HAN DYNASTY
Verdict : 8/10 (Very good food, good price, but seats are uncomfortable)
On 8 March 2008, D and I visited Han Dynasty for the first time.
I don't remember exactly when it opened but should not be more than a couple of months ago, becoming the 4th Chinese restaurant in very short Station Street.
First I was a bit weary as there is no menu on the window, but having seen it pretty busy on number of occasions, I decided that we can try.
It was at 2 o'clock of Saturday afternoon, and when we entered, there was no one eating. We were greeted by a young Chinese waiter and another young Chinese guy who looked like a manager.
As you see the decor is modern and simple, with three colour tone of red, white and black. It looks elegant enough, but the seating was rather uncomfortable, as our seats were too low for rather high table. We looked arount if there were more comfortable tables, but they looked either the same, or had too large table for 2 of us. Later we discovered there was anoter dining area behind the bar counter, which was not used during rather quiet lunch service.
After having read the menu closely we placed our order; the waiter was patient and not at all pushy. The menu is long, but not mindlessly long as is the case of Chinese take-aways, and well thought. The speciality is Sichuan and North-East cuisine.
We asked Chinese tea for drink, and we were given rather unusual lychee scented tea (a tea bag in tea pot).
Something that surprised me was that all the dishes and bowls on our table were chipped. I would not surprise if it is an old establishment like Chung Ying Garden (and in fact, I noticed many of their ceramic wares are chipped), but not in a restaurant that opened 3 months ago or so. I did not mind about it, but was just amazed.
After a reasonable time of wait, we got our dishes.
This is our main dish: Geleshan Spicy King Prawns (£9.90). The red bits are dried chilis. I ordered this without having any idea what "Geleshan" is and it turned out to be pretty similar to Chongquing chili dish.
The head- and shell-on king prawns are stir-fried with dried chili, Sichuan pepper, sliced ginger, and spring onion. I think there were other ingredients, although I cannot really tell.
I was afraid it to be too spicy for D, but we both liked it very much. We had to eat also the shells, as they did not come off easily, but they were soft and it was ok for us.
As side dish, we ordered Tung choi with furu sauce (£6.40). In English menu, it was only explained as "Fried vegetable". As I did not want just any "fried vegetable", I had difficult time trying to make myself clear to the Chinese waiter.
It is really beautifully done, and even D, who normally doesn't like stir-fried vegetable, said it was delicious. I am not sure if it really contained furu (fermented salty tofu), as I have never eaten it consciously before. Not that I suspect that there wasn't, just it wasn't visible or tangible.
Interestingly, the leaf part of tung choi came hidden under the stalks. It should be done on pourpose for aesthetic effect. This made me think the chef is someone of proper training.
And this is egg fried rice (£4.20). I would have preferred simple steamed rice to go with, but I ordered this in case D could not the two other dishes (it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution).
It was good fried-rice; rice was fluffy and sticky at the same time, and egg was giving a nice flavour. Competently made, and the price is reasonable, too.
While we were eating, two couples of Chinese young people came in. One couple ordered hot pot (the menu says the price is £11.99 for one, £14.99 with all-you-can-eat BBQ skewers), and the other couple took away hot pot ingredients, if I saw it correctly. In fact, our table had an incorporated gas stove, and I would guess that it is something this restaurant wants to sell.
The final bill came to £20.90 (+£2 for service), which we thought was good value for money. We might have been lucky, but all the dishes we ordered were delicious. We will be back very soon to try other dishes. Hoping only that they do something with the seating arrangement.
Han Dynasty
Station St., Birmingham B5 4DY
Tel. 0121-6339396
