Hunan Bistro

Already quite busy at 5PM, this little hidden gem competes with Three Gorges and other staples of Asian cuisine in northwest Austin. The owner is from Hunan and the head chef from Sichuan and their offerings of both styles are delicious, sharable, and reasonably priced. So far, I've had: Salt Pork Bamboo Shoot and Tofu Skin soup with bok choy: Best shared among 4-6 people. It's a lot of soup for two people. Rich and flavorful with very tender pork. 4.5/5 Hunan Stir Fried Pork: Exceptionally flavorful and authentic. Careful, the jalapenos are not de-seeded and really aren't intended to be eaten (I still crunch on some). 4.5/5 Mapo Tofu: Might be one of the best Mapo Tofu I've ever had. I was sweating without my body feeling hot, quite an experience. Very flavorful with soft tofu and goes great with rice. 5/5 Service will take a while because everything is made to order (20 minutes for our soup, 40ish minutes for the main courses). It's worth it!

I walked over for dinner on a Wednesday night and they were super busy. My food took around 45 minutes to make its way out of the kitchen but it was very worth the wait! The meatballs were large and savory! and my favorite thing by far was the mapo tofu. It was super spicy and made me wanna say "Rejoice, boy!"

This restaurant has become my Monday regular. The consistency varies a bit on the same dish. Some days can be a bit more spicy, other days can have too much pepper corn, which makes the dish very numbing to eat. Overall, my coworkers and I enjoyed our visits. What we recommend: mapo tofu, 双椒鸡-serrano pepper with chicken (our new favorite, very spicy but great flavor), My pictures: Toothpicks lamb Fish with tofu Serrano chicken Mapo tofu

Sichuan beef was good, but didn't stand out. However, fish filet in hot chili oil just hit the spot. Loved their generous use of sichuan peppers in the dish. Mouth was buzzing with the kick from peppers and savory delicious flavors. There was a bit of wait to get the food (30mins), but totally worth it. Will definitely come back and recommend others too.

The Dan Dan noodle here may just be the best I’ve ever had! 夫妻肺片，金牌笋干菜扣肉 were flavorful as well. I am looking forward to coming back regularly to try the rest of the menu. There’s about 6 tables in the restaurant, and only 1 front of house lady taking orders, bussing the tables. They are currently using to go containers to serve the dishes and party cups for water; probably because they’re so short staffed — I don’t really mind, but just in case you are considering going for a special occasion.