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Best Bargain Restaurants: Hunan Chinatown

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Hunan Chinatown
Washington

The three most famous examples of chinese poultry cookery are the Peking duck of the north, the Cantonese roast duck of the south, and the tea-smoked duck of the southwest. Local China hands debate which restaurants serve the best of the first two kinds, but despite the large number of local restaurants with Szechuan-Hunan menus, tea-smoked duck remains an infrequently encountered delicacy. With its shiny, crackling, dark-brown skin and moist, smoke-suffused flesh, Hunan Chinatown's version is without peer.

Year after year, this consistent kitchen proves itself the benchmark by which to judge the local Hunan-Szechuan competition. In these neatly kept upstairs and downstairs dining rooms, an attentive floor staff honors the kitchen's fine work. So consistent is the quality of the cooking here that one can feel confident that ordering at random will result in an impressive meal.

Some of the highlights on Hunan Chinatown's relatively concise menu are boiled dumplings in a spicy peanut sauce; "pot sticker" dumplings with an unusually savory stuffing; Ma Po bean curd; an exemplary Two-Flavor Lobster; and Szechuan beef glazed with a remarkable sweet-spicy-vinegary sauce.

Hunan Chinatown , 624 H Street NW, Washington; 202/783-5858. Open Sunday through Thursday 11 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to 11 pm, AE, CB, D, DC, MC, V. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

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