Chilis Indian & Indo Chinese Restaurant

Where Indo Chinese Cooking Fits in Reading's South Asian Scene

Reading's South Asian restaurant offer has expanded considerably over the past decade, moving well beyond the generic curry-house format that once defined the category in most English market towns. The city now supports a range of approaches: tandoor-focused neighbourhood restaurants like Lina Tandoori, more contemporary South Indian kitchens such as Chilis South Indian and Asian Restaurant, and venues like Chilis Indian and Indo Chinese Restaurant that straddle two distinct culinary traditions under one roof. That last category — Indian alongside Indo Chinese — is less common in smaller English cities than in the Indian diaspora communities of Leicester or East London, which makes its presence on King Street worth examining on its own terms.

The physical address places it on the first floor of The Village Building within King's Walk, a retail complex a short walk from Reading station. The refined position, away from street level, gives the dining room a removed quality that separates it from the busier ground-floor trade below. For context on the wider Reading dining scene, our full Reading restaurants guide maps the city's options across cuisine types and price points.

The Indo Chinese Tradition: What It Actually Is

Indo Chinese cooking is one of the more misunderstood culinary categories in the UK. It did not originate in China, nor is it a fusion invention of Western restaurant culture. It emerged from the Hakka Chinese community that settled in Kolkata in the 18th and 19th centuries, adapting Hakka techniques and ingredients to Indian flavour profiles, primarily through the use of green chillies, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and vinegar. The result is a distinct cuisine with dishes like chilli chicken, Manchurian cauliflower, and Hakka noodles that bear little resemblance to either Cantonese takeaway or North Indian restaurant cooking.

In India, Indo Chinese food is ubiquitous , street stalls and mid-range restaurants across Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi serve it alongside South Indian and North Indian menus without much ceremony. In the UK, it remains a niche category, concentrated largely in cities with established South Asian communities. Reading's positioning on the M4 corridor, with significant tech-sector employment drawing South Asian professionals, has helped sustain demand for more specific regional and fusion formats that would struggle elsewhere in the Thames Valley.

Reading's Dining Range: Where This Venue Sits

Reading does not operate at the same altitude as the UK's Michelin-concentrated dining destinations. The county of Berkshire has significant fine-dining heritage , Waterside Inn in Bray holds three Michelin stars and remains one of England's most formally French rooms , but Reading town itself functions as a practical dining city rather than a destination one. Visitors seeking tasting-menu ambition at the level of CORE by Clare Smyth in London, L'Enclume in Cartmel, or Moor Hall in Aughton will look beyond the town centre. What Reading does well is mid-market, neighbourhood-register cooking across several cuisines, including Italian at Nino's Trattoria Italiana and more considered contemporary cooking at Clay's and Dans at Green Hills.

Indian restaurants in the UK with serious regional or technical ambitions , comparable to what Opheem in Birmingham has achieved with its Michelin recognition , tend to concentrate in larger cities. Reading's South Asian options sit in a more accessible register, which is not a criticism so much as a description of what the market sustains. Chilis Indian and Indo Chinese Restaurant operates in that practical mid-market space, and the combination of Indian and Indo Chinese menus reflects a format that is common in India itself but still relatively rare in this part of England.

The Cultural Logic of a Dual Menu

Running Indian and Indo Chinese cooking from the same kitchen makes sense when you understand how these two traditions coexist in Indian urban food culture. In cities like Mumbai or Hyderabad, the same restaurant group will often serve both without any sense of contradiction. The techniques overlap at certain points , stir-frying, marinating, the use of a flat griddle , and the spice tolerances of the two cuisines align closely enough that a kitchen equipped for one can handle the other without major reorganisation.

For British diners unfamiliar with Indo Chinese, the dual menu format offers a useful bridge: the Indian half provides familiar reference points while the Indo Chinese side introduces a category that rewards exploration. The two traditions are not competing for the same diner; they are serving different appetite registers, and the format acknowledges that a table of four may not want the same thing.

This kind of menu structure has precedent at a different scale in Indian restaurants with broader ambitions , the approach that venues like Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, hide and fox in Saltwood, Midsummer House in Cambridge, Ynyshir Hall in Machynlleth, Le Bernardin in New York City, and Lazy Bear in San Francisco apply to their respective categories is one of disciplined specificity. Chilis Indian and Indo Chinese operates at a different register entirely, but the principle of knowing what you are and cooking to that identity remains the same for any kitchen.

Planning Your Visit

Chilis Indian and Indo Chinese Restaurant is located at 2A–3A King Street, on the first floor of The Village Building within King's Walk, Reading RG1 2HG. The address is walkable from Reading station, which sits less than ten minutes on foot through the town centre. No phone number or website is listed in public records at the time of writing, so the most reliable approach for current hours and booking availability is to visit in person or check Google Maps listings for updated contact details. Given its position in a retail complex, lunchtime and early evening are likely to be the most active service periods, particularly on weekends. Dress code is informal, consistent with the mid-market, neighbourhood register in which the restaurant operates.