Beauty Hunan: Oh So Spicy, Oh So Delicious

If you know me, you know that I love spicy foods. You would probably know that if you read my blog post on the Carolina Reaper. When people think of spicy Chinese food, they will typically point to Szechuan cuisine. Szechuan cuisine is known for the pungency of its food offerings, but Hunan cuisine takes that to a whole new level. Hunan cuisine implements higher amounts of chili peppers in comparison to Szechuan. As a lover of spicy foods, Hunan cuisine is hard to ignore.

In celebration of my father's birthday, my family decided to eat out for dinner in an area known as "Convoy" in San Diego. We first decided to go to a Taiwanese hot pot restaurant, only to discover that it was completely packed. The wait for a table could have exceeded an hour. After a few minutes of ponderous decision-making, we departed for a slightly obscure restaurant by the name of "Beauty Hunan."

Entering the restaurant, we were greeted with a massive fish tank filled with a variety of beautiful fishes ranging from goldfishes to silvery arowanas. After admiring the fishes in the tank, we were quickly seated. Unlike the hot pot restaurant, many of the seats in Beauty Hunan were empty by comparison. One reason for this could have been due to its relatively non-busy location. A sign of that was the fact that parking for Beauty Hunan was simple while parking for the Taiwanese hot pot restaurant was problematic. I was a little concerned about the emptiness, but that didn't deter us away from the establishment.

Ordering at Beauty Hunan was very pleasant. The menu was easy to navigate, and was abundant with many different options. The waiter was courteous and well-informed about the menu items. When asked a question about a dish, they answered kindly and accurately.

 Hunan cold dishes. Spicy beef, pork ears, and duck tongues.

The first dish we received was a combination of Hunan cold dishes. The dish consisted of spicy beef, shredded pork ears, and stewed duck tongue. The spicy beef was what I would describe little bits of spicy and oily goodness. The pork ears were a bit chewy and shared a similar flavor profile to the spicy beef. The stewed duck tongues were spicy and oily as well. However, I didn't care too much for the duck tongues because the presence of bone in the tongues was a little unpleasant. Overall, this was a very decent appetizer to begin the course.

Next came the cuttlefish dry pot and fried rice. First and foremost, let's talk about the fried rice. There is not much to say about the fried rice because it was your typical Chinese fried rice. However, it was a good complement to the overall course. The more significant of the two dishes was the cuttlefish dry pot. For those who don't know what a dry pot is, it can be described as a hot pot without the boiling hot broth. A major difference is the fact that all the ingredients come to the table pre-cooked and already in the pot. The dry pot is warmed over a heat source at the table in similar fashion to a traditional hot pot. As for the cuttlefish dry pot, it was placed over a wooden vessel with a cast iron top containing a small flame. This was a visually pleasing enhancement to the presentation aspect of the dish. Inside the cuttlefish dry pot was a wealth of ingredients including broccoli, cauliflower, chili peppers, potatoes, onions, and of course, cuttlefish. Without reserve, my family and I commenced our attack on the dry pot.

Cuttlefish dry pot. A perfect balance of flavors.

The first bite of the cuttlefish was intensely flavorful. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly spicy. The savory and spicy flavors enveloped my tongue in a pleasingly piquant hug. The saltiness and spiciness were in a perfect harmony akin to the two Chinese divers diving in the 2016 Rio Olympics synchronized diving event. The texture was pleasantly tender and similar to squid. All the other ingredients in the dish were delicious as well, but the potatoes in particular stood out. These potatoes were gloriously salty, just slightly crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. They reminded me a little of the most decadent of potato wedges. It was hard to restrain myself from ignoring basic civility and completely devouring all the potatoes like a Neanderthal.

Boiled fish in spicy broth. An acquired taste.

The final dish served was boiled fish in a spicy broth. The first thing I noticed about this was how fragrant the dish was. The scent of peppercorn completely dominated my olfactory senses. The fish, as one could probably guess, had the strong taste of Szechuan peppercorns. This put a numbing sensation on my tongue that strangely turned sweet once the sensation settled down. The fish was moist to the point where eating it was almost as easy as chewing air. I feel that this dish might have an acquired taste because the flavors stemming from the peppercorns are profoundly intense.

For a person that has never tried Hunan cuisine, it is hard to not recommend this restaurant. It is especially hard not to recommend this restaurant to lovers of pungent and spicy flavors. Not too long ago, I was disappointed to learn that my favorite Chinese restaurant in Convoy had closed down. After learning the unfortunate news, I toiled in my search for another enjoyable Chinese restaurant that could possibly replace my now-closed-down favorite. After coming to Beauty Hunan, it's safe to say that I've found my replacement, and a very good one at that.

