West Hunan, Xiangxi - China Food Road Project

I started this quest for the ultimate 'China Food Road' a little while ago, and my friend Kai has been wonderful, joining me with her good humour and stories of travels and adventures. Chinese food is meant to be shared and the more people at the table, the more dishes you can try, so we decided to extend our invitation to others who also have a passion for good Chinese food. Last Wednesday we visited the West Hunan Municipality restaurant. 

Staff wearing beautifully embroidered outfits, typical from Tujia ethnic minority

Getting to the restaurant was an adventure itself, which may or may not have involved some kind of bribery and special tipping. I don’t want to get the chap into trouble, but let’s say that parking was no problem. So we all managed to get there and it was a great outing.

Like most provincial eateries, this restaurant is located in the building where the provincial authorities have their offices in Beijing (in this case, the Xiangxi autonomous region, in west Hunan). At these restaurants you will find truly authentic, regional food; where the real locals who work in Beijing and visitors from the area eat; attended by many of those who feel homesick and crave for the foods they grew up with.

Xiangxi government restaurant has simple, unpretentious décor. In fact, it doesn’t look like a restaurant at all. Wooden tables and chairs, covered with thin, transparent-plastic tablecloths layered on top of each other, are peeled off, so to speak, as they get dirty with each group of guests.  The waiters – or fuyuan – are dressed in beautifully embroidered clothes, typical of the Tujia ethnic minority. Plain, white crockery; disposable, wooden chopsticks and a metal kettle for tea.

The restaurant is located on the 10^th floor and once you come off the lift, you will be forgiven for thinking that you are on the wrong floor. But if you carry on walking along the corridor (towards the left) you will reach the restaurant at the end of it. Trust me, and follow your nose.  The restaurant is very popular at lunch time. You can book a VIP private room for a min RMB600 consumption. But we wanted to enjoy the real thing, and soak up the atmosphere, so we went to the big room with all the other guests. In the end, we ordered seven dishes and drank local tea, it only cost RMB 50 each. It was very busy when we got there at 12pm. We were one of the last ones to leave and the place was almost empty at 1.30pm. Staff were more relaxed by then, and were smiling and agreed to have a photo taken. On the same corridor, right next to the restaurant there are offices, a sign that the building is fully operational as a regional authority representation.

Hunan cuisine is well known for its fiery spiciness. In the western district of Xiangxi  they love their smoked and cured meats and the most common accompaniments are: celery, leeks and green and red peppers. Salty, fermented black beans give dishes an extra zest.

The Menu

This is what we ordered (upon recommendation of our expert, Feian)

the menu

Farm-style pork with green peppers -Nongjia xiaochao rou’农家小炒肉. One of Hunan’s most popular and delicious dishes: Stir-fried long green peppers and thinly sliced pork belly, seasoned with garlic, black bean, soy sauce and rice wine.

farm-style pork with green peppers

Dry-wok chicken – guan guo ji 干锅鸡肉. This dish is like a small, dry hot-pot without the soupy broth. The chicken is served in a wok that is kept heated on a fondue-like tabletop burner.

dry-wok chicken, at the back

Plain rice – bai mi fan 白米饭, served in a wooden bucket, very picturesque.

rice by the buckets

Hunan stir-fried smoked bacon and beancurd - hun nan chao la rou 湖南炒腊肉

A rich combination of smoked bacon and bean-curd, leeks and chillies.

smoked bacon and bean-curd, my favourite

Grandma’s dish – wai po cai 外婆菜。 Personally recommended by the ‘fu yuan’, this is a typical dish of Hunan, which the regulars love so much and it only costs RMB 22: minced pork is stir-fried with preserved mustard greens and bird’s eye chillies. It has a very earthy taste, yet this version was slightly oily.

Grandma's dish

Dry-wok radish - gan guo luo bo 干锅萝卜 Another hotpot- style dish: Chinese radish, thinly sliced and served with lots and lots of dried, red chillies. Ordered on Kathryn's request, otherwise we would have forgotten to order vegetables.

dry-wok radish, everybody's favourite

Fried cucumber with Hunan basil – zi su huang gua 紫苏黄瓜. Who would have thought cucumbers can be fried? At home we only eat them in salads. The addition of basil makes it very refreshing, to cool the palate after all those these fiery dishes. OK, I know it is immersed in red chillies, but if they are too hot for you, you can move them to one side (like I did).

fried cucumber with basil

The food was excellent, and we all enjoyed it very much. Feian was surprised that the dishes used a lot of dried chillies, and she explained that in Hunan they would use fresh red chillies instead, but perhaps they are not so widely available here in Beijing. We all noticed that the food was saltier than we are used to, and this is probably because of the fermented black beans (and soy sauce). It made us very thirsty! We also noticed that the food didn’t have ginger, which would normally be used in Hunan food. But all the other ingredients were present and: Yes, Hunan food is very spicy and fiery, but if your palate can take the heat, it is very delicious.

A big thank you to Feian for all her help and advice selecting and ordering dishes, translating and interpreting and also typing food names in Mandarin.
If you would like to join me visiting provincial restaurants, contact me (leave a comment or by email). The more the merrier!
For an insight on how I made these images, check out this article here

These are the restaurant details, taken from Eileen Wen Mooney's "Beijing Eats" recommendations:

Xiangxi Autonomous Region

10/F, Xiangxi Daxia, 111 Taipingqiao Dajie, Xicheng District, Tel 6621 4788

湘西大厦10层 湘西土家族自治区驻京办 西城区 太平桥大街111号