A Bite of Hunan – What to Expect From This Culinary Experience

A new restaurant  opened in BGC last November specializing in regional Chinese cuisine

A BITE OF HUNAN   situated at W Global at 30th corner 9th beside California Pizza Kitchen,  is actually their second branch. The pilot restaurant  opened in Circuit Makati several months ago.

What is Hunan Cuisine?

“Hunan cuisine, also know as Xiang cuisine, consists of the cuisines of the Xiang cuisine consists of the cuisines of the Xiang River region, Dongting Lake and western Hunan Province in China. It is one of the Eight Great Traditions of  Chinese   cuisine and is well known for its hot and spicy flavours, fresh aroma and deep colours” – Wikipedia Per Mr. Sam  (Marketing) Hunan cuisine is purely  spicy but not numbing like szechuan. It is known for its  smoked meats, fish,  pork. Mr. Sam further shares  that Hunan and Szechuan  are known to be more oily and more flavorful compared to the other Eight Great  Traditions of Chinese Cuisine.

Eight Great Traditions of Chinese Cuisine

• Shandong  – fresh and salty with a lot of seafood dishes
• Sichuan and Hunan – hot and spicy
• Guangdong (Cantonese) Zheijiang, Jiangsu cuisines – seafood, sweet and light flavors
• Anhi and Fujian – wild food from the mountains

Asked why they chose the Philippines from among other countries in the world  for their first food venture, Mr. Sam’s answer was simple. It is because the owners  live in the Philippines   and like it here.

The Food

Duck Roll with Egg Yolk P580

The flavors were subtle. I loved how neat and pristine the presentation was. 

Toss Preserved Egg with Pepper P280

How interesting that this was presented in a mortar and pestle. Apparently, you pound the century eggs and all its garnish together until everything is incorporated. 

Sweet & Juicy Pork Ribs P580

The ribs were indeed juicy . This will appeal to the Pinoy  palate because of  its sweetness. Tocino comes to mind… and bowls of rice please haha

Chinese Yam with Blueberry Sauce P380

There was a bit of a disconnect because I thought it was ice cream. Expectation was really high so that when I finally tasted it,  it was almost a let down. I dont know if I like it. It was a feast for the eyes though.

Imported Spicy Fish Head

P7,999 Large (3.8kg)

P2,999 Small (1.2kg)

Definitely the star of the show as far as I’m concerned along with the crab. The fish head was absolutely fresh and cooked perfectly. It almost tasted too salty at first but when mixed with the noodles , a balance of flavors is achieved.

Salted Egg Spicy Crab

P188 per 100 gram

I  love crabs so I thoroughly enjoyed this. The part I got was fat, meaty and flavorful….yum! 

Fried Pork with Chili P380

Pork Ribs with Cumin P580

This was a surprise for me. I only know cumin from Mexican or Italian dishes. So this was pretty interesting. The pork ribs were tender and fall of the bone. The smell of cumin was really strong but it enhanced our enjoyment of the protein

Sauteed Chicken Wings with Garlic P680

This dish was practically buried in fried minced garlic. Not really a date dish haha. But wings were fat and succulent and tasty

Braised Okra P580

I’m not really a fan of this particular vegetable but I loved how green and fresh-looking the okra were

West Lake Beef Soup P480

The color green is from cilantro. The texture is thick and  slurry-like. I tasted the beef.

Goat’s Stew with potato noodles

This was another surprise. No gamy taste. No funny aroma. It is reminiscent of our local bulalo in terms of richness of broth. The goat’s meat were really tender. The potato noodles provided the texture the soup needed.

Fried Carrot with curd inside with glutinous rice

Think our familiar favorite buchi minus the sesame seed and instead of balls , shaped  to look like the real carrot down to its green stalk. What fun!  It did not hurt that it was quite scrumptious too

Overall…

• Quality ingredients
• flavorful dishes, 
• beautiful presentation,  
• alert and cheerful service
• great ambiance
• authentic Hunan cuisine
• great location

What’s not to love?

Yes it does look pricey at first glance but given the above plus points, you get what you pay for.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Definitely returning with the piggery in tow.