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Adam Platt and his daughters love the peppery Chinese food at Han Dynasty in the East Village. The critic finds that chef Han Chiang is serving fresh, nuanced versions of classic Sichuan dishes:
Instead of the usual confused cavalcade of pork, chicken, and seafood categories, the entrées are divided into broadly regional styles. You can have your lamb served in a hot pot bubbling with black mushrooms and Sichuan peppercorns, or bombed with scallions, or rolled, like they do in China's Muslim regions, in clouds of cumin. Of the two 'salt-n-pepper' seafood options, our favorite was the battered shrimp, and if you have to choose one dry pepper dish, the Platt girls commend the chicken, which is crunchy on its thrice-fried cornstarch exterior but tender in the middle.Platt gives the restaurants three stars — two for the food and one for the low price point and the atmosphere. The critic notes: "The restaurant's $20 per head (with an eight-person minimum), multicourse tasting menu is one of the better tasting-menu bargains in this omakase-mad town."
· Han Dynasty Stays True to Sichuan Cooking [GS/NYM]
· All Coverage of Han Dynasty [~ENY~]
[Photo: Robert Sietsema]