DRMW
[Purist]
21832
Hunan Tasty
The Mid Wilshire area is a busy place with a lot of landmarks. You'll find the Petersen Automotive museum, Los Angles County Nuseum of Art (LACMA), and the La Brea Tar Pits in this area. L.A. Farmer's Market, CBS studios, and The Grove is all located near by. For foodies, there's Little Ethiopia, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles (CJ Cafe which I think is better), and during lunch time all those gourmet food trucks lined up on Wilshire Boulevard. Even the huge Samy's camera is around here! For dining there's one place that's been there for a long time in the same location...Hunan Taste:
But DRMW, the sign is not Hunan Taste, it reads Hunan Tasty! When I spoke with the manager he said the owner retired and sold it to the chef about 3 years ago. In the past this restaurant was consistently good so it was great news to hear that the chef took over.
The interior layout of Hunan Tasty remains the same. They still have their large parking lot in front of the restaurant. San Vicente and Wilshire gets really busy so having parking is very convenient. Walking in brought back fond memories, we've done birthday parties and other celebrations with friends here. It's been over 2 decades since I've been here so hopefully it is as good. They offer us a hot tea and I get my usually Coke while I look over the menu:
The type of Chinese food you get here is not 'authentic' like you would find in old Chinatown, Monterey Park, Alhambra, or Hacienda Heights. It's Americanized-Chinese food but not as bad as the PF Chang's/Panda Express stuff.
Interior of Hunan Tasty:
We start with Mooshu Pork, think of it as a Chinese burrito. It's filled with vegetables, pork, and hosin sauce in a thin crepe like wrapper. I thought this was really good!
Next is the Spicy Wonton. The sauce was ok, a little sweet and not at all that spicy but the wonton itself was good.
Kung Pao Shrimp was tasty, not overly spicy and very flavorful. The portion was generous but they used a smaller shrimp. It would be perfect if they used larger shrimps. Doesn't matter, my stomach was happy with this dish.
For my dining companion she wanted something a little healthier, so we ordered their Daily Special, Chicken and Asparagus. It looked kinda plain but the chicken was very tender and the sauce was good. There were bit of mushrooms in it too.
The most famous dish and the by far the best item of the meal was this:
Hunan Beef aka Orange Peel Crispy Beef. This is the reason we came to Hunan Taste in the past, we always ordered it and it was fantastic every time in the past. I'm happy to report that it is still great! The dish came out piping hot (the other dishes did too) and was perfectly thin adn crispy. The orange peel sauce was tangy but had the right about of sweetness.
It has been a long time since we came here but I'm glad we went back!
The type of Chinese food you get here is not 'authentic' like you would find in old Chinatown, Monterey Park, Alhambra, or Hacienda Heights. It's Americanized-Chinese food but not as bad as the PF Chang's/Panda Express stuff.
Interior of Hunan Tasty:
We start with Mooshu Pork, think of it as a Chinese burrito. It's filled with vegetables, pork, and hosin sauce in a thin crepe like wrapper. I thought this was really good!
Next is the Spicy Wonton. The sauce was ok, a little sweet and not at all that spicy but the wonton itself was good.
Kung Pao Shrimp was tasty, not overly spicy and very flavorful. The portion was generous but they used a smaller shrimp. It would be perfect if they used larger shrimps. Doesn't matter, my stomach was happy with this dish.
For my dining companion she wanted something a little healthier, so we ordered their Daily Special, Chicken and Asparagus. It looked kinda plain but the chicken was very tender and the sauce was good. There were bit of mushrooms in it too.
The most famous dish and the by far the best item of the meal was this:
Hunan Beef aka Orange Peel Crispy Beef. This is the reason we came to Hunan Taste in the past, we always ordered it and it was fantastic every time in the past. I'm happy to report that it is still great! The dish came out piping hot (the other dishes did too) and was perfectly thin adn crispy. The orange peel sauce was tangy but had the right about of sweetness.
It has been a long time since we came here but I'm glad we went back!
-MW
Hunan Tasty
The Mid Wilshire area is a busy place with a lot of landmarks. You'll find the Petersen Automotive museum, Los Angles County Nuseum of Art (LACMA), and the La Brea Tar Pits in this area. L.A. Farmer's Market, CBS studios, and The Grove is all located near...
Great memories!
Ming, I grew up at this restaurant! Years ago my family followed Susie and her husband there from Chinatown's venerable Yang Chow. We were Sunday night fixtures. Often, I'd fish Santa Monica Bay in the morning and enjoy my catch, deep fried, braised and s...
We've probably bumped into each other in the past and didn't realize it
Yang Chow, Plum tree, Mandarin Shanghai (now Mandarin Chateau) are the old school Chinatown landmarks for foodies. I drive by Hunan Tasty so many times but I'm glad we had dinner there. We'll round up the local L.A. PuristS and chow down! Will let you kno...
a blast from the past
Brings back memories. Didn't realize the restaurant is still open. I still remember family dinner here and also the Pioneer chicken across the street. And who can forget Gun Heaven? DRMW hope you organize a gtg here. It would be fun. Regards, ED-209
It's been there forever!
Gun Heaven is long gone but Pioneer chicken and Shakey's Pizza is still there! Time for a GTG at Hunan Tasty! -MW
Looks very tasty
How does the taste of Kunpao shrimp and the beef brocolly ? Looks same taste ?
Very different...
The Kung Pao Shrimp has a soy sauce based sauce made with spicy Sichuan peppers while the Crispy Beef has a like a sweet and sour sauce. But are delicious! -MW
