Spicy House — Restaurant in Katy

When you live by the words: spicy and numbing, this place won't disappoint you, as they surely don't play when it comes to that kick of heat in their dishes. Being one of the places I've frequent for a while now, this hidden gem does Sichuan food spot on. On the most recent visit, I got: -steamed shrimp dumplings: these are like the dim sum "har gow" and served in a bamboo steamer and great dipping sauce -orange chicken: nice orange glazed sauce with delicious crispy chicken, can't stop at one bite -colorful shredded pork: a traditional dish and their take on it is delicious, one bowl of rice won't be enough with this -fresh peppercorn fish fillet: if you've had boiled spicy fish before, this dish is similar to it, flavorful, spicy, numbing, all of the above

If I had to recommend, I would say be spontaneous, close your eyes, and point to any dishes on their menu to try, cause it's all good. But for first timers, some of my favs would be: peppercorn chicken or beef cubes, spicy fish slides, lovers beef, walnut shrimp, colorful pork, cauliflower with pork, ants on tree, shanghai rice cake, and homestyle tofu...just to name a few. But also be warned, that red chili symbol next to the dishes on the menu is a sign from the pepper gods for you to ask for spicy-level adjustment or else there's no turning back. Especially with dishes like the one I had, "spicy peppercorn fish fillet", it's not just the normal spicy here that gets you, but the numbing effects of the peppercorns..maybe this is what "cat got your tongue" feels like. So remember to adjust spiciness accordingly.

Aside from the amazing authentic food, the place is well kept, always nice and clean, and enough room for large group parties. Service is always an A+ with very attentive and friendly staff. This is definitely one of my go-to places for authentic Sichuan-style cuisine offering great variety and great food, can't go wrong here if...

If you like spicy then this place is for you. We were the first customers to walk in the restaurant and seated right away. There was fried wonton strips at each table...kind of curious of those were fried in the same day or the day before or....

Anyway we ordered the following:

Cumin lamb - definitely taste the cumin flavor, good seasoning, there were pieces of lamb that you have to fish through all the peppers however some pieces were tough and chewy. Be careful and eating the fresh red peppers because it was not red bell peppers...there were those fresh large red chili peppers. Bit into it and sent fire throughout my tongue

Fried pork intestine - if you are adventurous I recommend this dish. The intestine was sliced thin, lightly coated with either cornstarch or flour and fried to a crunchy texture. Then sautéed with dried red chili peppers with seasoning. I had a few chewy pieces but overall it was good

Hot sauce and boiled fish - when I go to szechuan or hunan restaurants I like to eat water boil fish so this comes pretty close. This dish was more soupy with veggies and pieces of fish. It would be nice to have more fish and veggies than broth. The sauce was spicy more numbing (malat)...a different type of spiciness.

Mountain City Hot Pot - same monotonous sauce as the Hot Sauce and boiled fish but different ingredients; it was served with large flat noodles, wood ear mushrooms, beef, potatoes and veggies (nappa cabbage I believe)...again more soupy

Everything was served rice. The service was excellent as they checked in on us every so often. The restaurant got kind of busy after noon on Sunday especially if you see Asian customers coming and eating here then you know it is good. I didn't give 5 stars due to chewy texture of the lamb and 2 of the dishes were...

Finally, a Hunan style restaurant in Katy. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food, especially found outside of Chinatown. The Hunan dishes are authentic. My favorite is the House Special Lo Mein. It's the best I've tasted anywhere. I'd come back just for this dish alone. The dry fried green beans were very flavorful. The eggplants also were tasty. The Spicy shrimp was cooked to where the shell was crispy enough for me to eat it whole. Most people would peel it first but this is an Asian thing to do if the shell was fried correctly. Beware the Peppercorn soup. It's Szechuan peppercorns which numbs your tongue and changes the taste of all your food you subsequently eat afterwards. It actually makes everything taste sweeter. I enjoyed it and am use to this but for those that don't know what Szechuan peppercorn does, beware. The only dish that I was disappointed in was the Fried Spicy Chicken Cubes. While I was appreciative of the individual sizes being larger that all other restaurants put out, it wasn't as flavorful as what I'm used to. So while it was still tasty, it didn't meet the standard I'm used to for this dish. Overall, everything was good and I'd come back again to try...