But before I begin describing the delicious wonders that await at House of Hunan, I want to make one thing clear: Not all sushi is raw fish. The term sushi actually refers to the rice, which is made with rice vinegar. In fact, many types of sushi are made with cooked fish or no fish at all, and if the idea of eating raw fish scares you, this can be a great way to acclimate your palate.
Enter the California roll. An “inside-out roll,” made with rice on the outside of the nori (seaweed), it contains cucumber, crab meat (imitation or real, but always cooked and cold) and avocado. The California roll is often a “gateway drug,” leading to more adventurous types of sushi. Even if you’ve tried a California roll or other sushi from the grocery store or another restaurant and didn’t like it, I urge to give House of Hunan a try. You may find that you just weren’t eating high-quality sushi before.
Though formerly fearful of sushi, I’ve become quite the sushi addict and find myself at House of Hunan’s downtown location several times a year. I’ve even successfully gotten friends and family hooked. It’s our go-to restaurant for special occasions, and now that they offer half-off sushi rolls a couple times a week, we frequent the restaurant more often without it feeling like too much of a splurge. (Call ahead for days and times, as they vary by location.)
While I’ve ordered (and enjoyed) several of the more traditional Chinese dishes on the menu, I can’t get enough of the sushi. So, if you’re ever at House of Hunan at the same time as I am, you’ll likely find one (or all) of the following items on my table:
Spicy Crabmeat Salad: Basically a pile of crabmeat in a slightly spicy sauce over a bed of cucumber slices, and sprinkled with sesame seeds on top. Eat with a fork or chopsticks—either way, it’s divine.
Tako Sunomono: This one is for the more adventurous crowd, and is a favorite of my fiance’s mother. Sunomono is a cucumber salad made with a sweet vinegar mixture and soy sauce, and tako means octopus. This one is also available with crab or shrimp, if you just can’t handle the octopus.
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