Hunan Cuisine perks up isle Chinese food scene

Some people crave the food they grew up eating. Not me. Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, but it does breed a certain amount of indifference.

Save for dim sum, which most people don’t usually make at home, growing up in a Chinese household means I’ve had more than my fill of ginger chicken, beef broccoli and other stir-fries. Now, I find other culinary realms more exciting.

For those who feel the same way, Hunan Cuisine at the corner of Smith and North Beretania streets will jolt you.

The restaurant replaces the hot-pot restaurant King Sha, so it continues to offer a token hot pot for continuity’s sake, but its real specialty is the fiery foods of Hunan.

The menu is wide, but the Hunan dishes cover the first three pages of the menu, accompanied by photographs of plates covered in an intimidating wash of red usually only seen on Korean menus.

In fact, you probably want to balance your order with a few dishes from the back of the menu, just for color variety on the table. However, don’t be afraid of seeing too much red. Yes, the Hunan dishes are spicier than the typical local, Cantonese-style Chinese fare, but except for a few dishes, the heat is moderate when compared to the spiciest Korean and Thai food.

Specialties of the region include orange beef, cumin-spiced lamb, smoked meats and deep-fried salt and pepper frog’s legs ($18.95). The latter arrives looking like a platter of popcorn chicken, and for those who could never figure out whether the amphibian tastes like seafood or chicken, this dish won’t help much. Big thigh pieces taste like chicken while the little pieces taste like fish, so timid diners whose natural inclination is to nibble on the smallest piece will probably be better off choosing the biggest.

Unless you speak Mandarin, the server here won’t be able to help you much. She’s neither versed in preparation of the dishes nor English, so this is a restaurant for more daring souls.

We started with Sichuan wontons ($6.95) that were small and frilly, topped with a sauce of chili oil and green onions. But without enough salt, it was curiously flavorless. I was hoping they could replicate a similar dish from Din Tai Fung, the famed restaurants that originated in Taiwan, but it was not to be.

Moving on, I thoroughly enjoyed a stir-fry dish of green beans and eggplant ($9.95) in a fermented black bean sauce with thick slivers of garlic tossed with diced red and green bell peppers.

You’ll likely have trouble deciding on the many different forms of pork, lamb and beef served here, but I was curious about the cumin lamb ($18.95) and wasn’t disappointed by the intense Middle Eastern flavor of the chops, again topped with the familiar Chinese blend of garlic, green onions, red chilies and red and green bell peppers.

Another novelty on the menu is country-style smoked pork ($12.95), small flat strips of pork with intense smoky flavor, tossed with sharp slivers of broccoli stems.

Elsewhere, even the most pedestrian items show regional differences, as did the silky mapo tofu noodles in Hunan red, with big chunks of tofu and no meat. Meat options are available, sans noodles, for $9.95 to $10.95.

Orange beef ($11.95) is less candied than expected, especially with a sauce so thick it drips strings as you’re scooping it up. Dry-fried beef ($13.95) is the next best thing to jerky, flavored with garlic and soy sauce.

Another dish that had us coming back for seconds was the spicy fish ($16.95) in a sauce of fermented bean paste and mild chili peppers. Don’t let the intense red of the dish scare you. It’s not as hot as it appears. In case you do need cooling down, though, you’ll find balance with dishes of shrimp and pea pods ($12.95) or crispy duck ($12.95).

No dessert was offered, but in Chinatown, you won’t have to go far to find fresh fruit smoothies, tapioca puddings or a slice of Ottocake.

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Nadine Kam‘s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.