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    Spicy Hunan

    3.9 (162 reviews)
    ModerateChinese
    Closed 11:00 am - 10:30 pm
    Updated over 3 months ago

    Spicy Hunan Photos

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    SPICY HUNAN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Clams, eggplant, gizzards, potato, king Pao chicken. All delicious!
    Song H.

    Service and food were wonderful. Ordered 5 dishes and each had a unique taste with good spice and not too salty. I also had an ice tea and it was never empty. Our server refilled it three times without my asking. I had a Kung Pao chicken, a fermented bean and gizzards, eggplant and green beans, stir fried clams and a simple potato with a vinegar. Everything was very good. I'm saving this for future visits to the Houston area. Of the three restaurants we have visited so far, this was by far the best!

    Short rib
    Brittany M.

    Spicy Hunan is located in a strip mall in Asia Town. Parking was a bit chaotic but we eventually found space in the parking garage. Now Spicy Hunan isn't a place you go to if you want to be wined and dined. The service is what I would expect from an authentic Chinese restaurant. It's a good sign that the food is going to be banging. For instance, our table was dirty so the waitress gave me a napkin wipe it down. That being said, we were given menus right away and no one was ever rude. You just have to ask for things like water, or the bill. They did pack up my food, were very cute with my baby, and there was plenty of room for my stroller. I also left my phone and they kept it for me until the next day. The inside reminded me of the 1990's (another sign that the food is going to be good. I'm not looking for instagram chic). The food itself was very flavorful. The chicken dish was very peppery and the spices came through. My favorite dish was the short ribs (they were actually very very short). It was both sweet and salty. The only draw back was that some pieces were more bone than meat. This was a dish that tasted even better the second day. Somehow way better and it was already fire to begin with. I legit could not stop eating and left Spicy Hunan feeling filthy full with the plus side of also having a ton of left overs. Nice place to get some food for meal prepping. Food - 5 Service- 3 Baby friendly - 4.5 ( they have high chairs, not sure about changing room) Spicy Hunan might become one of my staple spots.

    Ginny M.

    Small, family owned restaurant and if you like Mala this is a great place. The cumin lamb is our absolute favorite. The cauliflower is also delicious. Everything we've ever had has been seasoned well and fairly priced. This is one of our family's favorite restaurants and is often in rotation.

    Lamb Cumin
    Kylena P.

    This is the spot!! This restaurant is me and my husband's must go whenever we're in town by Bellaire. I haven't had authentic tasting Hunan food since I lived in New York City maybe? I am Chinese, and my mom is from Hunan, so I'm going to put y'all on some game :) Have to try: Lamb Cumin 孜然羊肉 This is a traditional dish consisting of deliciously savory lamb, in bite size slices, cooked with bold cumin, cilantro, chilis, garlic and onion. The meat is fragrant, buttery with a bit of crispness and perfect amount of heat. Popular amongst Muslim community in China. This is a staple in our order. Twice cooked pork with leeks 蒜苗回锅肉 I like to call this dish, "Chinese bacon." It's seared pork belly in chili oil with leeks. This is the milder version. The spicy version of this dish, which I prefer is twice cooked pork (Hunan style) 箱辣回锅肉。Which is the same dish but with more heat from chili peppers. The pork is decadently flavorful and the fat melts in your mouth. The leeks are pleasantly crisp and add an interesting texture profile. Salt and Pepper Shrimp 椒盐虾 Nearly anyone can like this dish. These are fried whole shrimps. (And yes, you can eat the entire shrimp!) They're a bit starchy and salty with some spice from peppers and chilis, some crisp onions and scallion decor. I love shrimps so this is a favourite! We also had some shrimp fried rice and egg rolls. There are more traditional dishes on this menu I have tried before. The inside is like an average Chinese restaurant; utilitarian but clean and casual. The service is good, I may be biased because I speak Chinese. I understand the aunties here don't speak very good English but the food is worth the challenge for foreigners! Really, don't overlook this place next time you're in Dun Huang Plaza!

    On our recent family trip we stumbled on this little hidden gem .Food was amazing every item we ordered was so tasty. The staff is really attentive and nice. We were greeted immediately and seated shortly even tho they where extremely busy. We will be definitely be coming back next time we in the bellaire Chinatown area.

    Prawns in garlic sauce
    Sam W.

    Excellent hidden gem very interesting menu we really enjoyed the lamb with cumin with cilantro

    Stir fried spicy beef
    Jennifer N.

    Three of us came in on a whim based on the good Yelp reviews and ordered the eggplant, fish + Napa cabbage, and then the diced spicy fried chicken dish that we saw someone posted on Yelp and the waitress said "just 3?" So we allowed her to pick one more dish for us as long as picked the main ingredient. We selected beef, so she offered the stir fry beef. The beef came out first. I ate a small piece of jalapeno, no seeds and holy moly it was spicy. The place is called SPICY Hunan, so I was in fear for the rest of the meal. The rest of the meal was actually pretty tame. Interestingly between the three of us, we all had our different picks on which dish was our favorite and we all picked the 4 dishes (one of us picked two). My personal fave was the fried chicken... Usually I don't like Szechaun dishes because the spice makes my mouth go numb but this one was very tolerable. My cousin prefers the mouth-numbing effect, however. Nonetheless, we were happy with all of our entrees and don't mind coming back to try others, or even have the same ones again. (I actually am craving the fried chicken dish again right now.) By the way, I think 3 dishes would've been plenty (1 dish per person). We killed two and the other two remaining dishes were plenty for probably to pack for two lunches.

