Hunan Palace lives up to reputation with namesake cuisine

SALISBURY — We’ve always regarded Hunan Palace as one of the top Chinese restaurants in the Salisbury area. Maybe it’s because its prices are a little higher, or perhaps it’s because there’s actually room to sit down and be served by the wait staff (versus the plethora of what are essentially fast-food Chinese restaurants). But was it because the food was actually better?

Hunan Palace, which is opening its second restaurant near The Centre at Salisbury soon, claims to specialize in Hunan cuisine. This type of cuisine is marked by a hot spicy flavor and liberal use of chili peppers.

And, boy, is that true. There was an astounding difference between standard, not-very-interesting dishes on the menu, such as wonton soup ($2), chicken lo mein ($7.55) and the ever-present “happy family,” a mix of jumbo shrimp, crabmeat, scallops, steak, chicken and roasted pork in a brown sauce ($12.95), and those marked with a little chili pepper indicating spiciness.

The flavors were much more developed in the spicy dishes we tried, such as eight chicken ($8.95) — named that, we suppose, because it consisted of eight ingredients that included chopped chicken, baby shrimp and peanuts covered in a spicy brown sauce. Even better was the sha cha shrimp ($10.25), a blend of chinese vegetables and shrimp with a rich brown sauce that wasn’t quite as spicy as eight chicken’s, but definitely left the tongue tingling.

After realizing where Hunan Palace’s strength really lie, we’d be interested in trying some other spicier dishes that we might not have looked at before, such as the Singapore rice noodles ($8.55) or the boastfully named wonderful chicken ($10.95). All the dishes, with the exception of noodles, are served standard with friend rice (ask if you want white rice). One nonspicy dish worth mentioning, though, was the steamed dumplings. These little pockets of beef were steamed to perfection on the outside and filled with tender, flavorful meat and a hint of sauce — delicious.

Hunan Palace serves more than just Chinese cuisine, though. Branched off the main dining room is a sushi bar, and there are dozens of sushi rolls from which to choose on the menu. It’s worth noting that any three of the standard rolls can be ordered for $13.25. It’s not the cheapest combo in town, but it’s a pretty good price. Because most salmon and California rolls taste similar at all sushi restaurants, we tried a few of the special rolls instead. First was the sunshine roll ($6.95), which was filled with spicy tuna inside and topped with a piece of raw tuna on the top. We weren’t very impressed with it, so we moved on to the Las Vegas rolls ($9.95), filled with avocado and crab and topped with sea scallops and crunchy bits. The Las Vegas roll tasted much fresher and was the definite winner out of the two.

Going back to our original question — is Hunan Palace’s food better than other local establishments? — we’d have to say that, yes, for the most part it is. Just stick to what it specializes in, and you probably can’t go wrong.