Read More

Wedding Hors d'oeuvres

It's hard not to appreciate hors d'oeuvres at a wedding. When the servers come to you and ask if you would like so-and-so, it feels like it's your birthday! Of course, that wasn't the case here. My favorite hors d'oeuvres at this wedding I attended was most definitely the coconut butterfly shrimp. It may have seemed simple, but the taste was ever so good and ever so familiar. The asparagus wrap and mini beef wellington were decent as well, but could not match the coconut butterfly shrimp.

Deep-fried shrimp coated in coconut flakes? Now that's a winner!

Asparagus wraps. Not bad.

Mmmmm...mini beef wellington.

 

Read More

I ate a Carolina Reaper.

Yes, I ate a Carolina Reaper. Why, you ask? That is because I live for the challenge. Specifically, spicy challenges. I'm no stranger when it comes to eating dangerously spicy foods. For instance, I once ate a taco labeled the "Death Taco" from a restaurant called "Genkiyaki". Now this taco was absolutely filled with habanero extract, which is worse than the actual pepper. A few seconds after my first bite of the taco, I quickly reached for my soda and attempted to bring down the heat. However, my attempts were futile and I had to endure the pain for however long it lasted. The pain felt as if my tongue was suffering from first degree burns. However, this pain was nothing compared to what I had to suffer through with the Carolina Reaper.

The Carolina Reaper is considered the spiciest chili pepper in the world as of this writing with a Scoville rating (which is used to measure spiciness) of up to 2,200,000 Scoville heat units! That's more than two times as hot as the famous ghost pepper! My cousin Derek showed me the pepper early in the morning the day of my other cousin's wedding. I was very hesitant to try it. There was no way I was missing my cousin's wedding ceremony, and I definitely did not want to show up to my own cousin's wedding while I'm dying a spicy death. I pondered for hours during the wedding ceremony and reception. Is it worth going through immense pain to say you ate the Carolina Reaper, the hottest pepper on the planet? Are the bragging rights really worth it? Do you want to die? To the first two questions I answered, "Hell yeah."

After the wedding was over, I headed home to take on the fiery challenge. No one could convince me not to take the challenge at that point. I sat down on the couch in my living room with Carolina Reaper in hand, anxiously waiting for the moment I was ready to take a bite. After documenting the beginning of my death on camera, I, with brave stupidity, tore the chili pepper off the stem with my teeth and swallowed.

A few seconds passed before I felt a sudden, rising burning sensation on my tongue. The pain had arrived much quicker than I had anticipated. Within a minute or so, I had to make a dash for the milk (or rather, the coconut milk). Unbeknownst to me, there was only about an eighth of a carton left. How unlucky I was for this to happen. I had to get water immediately. I knew it would probably make the heat worse, but it would at least cool my mouth down for a second with each swig. With a water cup by my side, I prayed to the heavens on a floor mat for my survival. Only later was I informed that there was ice cream in the freezer. The lords have saved me! Unfortunately, the vanilla ice cream was completely frozen and tough to scoop. I could only scavenge a meager amount of ice cream on a spoon, but it was just enough to help cool my tongue. A few minutes after, the burning in my mouth started to cease. I had to thank my high spice tolerance for shortening the time I had to endure intense pain from eating the Carolina Reaper. In reality, that was only the beginning.

About fifteen minutes later, the burning sensation that was on my tongue transferred into my stomach. It was not good. I sprinted to restroom in hopes of finding salvation. However, it would not come no matter how hard I tried. An hour later, I felt as if I was going insane. Running around the house like a deranged lunatic, writhing on the floor in incredible agony. It felt as if someone had ignited thermite from within my stomach. My stomach could have replaced the knives in those 1000 degree knife videos! I was forced to take my shirt off as the heat was making my whole body sweat. Finally, the pain reached an incredible level that was no longer bearable. I forced myself to violently disgorge my stomach contents into the toilet. As a result of this, I could feel extremely intense acidic burns throughout my stomach, esophagus, and mouth. Moments later, I suddenly passed out.

Thirty minutes later, I woke up finding myself on the bathroom floor. The pain was now reduced to a lingering burning feeling in the stomach. Compared to what I had to go through, it was absolutely bearable. Leaning of the bathroom door, a feeling of relief encompassed me. I had survived the Carolina Reaper.

In retrospect, do I feel that it was worth it? My foolish pride says yes, but my stomach says no. The Carolina Reaper gave me the most excruciating stomach pain I had ever experienced in my life. Would I do it again? Maybe. I'm definitely not doing it alone however. I will say this to conclude this writing. I fear that there will be a new chili pepper in the future that bests even the Carolina Reaper in terms of spiciness. I cannot wait for the day of its conception to come.

