The Hunan Man — Restaurant in London

Good Hunan food, a province famous for its spicy offerings. However, there is enough on the menu to order if you are with people who can't handle spice. They do di san xian, gong bao, shrimp with asparagus and XO, and Cantonese beef hor fun which would all be suitable for diners who want to avoid heat.

Unfortunately we didn't order well, as we let the non-Chinese birthday girl order for the table. All the dishes we had were quite greasy. I might have given top marks if we had let one of the Chinese people at the table order in a more balanced fashion.

The show stopper dish was the signature stir fried beef with coriander. Be warned that this dish is very hot. One of our table who had been at the restaurant previously asked the kitchen to tame down the spice but it was still very fiery. The copious amounts of chopped coriander was a lovely green foil for the fresh chilli peppers.

We had a couple of standard dishes also associated with nearby Sichuan province. Dry fried green beans with mince pork, and gong bao prawns were good. Beans were served crunchier and greener than many Sichuan places I've tried. Prawns were cooked very lightly, maybe on the verge of being undercooked so had a crisp fresh texture with no hint of rubberiness.

Taiwanese three cup chicken is a dish that varies a lot. The version at Hunan man used boneless chicken which they managed to serve very tender. A light sweet and sour flavour contrasted well with the uber hot beef.

The least successful of our orders were the fried noodles. Stir fried noodles with prawns was a dry slightly greasy rice vermicelli dish. Beef hor fun did not have the char or wok hei that lends the smokiness I associate with outstanding versions of this dish.

I guess Hunan food, like in nearby Szechuan province (where I am more familiar with the cuisine) serves a lot of their stir fries swimming in chilli oil. Whoever orders for the table needs to keep that in mind and include something braised, something steamed, and something cold to contrast with the...

I first visited this restaurant after reading the famous food critic, Jay Rayner’s review. At the time, I thought it pleasant enough, but I used to live in China and I work as a professional chef, and I found the food good rather than remarkable.

Last week, however, I went back — and at first I was a bit confused because the menu had changed, and I couldn't order what I had ordered last time, so we ordered something else and I was absolutely astonished. From the very first dish to the last, everything was utterly outstanding. We ended up eating far more than we had intended and practically had to drag ourselves out of the restaurant. The two lovely ladies running the floor made the experience even more memorable, and they mentioned that the management had recently changed, which is why the menu was different.

Since returning from living in China 15 years ago, I’ve eaten in countless restaurants and worked in many kitchens myself — but I’ve never tasted food quite like this. The atmosphere is plain and unpretentious, which only highlights the quality of what’s on the plate. We had salt and pepper tofu - perfectly crispy without being soggy or heavy, YangZhou fried rice, and Gong Bao Chicken. I am waiting for any excuse to go back - it...

I can't say enough complimentary things about this restaurant. I, my mother and husband were visiting Great Britain from the United States and we were so happy when we saw this restaurant directly across from where we're staying. We all love Chinese food and I lived in China for 2 years so the food holds a special place in my heart. Plus, my mother is a vegetarian and knows that she will always have a wide variety of vegetables to choose from at a Chinese restaurant. The food was DELICIOUS! Between the three times that we ordered from there, we must have tried at least 20 dishes and they ALL were DELICIOUS. More importantly, the service is top notch. All of the staff were thoughtful and attentive. One night, after a long day of site seeing, we stopped there to get takeout. The order took a little longer than usual because of a huge order that had came in before us but we were so busy chatting with the staff and enjoying our complimentary tea that they gave us for the wait that time flew by! And one of the biggest surprises for me was learning that the restaurant had only recently opened! It was run with the professionalism of a long-standing business and already seemed to have a large customer base. So, two thumbs up! ...