Think Chinese food in Bangalore … and the hUnan’imous choice is always Hunan.
The favorite go to place of those who appreciate commitment to quality and authenticity, this award winning restaurant has its share of loyal diners, including yours truly.
And though I would have happily spent the rest of my life chomping through their Pork belly and Dynasty prawns and never asked for anything more, I was definitely not going to turn down an invitation to preview the menu that is in the process of being enhanced.
We tasted from a section that was curated out of the 70 new dishes that are in’Ching their way onto to the new menu !!!
We began with the Asian flavor chicken salad, shredded chicken, cabbage and spring onions tossed in a peanut butter vinaigrette and the Thai seafood and rice vermicelli with lightly done squid, fish and prawns a zingy lime and chilli dressing. No prizes for guessing which was picked the winner in this seafoodie’s head !!!
Chinese food (the real stuff and not that which is preceded by Indo 
) uses healthier forms of cooking and the new menu here, plans to incorporate more of that style. The steamed section had the Hong Kong style steamed Seer fish, followed by Tofu cubes stuffed with chicken. Tofu is not really my thing but the seer was grand. Gotta love a restaurant that has no Basa on its premises !!!
The starters were heralded by the winner in that category, the Beijing style pork with the deep fried shreds served in a noodle basket. Crisp and chewy at the same time, we pretty much pigged out on them.
The lettuce cups with Chicken hot basil with bird’s eye chilli didn’t quite hit bulls eye for me, probably because most of the chilli was in someone else’s cup and I was left with more bird than chilli
But one could also blame this grouse, on my general disinterest towards the fowl … the chicken I mean, not the Grouse
Ok that was a dreadfully lame joke, quite Bird brained in fact … so let’s move on to the Sugarcane skewered chicken, which was forgiven because it did look like rack of lamb … ok at least from a distance
No, actually no complaints against the tender and succulent meat and the ensuing cane juice.
The fried Prawns in tamarind sauce was the dish I was waiting for with utmost excitement but being thoroughly partial to their regal Dynasty prawns, I probably ended up making unfair comparisons and I felt that the marinade had not really permeated through to the insides.
Not so however, the Fried soft corn curd, which was (almost literally) an explosion of textures right from its crispy exterior to its creamy, molten lava like core. One of the favorites at the table, these cubes were to die for.
One is advised to allow the hot insides to cool a bit before biting into them though !!!
Another surprise for my tofu shunning palate, was the Salt and Pepper silken tofu, which was crisp on the outside and delightfully soft on the inside. Soy’yum indeed !!!
From the mains we had the raw mango chilli fish with the perfectly done seer, the delectable Pork and asparagus, Assorted vegetables with wood ear mushrooms, asparagus and bamboo shoots, all of which I love and also the Lo Han Jai, with vegetables sauteed in a Shaoxing wine sauce.
We also tried the very flavorful ‘Meal by itself’ option, which was a chicken stew with wood ear mushrooms and served with sticky rice.
We ended with little bites of chocolate covered Cheesecake, followed by their famous Red velvet cake and a decadently moist Tres Leches cake.
In their aforementioned aim to go the healthier way (ok I seem to have wrongly positioned this line right under the Desserts paragraph 
), Hunan also plans to introduce Gluten free options in the new menu.
So whether you are a first timer or a regular, go there to try out what they have in store.
The food may be new but the care, the service, the personal touch and the rest of the experience stays the same … as they excel at what they do best, which is – Being Hunan
For more pictures see My Facebook – Hunan-New menu
Nov 5th, 2016
