Hunan

The word ”institution” is perhaps over-used when it comes to describing restaurants in the fine dining scene. However, some times the word is entirely justified. That is certainly the case with Fitzrovia’s ‘Hunan’ restaurant, which has been a ‘must visit’ since it opened in the eighties.

I had been for a lunch before with a friend, but was unprepared for what was about to unfold – hence not being able to write a proper post about it. A recent visit with my wife meant that I came better prepared. As you are seated you are told that the restaurant’s approach is that “they don’t really do menus”. Instead their approach is that “we will bring you plates of food until you’re full”. This suits me perfectly, I like the fact that the stress is taken out of deciding what to have and allows the chef to show off the best of what they can do. What I was unprepared for on my first visit was then the barrage of dishes that arrive in relatively quick succession, with a rapid-fire volley of explanations of ingredients and cooking techniques. Each of the plates is quite small (apart from the last savoury course, which I’ll come back to) and as a result, it can be quite hard to keep up with! On this return visit, I was ready – notebook on hand – to try and capture as best as I could what came our way.   

I think we had (each of these courses I got a photo of and which are included in the gallery for this post)…

• Chinese chive cake dumpling with vermicelli
• Crispy garlic chilli beans
• Steamed prawn dumpling with spinach
• 38 day aged chilli beef ribeye
• Double cooked pork in a bag
• Black cod in a vinegar reduction
• Cuttlefish with a spicy aubergine salad
• Stir-fried Hardwick lamb with Chinese celery
• Hand-dived Orkney scallops served with glass noodles
• ‘Wind-dried’ pork
• Stir-fried haunch venison served with black peppercorn
• Wild mussels in a black bean sauce
• Pak Choi steamed with ginger
• Crispy aromatic French duck leg with pancakes
• Sticky toffee apple and banana with vanilla ice cream (not pictured)

I probably didn’t quite capture the names of some of the dishes properly, but that hopefully gives you a sense of the breadth of what came to our table over the course of a couple of hours.

A few that I would pick out for special mention. I was particularly impressed with some of the meaty dishes; in particular the ribeye, the lamb, and the venison. They were each presented on their own and the quality of the meat that was on show was beautiful. The range of spices and aromas that were used to complement the meats were also truly fantastic. The combination of the peppery sauce with the venison, compared to the chilli sauce on the ribeye was perfectly judged.

The Orkney scallop presented beautifully in its shell was also a very memorable plate. The simplicity of the dish belies the cleverness of the way that the accouterments enhanced the scallop’s flavour. Also, worth reflecting on the size of the scallop – it was enormous! This really helped you to enjoy it as it had more texture so that you could really appreciate the quality of it.

You finish the savoury element of the menu with a kind of main course. This is a more substantial plate than the other courses and featured Peking duck pancakes served with egg fried rice, noodles and some Pak Choi alongside. Peking duck is always a favourite of my wife and mine – last year we travelled to China to visit my brother- and sister-in-law in Beijing and were thrilled to have a whole Peking duck in a private dining room. It was a very special experience. After that, any other Peking duck is going to need to go some way to compete – and the one at Hunan did a decent job at this. Plenty of crispy skin to complement the juicy, flavoursome leg meat which had been shredded for us.

When I told my sister-in-law that we were visiting a restaurant called ‘Hunan’ she said that food from this part of China is usually very spicy. We were surprised as this wasn’t the case with the food that we were trying. I asked the waiter about this and he explained that when the restaurant was set up in the 80s the original owner wanted to doff his cap to his culinary mentor back in China who came from the Hunan region, which is why he chose the name. He found that British sensibilities back in the eighties were not prepared for the highly-spiced flavours, and as a result he reduced down the heat of his dishes. In addition, the proprietor was from Taiwan, which has a very different kind of style of food, and as such even though the restaurant is called ‘Hunan’ as a nod to his mentor – it would be more accurate to describe the food as ’Taiwanise’ in style. [Editor’s note: I described previously in this post on visiting Restaurant Andrew Wong a few years ago the folly of talking of ‘Chinese food’ as a singular thing, which completely neglects the vast array of regional and sub-regional differences in styles and approaches].

One of the other reasons that Hunan is revered as a London restaurant ‘instution’ is its excellent wine list. They have a serious wine collection which features some stunning Champagnes (hello to the Dom Perignon 1992 Plenitude 3 – if someone would like to buy this for me I would be very grateful!), along with classic Burgundies and Bordeauxs.

Food from east Asia can make for excellent, but tricky, wine and food matching. The aromas, flavour profiles, textures, and (sometimes) pungency are all a challenge when it comes to wine. Fortunately, as someone who loves Riesling – this is one of those areas where Riesling can come into its own, and as such it features extensively on their wine list.

At the end of the meal, I couldn’t resist having a little snifter of something else. Hunan were doing a partnership with Hennessy Cognac and so I went for a glass of the Hennessy XO Cognac which had just as much depth and complexity of flavour as you would hope for, and was a brilliant way to cap the end of an excellent lunch.

I would definitely recommend Hunan for a lunch – particularly if you are keen to learn more about East Asian food and not have to worry about what to select – they’ve got you covered!

Website: https://www.hunanlondon.com