P.S.

I plan on releasing video footage of my experience sometime in the future.

Read More

Crispy Fried Chicken: Best Fried Chicken in San Diego?

One fine early morning at 1:30 AM, I was feeling extremely spontaneous. I suddenly wanted to have a get-together with my old group of friends. We had not hung out with just ourselves in a very long time due to a variety of reasons. So I thought, why not bring my old friends together with some fried chicken? After all, fried chicken is the premiere food to bond over. Everyone loves fried chicken, right?

I picked up my friends and arrived at the fried chicken establishment in the afternoon. The place was called "Crispy Fried Chicken". Now that's some creative naming sense right there! The name made it blatantly obvious what was served there, which I can actually appreciate. It makes life easier when you have less things to think about.


Anyways, my friends and I entered Crispy Fried Chicken and were greeted with a hole-in-the-wall environment. The windows were lined with vertical window bars for security. Being in a less prosperous area of El Cajon Blvd., the bars only made me feel a little more disconcerted than I already was being in the area. One of the friends I brought (let's call him "Habibi") was joking that a person could come into the shop and pull a gun out at any moment. An obvious exaggeration on Habibi's part, but I wasn't overly comfortable with the area myself. One noticeable feature of Crispy Fried Chicken was the viewing window where you can see the fried chicken resting on top of racks. It was honestly a beautiful and glorious sight to see. Other things to note were the addition of gumball and gachapon machines, along with an old-school arcade machine. Overall, Crispy Fried Chicken looked like your typical and understated mom-and-pop shop.

You can see your fried chicken resting on the racks at the viewing station. Neat!

 A closer look at the viewing station.

After checking out the shop, I proceeded to order fried chicken gizzards and five of pieces of fried dark meat chicken from the generous Asian lady at the counter. At first glance, the chicken gizzards looked similar to popcorn chicken. However, the texture was far from it. The chicken gizzards had a tough texture that was reminiscent of the cartilage found on the end of a drumstick. Oddly enough, they worked oddly well deep-fried and were wonderfully salted.

Now for the main course. The five pieces of fried chicken. After finishing the gizzards, I could not wait much longer to dig in. The first morsel of fried chicken I bite into had a crisp superior to that of your normal fried chicken chain restaurant. The moistness of said fried chicken were up to my standards as well, and was pleasantly juicy. The fried chicken shared the same, salty flavor as the fried chicken gizzards. Dipped into some honey mustard, the fried chicken pieces were even more palatable than if eaten plain.

Overall, the fried chicken experience at Crispy Fried Chicken could best be described in one word: CRISPY! Actually, they can be described better with more words. While the fried chicken was definitely crispy (which is good considering the establishment's name), the fried chicken was also well cooked and well seasoned. In addition, I was surprised but how much I enjoyed the chicken gizzards. They were arguably just as tasty as the regular pieces of fried chicken. Even with my positive feelings regarding Crispy Fried Chicken, I couldn't help but feel like something was amiss. I was very satisfied with the fried chicken, but I wasn't particularly blown away by it either. I felt like there needed to be something added to intensify the flavor profile of the chicken. Perhaps adding cayenne or paprika to the batter would do just that. However, that's my just my opinion. It's not quite on the level of the Crack Shack, but it's hard for me not to appreciate another great spot to experience delicious fried chicken here in San Diego.

P.S.

Sorry for the poor quality images! My new phone doesn't take great-looking photos.

P.P.S.

KFC or Popeyes, please sponsor me! I want to eat your fried chicken!

Read More

Devine Pastabilities: Go Here Instead of Olive Garden

Devine Pastabilities is GLORIOUSLY divine. Go there now, or else you'd be missing out on a delightfully carb-filled adventure for your taste buds. That's all for the review...or at least that's what I want to say.

Obviously, I can't end things like that. I am serious about how awesome Devine Pastabilities was! After watching an excellent live wrestling event with two lovely people (Shaheen and Yukari), we were famished from all the energy spent cheering and booing. Because I had not eaten for a large part of the day, my stomach rumbled as if the wrestling event had taken place inside of it! After searching for nearby restaurants on a particular website that shall not be named, I discovered Devine Pastabilities. Rather, I rediscovered Devine Pastabilities. I heard about this establishment a long time ago, but never really remembered to try it. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to eat there. Luckily, my party allowed me to choose an appropriate restaurant. The excitement within me rose by the minute.

