Hunan

Do not let Hunan's dilapidated appearance deter you from sampling its cooking — the best value Chinese in Princeton. The boilerplate menu covers 135 staples of Chinese-American cooking and several combination platters, and Hunan offers many of its entrees in large and small portions.

The restaurant is Orchid Pavilion's little sister, and the quality of the food is comparable. The dishes, prepared in outlandishly-sized woks as you watch, will fill your stomach but offer nothing extraordinary. I've been disappointed to discover that even the dishes labeled "hot and spicy" don't singe the tongue — hot-food lovers should ask the chef to spice it up.

The beef dishes often come across as being a little longer on vegetables than beef, but are satisfying just the same, and the garlic chicken strikes a pleasant balance of hot and sweet. The bean curd dishes satisfy even non-vegetarians, but I recommend against the frozen-tasting, mushy egg rolls.

Price is Hunan's highest virtue. The food is decent (better than Frist) if not stellar, and $5 or less will buy you a dinner-for-one-sized portion of an entree along with a small box of white rice and a fortune cookie. A pint of soup will set you back just over a dollar more. For those reasons, Hunan is one of the best student-budget dives in town.