Flushing’s Hunan Manor Replaces Red Curry Thai
I can’t remember what Hunan Manor (on Lex btw. 39+40th) but the other day I noticed a Grand Opening sign hanging in their window. Turns out, the place replaced Red Curry Thai back in September, and according to Eating in Translation is a sister restaurant to Hunan House in Flushing. Aw yeah, Midtown East finally gets a taste of Flushing!
I’m not very familiar with Hunan cuisine so I was pretty excited to try it. They made choosing my first lunch item easy by placing double cooked pork as the first lunch special item on the menu (ever since my poor experience at Joe’s Shanghai, I’ve been on a mission to find good double cooked pork). So how did the Hunan Manor version do?
Most of the lunch special items at Hunan Manor are $7 with few hitting the $9.50 range. The double cooked pork ($7) came with a choice of brown or white rice and soup or a veggie spring roll.
When I sat down at my desk and started to take the food out, I saw a pool of oil inside the veggie spring roll bag. What a nice way to start your lunch, with a pool of oil.
As expected the veggie spring roll tasted like oil but besides that it was pretty standard.
To me a proper double cooked pork needs to have leeks so when I saw slices of bean curds and peppers with the bacon from Hunan Manor I was a little disappointed. But after a few bites I was converted. The thickly sliced belly was fatty and tender, and the slices of bean curd offered a nice balance to the pork (despite soaking up some of that nice bacon juice). The heat in the dish mainly came from the pieces of chili, all with seeds still in them. I actually love the taste of peppers but can’t really stand the heat from the seeds so I ate the pieces without much seeds in them. Even by doing that, this dish was pretty damn spicy. I may still prefer double cooked pork with leeks but this version from Hunan Manor was mighty good.
Midtown may never get its own Xi’an Famous Foods (a popular restaurant also from Flushing, Queens that has been taking over NYC) but I am super glad that I have Hunan Manor nearby. Now I have more options for good cheap Chinese food other than Hop Won and Shih Lee.
Have any Lunch’ers been here yet? If so, what dish did you get?
Hunan Manor, 339 Lexington Ave btw 39th+40th St. (212) 682-2883
Posted by Donny T. at 9:45 am, October 18th, 2011 under Chinese, Hunan Manor.
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4 Comments
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Thanks for the review, though…I am glad if Midtown never gets a X’ian Foods. I went to the one in the Village and I was like “Day-am! So expensive!” I stick to the ones in Chinatown and Flaushing for my fix.
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I got the Mao’s Double Braised Pork a few days ago via seamless. Lotta food for 13 bucks, really 2 meals.
Will go back.
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Ate here a few weeks back. Try some of the other really distinct Hunan dishes like the dried beef with white peppers or a fish head. You’ll thank me. I didn’t notice much of a difference from Hunan House in Flushing, though I think Flushing’s Hunan Kitchen is the Mao cuisine Cat’s Meow.
Would you have the lunch special menu?