. “Chinese people know Sichuan food is delicious. There’s a saying we have: ‘Even if you eat for three days and three nights straight, you won’t finish eating all the signature food in Chengdu.’”

In the West, Sichuan food is often associated with its eye-catching red dishes and spiciness; Ge challenges this assumption. “In Sichuan [cuisine] there are a lot of different flavours which come from mixing different spices … it’s not just spicy.” Ge says this diversity reflects the long-running migration of families from the northern part of China down to the south, which began in the 17th century and continued into the 20th century, during the Chinese Civil War. The migration was was often due to conflict but also created a melting pot of culinary traditions.

Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant opened on James Street in 2014, well before the mala hotpot boom hit Perth. Ge arrived in Perth in 2024 after hotpot mania had slowed to a simmer, picking up shifts at Red Chilli. At first, she was simply finding a way to support herself in a new city and get a taste of home, but she went on to become the restaurant’s staff manager.

Ge lights up speaking about the food in her home city of Chengdu: the sweet (but not too sweet) ice jelly – served with crushed peanuts and haw flakes – and the salty-sour Sichuan fish with pickled mustard greens. Both dishes feature on the Red Chilli Sichuan menu and evoke home to her.

Other headliners include the deep-fried chicken with hot dry chilli and the Sichuan boiled fish, where thin slices of fish are poached in a scarlet broth of Sichuan peppercorns, vegetables and aromatics. For spice-averse diners, there are dishes like cumin beef and stir-fried eggplant served with an addictive garlic sauce.

Ge says that the sign of a good Sichuanese chef is their ability to balance the flavours and spices in kung pao chicken. The kung pao at Red Chilli is a traditional version with Sichuan peppercorns rather than the orange-hued version you might be familiar with from your local takeaway. Head chef Xie (who asked to be identified by his first name) has been cooking at Red Chilli for over eight years now and his chicken has not only impressed Ge and other Perth locals – it’s proved popular with Chinese tourists who stop by for a taste of home.

If you’re new to the Sichuanese cuisine scene and hesitant about the heat, Ge provides this parting nugget of advice: “Actually, it’s not that spicy. You know what’s spicy? Hunan food. Even for me!”

Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant
1/191 James Street, Northbridge
0401 638 980

Hours:
Mon & Tues 11.30am–2.30pm; 5pm–9.30pm
Wed closed
Thurs to Sun 11.30am–2.30pm; 5pm–9.30pm

@redchillisichuan