Peony: My impression of Dong Ting Spring is it is good homestyle Hunan food. All the dishes were cooked right and tasted right. I also like that it was not too spicy for me, except the chile fish head. It is a good place to go if you want some simple, comforting food for a cold, rainy day.
Warrior: I would rank Dong Ting Chun in the top five percent of SGV restaurants. Every dish was cooked skillfully with conspicuously good ingredients. The fish head was great, but the vegetables were just as impressive to me. I did not find the food particularly spicy. We will have to try Hunan Mao. (I’ve tried all these restaurants before but it has been several years.)
Going by your report, I think you’ve hit the peak with Dong Ting Chun. Hunan Mao had truly declined the last time I was there. Decent, but unspectacular compared to before, when it truly was the standout Hunan place, IMO.
Today we planned on going to Shaanxi Garden, but it appears to be no more. People were remodeling inside.
So we went to a new nearby restaurant on Valley called “Dong Ting Chun” in English and “Dong Ting Xian” in Chinese. We aren’t sure if the original Dong Ting Chun moved or if this new restaurant is flouting trademark law or if it’s a mistaken translation or what. Anyway, this new restaurant is very good and I recommend it. I would say the quality is the Hunan equivalent of, say, Sichuan Impression for Sichuan or Rossoblu for Italian. My favorite dish was the sliced celtuce (wo sun, not pictured). 5.1 Warrior Points.
Just a wild guess that this is the original, which has been displaced by the Focus Plaza/San Gabriel Square renovation. Vege Paradise had already moved a block west a couple of months ago.
Yes, that’s the case from my understanding. Dong Ting Chun (and Vege Paradise) managed to flee the Focus Plaza renovation that caught so many business owners out.
