Had fairly mediocre expectations before trying this place, simply due to the Yelp review (3.5…read morestars). However, I was pleasantly surprised and blown away! We ordered UberEats, and the food came in generous portions and was very, very tasty. Almost everything we ordered was spicy, and be warned - this place doesn't hold back on the spice. I saw at least 4-5 whole chili peppers in each dish.
As per usual, here's a rating for each dish that we got (from my most favourite to least)... TLDR; I really enjoyed Tasty Hunan, particularly griddle lamb and deep fried duck, but will stay far away from the griddle cauliflowers.
Griddle lamb
This was delicious! Bone-in lamb pieces were stir-fried with onions, chili peppers, garlic hearts, and more. It was quite spicy but very flavourful - the lamb pieces retained some of their gameyness. A must-have for anyone who loves lamb!
Deep fried duck
This dish looks quite dry, but don't be fooled! It's extremely good. I'm not entirely sure what spice they add (my sister said she could taste some sweet sand ginger, though the Chinese name suggests there is some Chinese liquorice) but it makes the duck very tasty. It definitely isn't moist, but it's not super tough nor dry. I personally loved this dish, as did my family!
Fuqi feipian (sliced beef shank and ox tongue)
This dish, ironically, doesn't have ox tongue - it should more accurately be named beef shank and tripe in hot chili oil. Compared to other restaurants, Tasty Hunan's version is far saltier. It has a healthy coating of hot chili oil, is adorned with lots of coriander, and lacks the broken peanuts of other places. Overall, very yummy, but nothing spectacular.
Deep fried diced chicken with hot pepper
This bite sized chicken makes for a great snack - nothing better than fried, crispy, small chunks of meat! It was the perfect mix of salty and spicy, but my only complaint was that it was heavily battered that it felt more like I was eating flour than chicken bits.
Stir fried beef with pepper and cumin
This was quite a tasty dish too; the beef was thinly sliced and almost fried with pepper and cumin. It's not unlike its lamb / goat counterpart, but definitely far less gamey.
Noodles with sesame paste
I gave this dish a try because I've heard it's a classic Hunan noodle recipe. It was decent; had a good garlic-infused sesame flavour. However, the colour was quite yellow and off-putting - my mom swore that she could taste curry, but I believe it's 150% attributed to the mustard yellow colour of the noodles.
Griddle cauliflowers
This was the worst option out of all that we ordered - frankly, I'm unlikely to order it again. The Chinese cauliflower was drowning in chili oil and was overly salted. The salted meat only further added to the saltiness, so the dish was both salty and spicey... ultimately, leaving it mostly untouched by my family. Meh.