Flaming Age Restaurant Review

As promised, I am going to do more blog posts. Right now, I am trying to get a part-time job as a food critic for an expat group operating in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. I am not an experienced writer, but it seems that a lot of things coming my way right now are writing jobs. I think it would be awesome to be a food critic and to eat for free at some of the best restaurants in town. To apply for the job, I need to submit a restaurant review. I figured it would be interesting for everyone to see some of the kinds of food I have been eating here. so I am going to post the review on here. Let me know if the review is good or if it is a pompous pile of crap.

Flaming Age Restaurant

火红年代餐馆(huǒhóng niándài cānguǎn)

From a distance, Flaming Age Restaurant appears to be a standard Chinese restaurant. Passersby would probably pay no special attention to the restaurant, but within the walls are some dishes that will set your tongue on fire. Flaming Age Restaurant is a Hunan restaurant and is visibly proud of its heritage, with many pictures of Mao Zedong from throughout his lifetime hanging on the walls, being that Mao hails from Hunan province. Flaming Age Restaurant has an extensive menu, but it seems that all the restaurant patrons were getting the marquee dish, which is 湘西土匪鸡 (xiāng xī tǔfěi jī), or West Hunan Bandit Chicken. West Hunan Bandit Chicken is a dish of small, lightly breaded piece of chicken with garlic, chives, and several kinds of peppers, which make it a very spicy dish. Despite having asked the server for a less spicy version, it still required substantial amount of tea and beer to extinguish the spiciness. Nevertheless, the spiciness provided and excellent flavor and it is a very delicious dish.

West Hunan Bandit Chicken

The other dish ordered was 豆豉茄子煲 (dòuchǐ qiézi bāo), or roughly Stewed Eggplant and Fermented Soybeans. This dish mostly consists of eggplant with some garlic, peppers, and fermented soy beans covered in a mildly spicy sauce. Despite the awkward English translated name, this is one of the better vegetables dishes.

Stewed Eggplant and Fermented Soybean

Flaming Age Restaurant offers a great selection of Hunan dishes at reasonable prices. The waitstaff was friendly and the restaurant's decor is simple, but tidy. For someone with a taste for spicy Hunan food, Flaming Age Restaurant provides an excellent experience.