Brian Xie | Restaurants

Cuisine	Chinese
Price	$$ (16-30)
Rating	8/10
Last Visit	July 25, 2019
Location	New York: East Village

General Notes

Dun Huang is THE place to go for northwestern Chinese food. Each dish is executed with tremendous precision, and the flavor profiles are absolutely on point. My first time trying 大盘鸡, and it was an absolute delight. I can't wait to try other classic dishes like their lamb chops, braised fish, and noodle dishes. A true gem in East Village, I will absolutely return and would highly recommend giving this place a try!

Positives

> It's northwestern Chinese food! Perhaps surprisingly, northwestern Chinese food is actually my favorite cuisine for its intense but well-balanced flavor profile and the no-BS dishes. And Dun Huang executes the dishes really well.
> Most Chinese restaurants have a menu which is overwhelmingly long, but Dun Huang strikes a good balance, providing a variety of different dishes but still keeping it relatively concise to focus on what they do best.

Negatives

> A bit of a minor detail, but the one complaint I had about the food is that the rice was quite mushy. It was a bit too soft and could benefit from being a bit drier.

Dishes Tasted

★★★★ 手撕包菜 -- Delicious. The cabbage is perfectly cooked, nice and crisp but not hard. The flavor is well-balanced with the perfect amount of seasoning, acidity, and 麻辣
★★★★ 大盘鸡 -- Absolutely amazing. Super flavorful and the chicken is incredibly tender. Also comes with some delicious thick noodles at the bottom.
★★★☆ 肉夹馍（牛肉） -- The flatbread had a great texture - crisp exterior but not too dry. Certainly a unique 肉夹馍; the beef was cold. It was flavorful and actually worked pretty well, though in retrospect I'd say I would prefer a warm one.
★★★☆ 羊肉串 -- Excellent flavor and very tender. The only thing I would have liked different is perhaps slightly more fat content to make it a bit more savory, but otherwise prepared very well.