Hunan

As a steaming plate of plump golden dumplings, lightly tangy soy sauce and brutally spicy chili sauce appeared before our wide, wide eyes, my roommate and I, chopsticks poised, shared a reverential glance. “My body’s confused,” I said as we dug in. “It’s not sure whether it should cry or have a foodgasm.”

My body remained similarly confused for the rest of dinner, as we chowed our way through the dumplings, a bowl of curry noodles and an order of shacha beef. Hunan is certainly not perfect, but I’m willing to journey down Witherspoon Street, past the Public Library and the cemetery, for its food — and that’s saying something. The restaurant itself is a glorified takeout joint: The entrance opens up into a waiting area for takeout orders, but the restaurant itself is nice enough to sit in, with your expected wall hangings of calligraphy and potted bamboo plants. Service is prompt and polite, the food is relatively inexpensive, the portions are enormous, the ingredients include real Asian things like bamboo shoots and the cooks don’t skimp on the chili sauces and hot peppers. The menu’s divided into Chinese, Vietnamese and Malaysian dishes, which is a sure sign of a place that does real Asian dishes — does your local Panda Express do Malaysian? No sir, it does not.

Craving real Asian food, we went for some of the more obscure dishes — there would be no sweet and sour pork for us. The curry noodles came with shrimp — undoubtedly frozen, not fresh — and chicken, a more than generous helping of egg noodles, bean sprouts for texture and a light red curry soup so spicy it set my mouth aflame with every sip. The shacha beef was nice and tender, the shacha-to-soy sauce ratio was appropriately balanced, and it came with plenty of the standard Asian stir-fry vegetables: sliced carrots, onions, broccoli and bamboo shoots. The portions were simply ridiculous — funny joke, Hunan, expecting us to finish all of that food. Let’s not talk about how close we came to cleaning our plates.

Fueled by the promise of curries and spices that would clear our sinuses and melt our insides, we had trekked out to the distant oasis that is Hunan through lashing rain and bitterly cold winds. Hunan more than met our needs. I’m okay with it being so far away if it means I get a 10-minute walk back to campus to digest my food baby and think about what I’ve just done to my body. It’s not the finest in Asian or Americanized Asian cuisine, but for its price range it’s certainly worth the trip. If you’re looking for proper Asian fare at palatable prices, consider Hunan — it’s worth the walk, even more than your weekly trip to Forbes for Sunday brunch.

Hunan

157 Witherspoon St.

4 out of 5 paws

Pros: Extensive menu of real Asian food; reasonable prices; enormous portions.