    That was how I eat my food.
    Lou C.

    I walked by Spicy Hunan 湘菜小厨 lots of times. I didn't know the word "spicy" was just a name and there are many delicious dishes are not spicy. The flavors are very close to my mom's cooking. I was here on a Saturday evening. My goal was to get something 麻辣 spicy and numbing to clear my sinus headache. Looking through few restaurants on this corner of Dun Huang Plaza, Spicy Hunan Restaurant has an updated menu from 2020. As we know, many restaurants don't update on Yelp or their websites during Covid-19 pandemic. So, I want to applaud Spicy Hunan for keeping us informed. Upon opening the solid wood door I was greeted by a friendly voice in Chinese. There wasn't as busy compared to nearby restaurants. That's a plus because I don't have to wait long for my food. I adore the interior decors. Majority of furniture was made of traditional Chinese redwood tables and chairs. A big round table in the corner sets the tone of family style dining. The rest tables were not as fancy, but still functional. Tea pot was nostalgic if you order their special tea. It's really relaxed to eat here. My original order was mala dry pot and I asked for saucier pot. So, waitress recommended number 64 braised beef 湘味水煮牛 and it was the most delicious mala dish I have ever had. It opened my eyes to experience the variety of mala cuisine. Hunan is famous for their spicy dishes, similar to Sichuan but not as sweet. Besides the usual peppercorn and dry peppers, it had young ginger pieces, which adds savory to the max. The cabbage was melted with the tender beef slices. From the "new menu", I saw 酒酿汤圆 mochi balls sweet soup. I wanted to try but it came out as a huge bowl. It reminded me of my mom's cooking. The fermented rice and egg flower made it soup very smooth. The rice balls were small like tapioca balls in boba tea. It was not as sweet and contained no alcohol. Goji berries was just a cute garnish. There are many more dishes I want to explore from their menu. I noticed they got 木桶羊肉 (meats in wood barrel) handwritten on a white board. Mmm.., I'm gonna bring my Chinatown Crawl folks here to experience a different level of Chinese cuisine. Oh, hubby liked beef chow mein I ordered takeout. It was really northern Chinese style that he loved. Definitely looking forward to get more acquainted.

    Jason Z.

    A classic old time Chinatown restaurant feel. No millennial or gen x ambiance; you come here for the food. Located in the plaza, parking is available in the surface lots and parking garages. Ordered a bunch of dishes and most were solid. Sweet and sour eggplant, lamb and scallion were cooked well. The fish was a bit mediocre but overall, their menu offers a ton of options and it's a feel of what dining in Chinatown was like 20 years ago.

    Mimi X.

    This is such a bummer for me because I used to LOVE this place. I would go for their boiled filet in hot chili sauce. It reminded me of China when I would visit so it was my go-to comfort food. Not sure if I went on a bad day or chefs changed since the last time I was here (which is about 2 years) but the food was not as great as it used to. The boiled filet in hot chili sauce was bland and too oily (yes I know this is already an oily dish) but usually there are some depth with the taste and the oil. It just taste like oil and no heat. I also got the eggplant in garlic sauce and again, it was too oily. And for some reason I think they used the residual oil from the fish dish to cook the eggplant, it had the same smells and less of its own dish. My husband ordered bone-in duck with 4 seasons chili pepper and that was the only one that was edible in my opinion. Flavor was perfectly balanced and the duck wasn't dry. That was the only dish I have not order before so I can't really compare it to how it was. I was a bit disappointed but I'll come back and update again if it changes. Now I need to find a different restaurant for Chinese comfort food :(

    剁椒蒸鱼片
    Houston B.

    The dishes taste fine. Pretty busy for weekend lunch. The environment is good and service is fair. Will recommend to other people.

    Sunny A.

    3 star only for good food n. Not enough cleanliness but who cares if food is good but terrible service have to ask for soya sauce hot sauce inside was good worse thing was how these women behaved first she gave me the bill for 32.38 then I said I'm paying apple she gave me the next bill for 29.90+ tax $32.38. That's what said you have to pay tip and I said I will pay cash. I asked her for two box to take out. The other lady came with the box and started asking me to give her the tip and she said it so many time, and in front of every other people next to us it was really embarrassing that this two women were asking for the tip.crazy

    Left: twice cooked pork hunan style Right: house special diced chicken with peppers
    Tommy P.

    Tried the house special diced chicken with dried peppers and it was bomb.com. Definitely going back for that. It's like the fried chicken version of the other one. Also tried the twice cooked pork and it's soooooo gooooood!!!! (Definitely better than the diced chicken with fresh and dried peppers) The hot tea is always on point too. Love this spot!

    Water boiled fish

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    2 months ago

    Loved the food. Only concern was how my table split our check and there was a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding that took awhile.

