Hunan Provincial Government Restaurant: Genuine Service and Tasty Food Near Fuxingmen

It has finally happened! Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a provincial government restaurant that isn’t a shining beacon of atrocious service and mindless, vague ‘Chinese’ cooking. Hunan Provincial Government Restaurant, representing the 4 million people of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, west of Hunan; you can hold your head up high!

We expected a plethora of mouthwatering fiery chili dishes, a staple of Hunan cuisine, but highlights instead were pickled bamboo, deep-fried pork covered in more shredded deep fried pork, a cold Hunan-style sausage dish, a typical cauliflower dry pot, and a fermented spicy tofu that’s eaten as a condiment. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised and grateful with the tempered use of fresh chili from the kitchen.

Many of the ingredients are imported directly from Hunan, which was obvious from the rich and varied aromas, especially in the sausages that went into the cold sausage dish and the meat used for the twice-cooked pork. The same went for the pickled bamboo, which had a slightly sour scent but was especially fragrant when paired with the sausage dish.

The spicy fermented Hunan tofu (known as Hunan la furu) was also a winner as it’s rare to find it served so fresh in Beijing. The huge white chunks are covered in fresh chili paste and flakes, resembling blue cheese in both texture and taste, and due to the intense and salty flavor, not suited to everyone’s palette.

It is also important to mention that this is one of the only provincial government restaurants where the staff really took the time to explain the menu thoroughly, making good recommendations and offering to bring samples of the aforementioned tofu before we ordered an entire portion. The waitress that served us had only just arrived in Beijing from Hunan a couple of months prior and her keenness to explain her local cuisine to us really made our visit stand out.

Undoubtedly, it is these strong ties to Hunan, both in terms of ingredients and staff, that made this specific provincial government restaurant a success as compared to the loose ties that other provincial government restaurants have tried to lazily convey with their vacant staff and largely bastardized Sichuan-centric menus.

Hunan Provincial Government Restaurant
Daily 11am-2pm, 5pm-9pm. 10/F, Xiangxi Daxia, 11 Taipingqiao Dajie, Xicheng District (6621 4788)
湘西土家族自治区驻京办：西城区 太平桥大街111号湘西大厦10层

This article first appeared in our magazine. To read the entire September/October issue online, please click here.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
Instagram: s.xuagram

Photo: Margaux Schreurs