We took our family out for dinner onto the main part of Flushing, arriving at the glamourous sounding Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sichuan after reading about it in the paper. 7:30pm is peak dinner hour and it really showed – even though we had a reservation, we still had to wait for our table to be freed from the previous set of diners. Even then, when we sat down, we found out they ran out of small bowls (in a Chinese restaurant!) just because they had been so busy.

We ordered a lot of food, many of them on recommendation from other reviewers and just those that we wanted to eat, such as the green pea shoots with the typical accompaniment of garlic.

As well as a whole fish roasted with vegetables, an earthy, but very oily dish with lots of subtle flavour. I think it would have been much better with a lot of more kick.

The star of the evening was definitely the cumin lamb, the typically strong lamb flavour disappearing into the soft, melting bits of meat.

We had a number of other dishes that the photos (iPhone quality) didn’t really turn out so good but I would order again such as the aubergine and the vinegared wood-ear mushrooms. I wouldn’t order the Mao pork again – it was just a bit too fatty for me, but overall pretty tasty. Like any Chinese place, turnover is fast and prompt. At least they let us pay by credit card (though wanted the tips in cash).

Name: Hunan Kitchen of Grand Sichuan (Flushing branch)
Found at: 42-47 Main St. Flushing, New York
Website: http://www.thegrandsichuan.com