Any reader of mine knows that I have a certain penchant for Asian foods of every variety. Since I have been in Fairfax, VA for the past month to do some work training, I have regrettably not had the opportunity to do much blogging. That is not to say however, that I have not had a chance to do some serious eating. This entire area is absolutely inundated with authentic, quality Asian food. Sometimes even inside a shopping mall! Inside of the Fair Oaks Mall, the standard variety of Panda King Americanized garbage Asian food is instead replaced with quality renditions of the real deal. One such establishment is Hunan Chinese Gourmet.
There are some of the run of the mill offerings on the menu. This is in a shopping mall after all. Though, behind the veil of Lo Mein and Fried Rice are some real treats. My eyes centered in directly on the many offerings of authentic Noodle Soups ($9.50.) All of these are available with various noodle styles (Homemade, Rice, Flat, Egg, and Catonese) of your choice. As soon as I got a look at the menu, my eyes centered in directly on the Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup with homemade noodles. The fact that this dish also happens to be pictured on the front of the menu confirmed my belief that I chose the right thing. I was given a HUGE bowl of soup loaded with large pieces of beef, stewed greens, Chinese cabbage, green onion, and inundated with nuclear chilies. All of this magic floating in a rich and aromatic beef broth. Readers of my blog will know that I have been to China, and more specifically relating to this dish, Sichuan Province. I can say without reserve that this is the closest and best bowl of noodles that I have had since my time there. The homemade noodles tasted fresh and were cooked perfectly. The heat of chilies complemented every slurp of noodles and bite of beef as sweat began to bead across my forehead the further I went into the dish. There are many other offerings on the menu that I’m sure would please the less spice inclined, but for my money, this may just be perfection in a bowl.
I really hope that places in the Baltimore area can start to believe that they can find a market for these types of authentic dishes. There are people out there that want to eat the real thing. Keep up the good work Hunan Chinese Gourmet, I will be back!
Hunan Chinese Gourmet
