So my friend and blogger Lisa kindly invited me to celebrate my birthday at this newly opened Chinese restaurant: Hunan Slurp. At first glance, it was a great choice as Pete Wells, famous restaurant critic at the New York Times, wrote highly about it. And at second glance, it was still a great choice!
My first impression when I entered the restaurant was: Ah, finally a Chinese restaurant without all the kitschy Chinese dolls and décors. It’s not that I don’t like them but at times it can be a bit too much.
What did I retain from my experience at Hunan Slurp? The modern décor, the cleanness of the place, the quality of food, the kindness of the server, and the hot spicy stir-fried chicken!
From the big window façade, you can see most of the restaurant. It looks like a narrow train wagon emphasized by the light wooden slats that surround the walls and the ceiling in the first half of the restaurant. The other half has a semi-open kitchen on one side separated by half-height windows.
Hunan is a province in the Republic of China located in South Central China. Geographically, the name “Hunan” means “South of Lake Dongting” in the northeast of the province; hu means “lake” and nan means “south”. In the culinary world, the word “Hunan” refers to a style of Chinese cuisine that is hot and spicy.
Slurp is an onomatopoeia that means eating or drinking noisily. It refers to the sound your mouth produces when you suck in the noodles while using chopsticks. It’s an art that only the best can master!
If you wonder if Hunan Slurp will be moderately spicy, let me warn you that if there is a chili icon next to a dish on the menu, it means it’s going to be quite spicy. If there is a double chili, run away if you are not a chili aficionado!
The menu is limited compared to other Chinese restaurants but has an interesting variety of Hunanese dishes. I could’ve been bolder in my choices, ordering food such as chicken feet, pig trotters, or even a double chili icon dish, but for my first visit, I chose to be more conservative. That said you need to have a minimum of training to eat the mifen (noodles made of pounded rice) – they are smooth and highly slippery which makes the process challenging; as Pete Wells beautifully says: “they are so smooth they may slither right out of the chopsticks of inexperienced slurpers.”
To accompany our lunch we ordered jasmine tea that came in a beautiful Chinese teapot. I loved the tableware and cutlery: simple, yet elegant.
We started with the Hunan salad made with grilled pepper and eggplant, preserved duck egg, and soy and sesame oil dressing. The eggplant skin was thin and silky and it was presented like maki rolls. The dish was soft and extremely tasty.
The stir-fried pepper and pork came in a bowl with mifen, bathed in a light broth and topped with a soft boiled egg.
Then came the stir-fried chicken that seemed harmless at first but the redness of the broth betrayed the power of the red chili pepper.
Hometown Lu Fen, another of chef Wang’s signature dishes, is made of mifen with sliced beef, char siu (barbecued pork), peanut, cucumber, bean curd, and crispy soybean on top. It’s a dish without soup but can be spiced up with chopped red chilis in oil served in a small dish on the side. I would suggest going little by little with your spoon. These little guys can set your mouth on fire!
They also serve frog legs that I will definitely order next time I go to Hunan Slurp. French people are not the only ones to eat frog legs; we Belgian people eat them too!
Hunan Slurp
112 1st Avenue, New York
📞 (646) 585-9585
Price: $$
Tuesday – Sunday: 12 – 3pm, 5 – 10 pm
Monday: closed
