Hunan Home vs. Hunan Garden [Split from Orange Beef thread]

[mdg]

Melanie, have you ever had anything good at Hunan Home's in Los Altos? I had one awful meal many years ago that sounded like yours and have never been back. Hunan Garden in Palo Alto is far superior, though I've never tried the orange beef there. The menu ranges far wider than Hunan (including some yummy rice cake dishes) but the food is very well-prepared.

It was funny meeting a student from Hunan in Beijing who told us there weren't any good Hunan restaurants there, in part because the locals couldn't handle the heat.

Michael

[Melanie Wong]

I O U a complete report on my dinner at Hunan Home's.

Thanks for the intel on Hunan Garden, have been very curious about it. Anything else you reccommend.

[mdg]

There are so many good things at Hunan Garden. Some of our favorites beyond the rice cakes are the hot and sour soup, the sizzling eel, the salt and pepper fish fillets, the shredded pork and dried tofu, the green beans, and the smoked pork and green beans. It's a wide-ranging menu: look for the interesting dishes (even if not from Hunan) and the house specials and you'll usually be rewarded. I can't tell you about the coffee though.

Michael

[Xiao Yang]

I'm sure your Hunan student friend repeated Mao's admonition that "You can't be a revolutionary if you don't eat chilies."

[bbulkow]

My experience in Hunan was the only decent coffee in China. Close enough in shared experience to the SE asian coffee countries (vietnam etc) that you could get a decent cup - not everywhere, just some places. But I've never seen coffee in a Hunan restaurant here. Sigh.

[Melanie Wong]

Ok, here goes. Last week we took Mom to dinner at Hunan Home’s (sic) in Los Altos. This was a first visit for each of us.

William and I were interested in trying the smoked pork with leeks, a Hunan standard, but didn’t when we found out that it’s not made with the traditional fatty pork belly cut here. I’d enjoyed the tea smoked duck at the SF Chinatown location some years ago, so we decided to try that as our smoked dish here. Mom wanted the orange peel beef, since we were at an allegedly Hunan place. I made a point of asking our waiter if we could have the authentic Hunan version, as I was rather wary seeing the mostly Americanized dishes on the tables around us. He said that it was the real thing, made with fresh orange peel. Stupid me, I believed him.

We started with fish tripe and crabmeat soup, $8.95, made with minced up bits of clear fish stomach but very little crab and mostly egg white. However, it was pleasant enough.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3442171215/

Orange peel beef, $10.50, what a rip-off! A thick breaded coating encased tiny hard lumps of mystery meat. The breading was undercooked with a raw flour-y aftertaste, and try as she might, my mom’s sensitive palate was unable to tell if the meat was beef, chicken, or pork. Yes, the orange peel was indeed fresh, but also fried to a hard and inedible shard. The insipid sauce was the icing on the cake, neither spicy nor sour enough. We’ve never seen anything like this nor has anyone in Hunan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3442171213

Mapo tofu, $8.95, normally vegetarian on the menu here, we asked for it made traditionally with meat. Soft and not the authentic type firm tofu, but it tasted fair enough made with brown bean paste, scallions and a little bit of red chili sauce. This is the first time I've ever had to add hot chili paste to my food at a Hunan restaurant and even more ludicrous for mapo doufu!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3442171209

Yellow chives with seafood chow mein, $12.95, turned out to be the one decent dish in this meal. Made with good quality seafood and a nice flower cut on the squid pieces. The prawns looked beautiful and were cooked on point, but were quite underseasoned and bland. The limp noodles had no char at all, and were more akin to lo mein than chow mein. This dish lacked the character contributed by good stock.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3442171205

Tea smoked duck, $13.95 for a half served without buns or condiments turned out to be quite dry. Despite the desiccation, the flesh on the breast pieces still stayed relatively tender. The seasoning and smoking was not nearly as good as the other two examples I’ve had this month. Mom took the leftovers home and boiled them to make a base stock for jook, this duck’s highest and best use, unfortunately.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3442171199
Service-wise, the staff were friendly enough but we had trouble flagging down someone to refill our tea pot. When the hostess/manager dropped our bill off at our table and asked if everything was fine, all I did was shake my head “no” and stay silent. There were so many things wrong with this meal, I didn’t have the energy to get into it. And, with a nearly full house, who am I to argue with HH’s obvious popularity?

I noticed that the chef’s specials section of the menu lists nearly all Cantonese seafood dishes. While the staff in the front of the house speak Mandarin to each other, I thought I heard Cantonese coming out of the kitchen. Our mapo doufu dish was prepared the way a Cantonese cook would make it. Maybe ordering seafood is the key to getting something decent if you find yourself forced to eat here.

http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/SpenGar

[Cascokat]

Wow! I went to Hunan Home from the first week it opened (1990? 1991?) until I moved out of the area several years ago! It was always excellent, the staff was wonderful (in fact, my ex and I had our wedding rehearsal dinner there) and I never had any complaints. I'm really disappointed to hear that it isn't the same great place!

[Melanie Wong]

Nancy Berry continues to be a fan. Here's one of her recs,
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5535...

Avoiding the Hunan dishes might be the key.

[Nancy Berry]

I think that the owners are from Taiwan. We really like their shrimp dishes and their fried tofu appetizer. I also enjoy the smoked pork with leeks. The yellow chive dishes are good, too, as are most of the vegetable dishes -- just ask what's good that day. I still like the restaurant very much. Unfortunately, it's one of those places where you have to explain to the owners that you really like non-Amercanized Chinese food. I don't think that it's their fault because they have a clientele that is rather unsophisticated when it comes to Chinese food. The folks who like the real stuff know to ask for it. If you stick to the Chef's Selection dishes or the fresh seafood or veg of the day on the menu, you'll probably be happier.

[Melanie Wong]

Unfortunately, even if you make a point of quizzing to make sure you're getting the real stuff, e.g., tea smoked duck and mapo tofu, as I did, they don't admit that they don't make authentic Hunan dishes here. As you've mentioned, the smoked pork is made with lean meat here and not pork belly in the traditional way. The yellow chive chow mein was not bad. I think we came to the same conclusion that seafood might be the strength here, despite the restaurant being named after a land-locked province.