Somewhat surprised that no one’s seen fit to try to the place. I went with a party of 6 last week for lunch.
Any signs that advertise that Xiang is a resident in the plaza and occupies the space across from Ocean Star were not obvious. It gets better. The entrances opens onto a foyer space bereft of employees. Think right side of the bottom of a letter “L”. One must go around the corner and trust that the waiter will appear and recognize you as potential patrons. We saw another party arrive, wait, and leave without being greeted.
I understand Hunan regional cuisine to be known for being spicy, even spicier than Sichuan. We opted for medium spicy which our party found quite palatable. We decided to order primarily from the “Chef Specials” portion of the menu.
The first dish pictured in pork stir-fried with pickled vegetables. This dish was well received by our party.
The second dish was beef fried with chili’s about 1/2 the size of a jalapeno, with a heat level comparable to a say, an anaheim. The chili’s were not uniform in spiciness, which made it interesting. Almost like a Cantonese beef with green pepper, but with slivers of jalapeno included.
The string beans were well prepared with a significant amount of “wok hei”.
The spicy squid was the spiciest dish we ordered. The addition of cumin to this particular dish was unexpected.
Lamb stir-fried with cumin. Good balance; some places overdo the cumin (if that’s possible).
We had a member of the party who was 105, We decided the steamed egg might be a good fallback dish if everything else was too spicy. A little more watery than I’m used to in the Cantonese/Toisan style.
Total for lunch $100 incl.tax/tip for 6 dishes. We probably got charged extra for rice.
Not sure if it was a good sign, but the owner lit a couple of joss sticks and offered them as we left.
The place deserves more business IMO.
Xiang Cuisine
141 N Atlantic Blvd
Fl 2 Ste 200
Monterey Park, CA 91754