Hunan Cafe — Restaurant in New York

This is one of my go-to places in Flushing. I can't believe that I haven't reviewed it yet. It is located on Northern Blvd, a bit outside of the main downtown area of Flushing, as such, we never have to wait long for a table. The restaurant may not look much on the outside, the interior is quite different. The decor is understated for Chinese restaurant standards and well maintained. The staff is friendly (again, for Chinese restaurant standards), helpful and responsive. Most importantly, the food is consistently good, I have not been disappointed by a dish here yet. Hunan cuisine is known for its spicy flavor, however, we tried a few non-spicy dishes here, and they did not disappoint.

Some of my favorite dishes here are: Spicy Beef Tendon & Ox Tongue and Tripe with Spicy Peppery Sauce - not for the faint of heart. These dishes are definitely spicy and the ingredients could be a bit strange for those not familiar with Chinese cuisine. These two are the quintessential southern Chinese appetizers, they are great with beer or rice.

Cucumber Salad - a good dish to help cut the spiciness of the other dishes. The cucumber salad here is well made with the perfect amount of crunchiness and sourness.

Beef with Spicy Green Pepper - one of my go-to dishes. I love the tenderness and robust flavor of the beef. I have to admit that I usually pick out the peppers because I am too chicken to eat them. However, I love how the peppers give the beef the perfect amount of spiciness.

Water Spinach Root - Definitely order this dish if you see it on the menu. They take the leaves out of water spinach, leaving only the roots and chop them up into tiny pieces. It is the perfect dish to pair with fatty meat, mapo tofu or just rice. I have tried to replicate this dish at home and it is a lot of prep work. If you only get one vegetable, get this one.

String Beans - a seemingly simple dish, but well executed. The outside of the string beans are crunchy, while the inside is soft. Some places drench the string beans in oil in order to sear the outside, but that's not the case here.

Lamb with Cumin Flavor - another go-to dish. I've always try to order the lamb if I see it on the menu. The lamb is well seasoned but not over-powered by the cumin.

Overall, most of the dishes here are pretty good, if you are in doubt, just ask the servers, they will help guide you through the menu. They definitely cater to a more Chinese crowd, as such, the kitchen is not shy with the spices, so...

I still give it 2 stars because the food is quite good in general (except for the "Thin Sliced Beef Tendon w/ Roasted Chili Vinaigrette (香辣牛筋)", however, is just too greasy. If you order it, make sure that you have at least 4 to 5 people to share it.) However, the service is just way below my acceptable level.

First of all, right after we sat down and got the menu, the waitress came back after about 1 minute, standing right next to me and stared at us. Then after another minute or so, she asked if we're ready to order. I told her that we needed a bit more time. She then went away for 30 seconds or so, and came back standing next to me and staring at us again. We barely had enough time to read the whole menu and discussed. I can "understand" if they were packed, but they were not. For God Sake, we weren't in Hong Kong, dining at the infamous 澳牛 (Australia Dairy Company -- ask your HK friends if you don't know about them).

Then, the time came when we finished eating. It was like, 2 second after we put down our chopsticks. She gave us the check. We didn't ask for it. She didn't ask if we were done. She just gave it to me. Holy. I was thinking whether we should order some desserts, but because she did that, I gave up the thought. They simply did not deserve my money. To be honest, I considered myself quite good-mannered, because I still gave them 15% tips.

Thank but no thank, I won't be there again even though their food...

Excellent food and decor.

I came here with a friend whose family makes food in a similar style with great expectations. Together we ordered 2 spicy and 3 normal dishes. Everything was delicious and you could tell the restaurant used high quality ingredients.

Jelly fish and spicy beef tendon - I've ordered both at other restaurants and noticed the grade on both these products were much better. Some places give you peelings of beef tendon whereas at Hunan House gives you evenly cut strips with gradients of meat. The jelly fish were larger and less mushy than ones I've had before; it was more reminscent of cartilage but not nearly as chewy.

Mapo tofu - a classic dish, soft, silky tofu. The perfect amount of spiciness for someone who enjoys spice but can't necessarily handle it in great quantities.

Fatty roast pork over preserved cabbage - fat literally melts on your tongue in beautifully seasoned manner. I think for some the concept of eating pork fat is detering but if you can get over that idea, it's absolutely worth the artery clogging goodness.

Eggplant topped with salted duck egg yolk and pork - My favorite dish of the night. The eggplant had a roasted maybe sauteed flavor with sesame oil drizzeled on top. The ground pork and egg yolk were perfect pairings for crunchiness.

I hope you decide to try Hunan house, it's a greater trek than I'd like to take but the food...