Hangen

While we had every intention of eating home for the majority of the weekend (we have a lot of leftovers), it didn't really happen. We woke up on Friday morning craving Chinese, so we planned to go downtown for some that night.

At the suggestion of one of Jonathan's coworkers, Chris, we went to Hangen, a Szechuan restaurant on the outskirts of downtown. It was pretty dead for 8pm on a Friday night, but there were still about six or seven tables occupied. The food there is served family-style, and the menu is very extensive. We went with "family dinner B," (which is denoted as the "spicy" meal) which started us off with fried shrimp (very bready) and vegetarian eggrolls. They were served with a sweet and sour sauce that had a very spicy mustard, almost like a horseradish. The eggrolls were fried to perfection, and were pretty good for having no meat inside. We were then served a pot of Hot & Sour soup, which was ladeled into our bowls. Neither of us had previously tried this type of soup, and found it interesting. The tofu was pretty general (we're not fans), and the egg was tasteless. It was strange to have a sour taste to soup, but we enjoyed it and each had seconds. As for the "hot" part, it wasn't hot in a spicy sense. We then had the Hangen Beef and the Kung Pao Chicken. We chose Chicken Chow Mein instead of white rice. This was a decision I was a little afraid of at first (seeing as the meal was being billed as "spicy"), but it ended up being fabulous. While the chicken was a bit hotter than the beef, neither were that spicy to us (although we are a little "tougher" when it comes to spicy than the average mouth). The beef was flavored with basil and green onions, and was so very tender that it was fabulous. I thought that the chicken was a little "dark sweet" like a molasses, but Jonathan enjoyed it just fine. I fell in love with their chicken chow mein, which was a great combination of noodles, egg, chicken, and vegetables. We had chow mein and chicken left over (we gobbled up the beef), so we have those in the fridge, awaiting our chomping tomorrow. The meal ended with fresh fortune cookies and orange slices. It was very reasonably priced, and the lunch specials seem simply amazing. I can guarantee we'll be back. Oh, and even better: they are one of the few places around that actually deliver!!