Hunan Dynasty, Washington, D.C.

The other day when I was on Capitol Hill, I stopped in for a late meal at Hunan Dynasty for their lunch special. Hunan Dynasty is almost iconic on the Hill, and several M.C.s name it their favorite Chinese restaurant. It's been around a long time, but you have to know where it is, as it's upstairs over several street-level storefronts.

Instead of doing Chinese, though, I opted for their sushi lunch special. They started me with a little iceberg lettuce salad with a "fruit dressing" that was a pineapple flavored emulsification. Next came a delicious little bowl of miso soup with a unique clarity and slight greenish tinge. For the main course, we had a choice of two sushi rolls. I opted for the spicy tuna roll—delicious!—and a California roll. Hot tea came with the meal.


My one criticism is that they did not provide me with a little dish in which to mix my wasabi paste with soy sauce as a dipping sauce for the sushi. I ended up using a spare teacup.

Otherwise, it's a nice, quiet, cool restaurant with the sense of formality that marks many older Chinese restaurants. I'll look forward to going back again, as many of the Chinese lunch specials looked really good, especially at the $6.45 price.