Once there, we were kindly seated by our waitress. The interior of the restaurant could be described as that of your typical diner/small eatery. Nothing too special here. It's conservative style gives it an inviting vibe that welcomes all patrons. The menu was filled with a wide variety of options such as their pastas, salads, and pizzas. Reading the descriptions of some of the pastas made my mouth water.

What I ordered was the Creamy Pesto & Sundried Tomato pasta. I knew I had to jump on that once I saw the alluring combination of words that is "sundried tomato in alfredo". The main highlight of Devine Pastabilities is the fact that they serve their pastas and salads in hollowed-out Italian bread rolls. Unfortunately, I ordered my pasta on a plate so I can't do a review on that concept yet (I'm sorry...). In terms of taste, the pesto alfredo sauce was excellent. The creaminess stemming from the alfredo sauce was an absolute delight. The flavors of parmesan cheese seeped through my taste buds, intensifying the joyous sensation I was feeling. The pesto added a nice herbal touch to the flavor profile. The sundried tomatoes added some much appreciated sweetness and acid to the pasta as well. The farfalle pasta was perfectly al dente. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better pasta on that night.

As for what the others ordered, Shaheen did not order anything, but I let him scavenge the remains of my pasta as the portion was too large for me to finish at that moment. He said, "It's good." He gets to the point when describing food. Yukari ordered a Carbonara pasta. I'm not sure what she really thought of it because I didn't get her input, but I think she enjoyed it if I recall correctly! *Yukari, if you're reading this let me know how you felt about it so I can edit this!* She couldn't finish her pasta as well due to the large portion size. I tried her pasta and thought it was tasty, especially since it had bacon in it. You can't go wrong with bacon in most things. (Edit: she liked the pasta, but got overwhelmed by the ham and the portion size of the carbonara.)

I left Devine Pastabilities extremely satisfied with what I experienced. I hope my friends felt the same way. For me, it was a great place to fill my empty stomach. Devine Pastabilities is the place to go if you're looking for delectable pasta dishes that's very well priced. I will definitely be coming back next time for a proper Torpasta experience!

P.S. Sorry for my long absence. I've been really busy with the events going on in my life. I'll try to post whenever I can! Thanks!

Read More

Harry Potter made me hate British food... (Short Review)

Yes, I now hate British food because of Harry Potter... Just kidding! I can't really hate British cuisine after only eating one dish. Honestly, I can't criticize British food because the only British dishes I've tried that comes to mind are fish and chips and shepherd's pie. However, I can safely say that I don't like Three Broomsticks Inn's bangers and mash. I wasn't expecting the food of Harry Potter to be magically good, but I didn't think it be boring and bland. I was excited to try the food at Universal Studios Hollywood's Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but I was completely let down. The bangers and mash consisted of mashed potatoes topped with two sausages and caramelized onions. On the side were green peas and cabbage slaw. The sausages were your average sausages taste-wise, and the mashed potatoes could be compared to stale saltine crackers in terms of flavor. The green peas and cabbage slaw failed to improve the overall dish, unfortunately. The bangers and mash offered by Three Broomsticks Inn was just not worth the $12 (approximately) I spent for it.

Even though the bangers and mash was awful, Harry Potter World's saving grace was the butterbeer. It was a surprisingly refreshing drink! The butterbeer seemed to be a cream soda topped with a butterscotch-flavored cream. I thought the drink would be overly rich and heavy with sweetness, but it is a light and enjoyable drink. Not a bad drink for 90-degree weather! I don't really drink soda, but I could see myself drinking this every so often. It's a little expensive though, being priced at about $6 (if I recall correctly). I would pay that much for an alcoholic version, however.

Honestly, I feel like the food offerings at the Simpsons' Springfield is better than the ones at the Harry Potter World. However, it was my first time visiting the new Harry Potter attraction, so I haven't had a chance to sample all the foods yet. Luckily, I have a season pass so I will definitely have the chance to try what I missed. I just hope to find some people willing to spend the money to come with me next time, haha! Thanks for reading this short review! Please feel free to comment and follow this blog!

Read More

Sweet, sweet Zabaglione

The other day I made an Italian dessert called "zabaglione". It is a custard-type dessert consisting of marsala wine, sugar, and eggs. I was surprised how easy this dessert was to make. The best part about zabaglione is how short the preparation time is! It only takes ten minutes! Also, you can replace the marsala wine for any other sweet wine or beverage. I added strawberries with the zabaglione for an added touch of flavor. This is a great and tasty dessert for any gentleman trying to impress the ladies. I found the recipe at foodwishes.blogspot.com.

Here's the link to the recipe: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2016/02/zabaglione-tastes-like-romance.html

Read More