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    5 Stars - Authentic Szechuan that absolutely nails the classics…read more During our short trip to Houston, as a custom, we were determined to find real Szechuan food, and luckily we found Hu's Kitchen. The location is a bit unassuming, and parking is definitely tough (the spaces are very shallow), but the second we walked through the doors and smelled the Szechuan peppercorns, I knew we were in exactly the right place. I generally judge a Szechuan restaurant by their 夫妻肺片 (Fuqi Feipian)--which they cleverly name "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" on the menu. They completely nailed it. The beef, tripe, and tendon were incredibly cohesive together, yet you could tell each component was prepared and marinated in a slightly different way to perfectly highlight its specific texture. The chili oil was right on the spot. We went through a massive bowl of rice just eating this dish alone. Honestly, if I weren't feeding a family of four, I could have just ordered that and been perfectly happy. While the Fuqi Feipian proves their skill with dry dishes, the 水煮魚片 (Fish in Szechuan Hot Chili Oil) proves their skill with wet ones. It's another must-order. The execution was flawless--we didn't just finish the tender fish chunks, we ate every last piece of cabbage soaked in that incredible chili broth. For my two daughters who can't handle the heat, we ordered the fried rice, garlic pork ribs with onion, and the 紅燒獅子頭 (Giant Meatball with Cabbage). The giant meatball was spectacular. The kids completely devoured it on their own, but I managed to steal a bite, and it instantly brought back childhood memories of exactly how this dish is supposed to taste. We also had the Dan Dan Noodles, which were great and rounded out the meal perfectly. I loved all of the dishes we tried. Should we ever find ourselves in Houston again, we will absolutely be revisiting this hidden gem.

    My mom wanted steamed fish with ginger, scallions, and that light sweet soy sauce. Hu's Cooking…read moredelivered! When we ordered, they mentioned it'll take about 20 mins but it came out in 10. No complaints here since we were starving from an 8 hour road trip. The Dan Dan Noodles...I had high expectations but sadly this dish fell short. I recommend Hu's Cooking to use a bigger bowl and more sauce because it was difficult to mix the noodles and the sauce wasn't...saucing, unfortunately. I wish there was more flavor in this dish. The Scallion Pancake was super over-fried and oily. See image in my review. The outer parts of the pancake were fried to a crisp and only a small circumference in the center stayed chewy. I know Chinese tends to be oily but this pancake soaked up way too much oil. Half a Peking duck: super great price for so much meat. The difficulty when eating this dish is gnawing the meat off the sharp bones of the duck. Mapo Tofu with white rice: pretty easy staple, no complaints here. Dinner on a Saturday was packed but we got seated quickly and food arrived fast.

    Photos
    Spicy chicken, clear noodles with red pepper sauce, and stir fried green beans
    Spicy chicken, clear noodles with red pepper sauce, and stir fried green beans
    Open til 11:00pm on Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat
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    Photos
    Excellent customer service!!!
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    V9. Eggplant In Garlic Sauce V9.
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    Cooking Girl - Montrose

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    The food at the cooking girl restaurants in Houston is outstanding! I've been to multiple locations…read moreand they're all very good. The food comes out so fresh and hot. They prepared to order and as soon as the dishes stirred up, it comes out hot.!!!! highly recommend although maybe I shouldn't because it might get too busy and hard to get in!!!!

    I have wanted to eat here for months but I always passed it up because of how busy and small the…read moreplace looked from the outside. Today was my lucky day because there was plenty of parking spots and seats (although the parking lot is very small). This place is great! I understand the hype for sure. When you walk inside it's just about the smallest restraunt I've ever. Very cozy and cute vibe with smooth jazz playing on a speaker and we got our food very fast. I really enjoyed my time here. Dry Fried Green Beans 5/5- these are the best green beans I have had in my life! I am not exaggerating like I will be thinking about these green beans all week. Do not hesitate to try these. Perfectly salty and good amount of crunch still left. The flavors they used are just perfect. Colorful Beef 4/5- The texture of the beef was so tender and not chewy at all like other places. The flavor was bright and the bell peppers were cooked through well. The issue I had with this dish was the sichuan peppercorns. I was just eating and not really looking at it super closely so I got a mouth full of these peppercorns and wow it was actually horrible. Just beware because the texture of these things are god awful and I think that they should be taken out like how a bay leaf is removed before serving. It was just really intense and it almost ruined the dish for me honestly. Other than that a great dish. My mouth was so numb but worth it. Dandan noodles 2/5- This was my first time trying this dish anywhere and I did not really enjoy it at all. The sesame flavor was really strong and it wasn't really salted at all. Very strange flavor. I will not order this again, however I do believe that the execution on this dish is great. There was a lot of sauce and the noodles were cooked well. I just really wish I liked the flavor of this dish and that's a personal problem. This dish also made my mouth numb but the flavor did not make it worth it. I wanted to like these so badly but I just couldn't do it. I will be back!

    Photos
    The bar
    The bar
    Bao was Delicious!
    Bao was Delicious!
    Inside

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    Inside

    Spicy Hunan - chinese - Updated August 2026

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