Meal #25 - China (Part 4: Hunan)

Known for its startling natural beauty, high quality tea and lotus flowers, the southern province of Hunan is also famous for having been the home of Mao Zedong. Not only is the Chairman celebrated in this bright café, but in the quest for great regional cuisine this meal was a Great Leap Forward!

Post Mao Café
Little Bourke St
Chinatown, City

The restaurants on Chinatown’s main drag can all start to blur into each other after a while but the Post Mao Café was a breath of fresh air. The Mao-themed décor was striking and original, without being garish or over the top. The menu promised the Chairman’s favourite dishes and we were impressed with the wide range of regional specialties on offer. This wasn’t a generic Chinese restaurant offering a few regional dishes; it was a distinctly Hunanese restaurant. The main menu was dedicated to Hunan cuisine, with an extra sheet listing more familiar (and slightly cheaper) Chinese (Cantonese) classics.

The Chairman was seen everywhere – in murals and paintings and old publicity photos, like one of Mao hoeing a field for the camera. Mao wasn’t the only celebrity honoured here though. Many of the Hunanese signature dishes were named after historical figures, encompassing everyone from 19th century marshals to famous courtesans. A popular name on the menu was “Chef Peng”, referring to Peng Chang Gui, a 20th century master chef who, ironically, was forced to flee his native Hunan when Mao’s revolutionaries took over, bringing his unique cuisine first to Taiwan and, later, New York.

Even with a People’s Army of food critics descending on the café, including Nick, Naomi, Helen, Felicity, Dale, Kirsten, Ash, Sai, Caroline and Rami, we were spoiled for choice. After stuffing ourselves on the mounds of complimentary prawn crackers, we decided to forego entrees and share a Lazy Susan-load of mains among ourselves, mainly focusing on the Hunanese favourites. Some diners tried a unique entrée of their own creation – prawn crackers slathered with chilli sauce. Luckily, there was copious rice and Chinese tea for them to soothe their mouths with afterward.

Our waiter was a one-man dynamo, who did a remarkable job serving such a large group, while his boundless enthusiasm helped set a cheerful mood.

The Meal

Dong An Chicken – double-cooked sliced chicken with ginger, capsicum and pepper, “renowned family dish of Hunan nobility”

Chef Peng Lamb – lamb steak deep-, then stir-fried, with carrot, spring onion, garlic slices and black pepper

Chef Peng Beancurd - beancurd deep-, then stir-fried, with pork, red chilli, spring onion and blackbean sauce

Mao’s Braised Pork

Zuo Zong Tang Chicken – another Chef Peng classic named for a famous general, battered and stir-fried with dry chilli, with a well-balanced touch of spice, vinegar and sugar

Three Cup Duck - simmering in pot with a cup each of wine, vinegar and chilli oil

Spicy Calamari

Sizzling Mongolian Beef

The dishes showed masterful use of strong spices and bold flavours. Flavours which could easily overpower a dish – like the strong chilli in the chicken dishes or the vinegar in the Three Cup Duck – were kept in balance with other flavours, creating tastes that were both bold and complex. Even the fierce saltiness of the crispy skinned Calamari worked, with the salt, though powerful, simply one element in the dish’s construction.

A similar balancing act was used for the braised pork. While the dish used fatty cuts of meat, it was not greasy, and the rich brown sauce it came in had just a hint of sweetness. Mao loved this particular dish, apparently, describing it as his “tonic” and attributing it with brain nourishing properties. Certainly, all the pork-eating diners at our table raved about it too.

All the meat used was tender, a particular delight in the case of the duck. An interesting innovation, especially in the dishes attributed to Chef Peng, was the practice of both deep-frying and stir-frying the meat. This gave the meat a crispier texture but with less grease than would result from straight deep-frying.

In the case of the beancurd, the result was particularly pleasing, with the beancurd soaking through with the rich sauce while retaining perfect texture. The only beat our waiter missed was recommending the Chef Peng beancurd as a vegetarian dish, when it turned out to have pork in it, but you couldn’t fault him for urging us to try it, as it was very good. There were genuine vegetarian dishes offered in a separate section, so vegetarians need not be afraid of coming here.

We did have one dish off the regional specialty list. Sizzling Mongolian Beef is a Chinese classic not normally associated with Hunan, but one too good for some of our diners to resist. The cooks proved their versatility, preparing this familiar dish to perfection. It also had the most dramatic presentation, with a hot plate brought out and the meat added and stirred into a sizzling frenzy at the table.

The Verdict

We’re only twenty-five meals in and we don’t want to run out of superlatives too soon but this meal was excellent. Top marks for both taste and regional authenticity. There were many more dishes we would have liked to try – including claypots, egg dishes, the soups and the (genuine) vegetarian selection – and the Post Mao is a certain candidate for a return visit. Although the meals were slightly more expensive – averaging around $20 each – they had the quality to match. Mao Zedong and Chef Peng may have disagreed on politics, but they clearly both knew a thing or two about great food.

Footnote

After our great night at the Post Mao, we then decided to go out, as in “out” out at a club, braving dark alleyways, thumping music, clinical decor and over-priced drinks to go to the Croft Institute. What we were thinking? Clearly the brain nourishing properties of that braised pork take a while to kick in. Exploring the world of international cuisine is so much more fun.