It was a happy coincidence that our hotel in Philadelphia was only a block away from Han Dynasty. But when the desk clerk, who’d inquired about our dining destination, had never heard of it, we did have a brief pause before we set out. The restaurant, in a downtown storefront only a couple of blocks from the Delaware River, seems to be a spot known mainly to a coterie of insiders, despite its location between Penn’s Landing and Independence Hall.
Han Dynasty is no ordinary Chinese restaurant. Philadelphia has a Chinatown, which, coincidentally, was the very first place an adolescent Ann ate Chinese food. But this neighborhood is called Society Hill, and the clientele on a quiet summer weeknight was markedly young, surprisingly sparse, and clearly familiar with the rather unusual menu. Han Chiang, the owner, who was there that evening (he also has two suburban locations; this is the newest), really likes the authentic food of his homeland, and that means he really likes it spicy. This is big-flavor, exciting Chinese food, like nothing we’ve ever tasted.
There’s no alcohol license, so we found ourselves looking wistfully at another table’s six-pack; this is definitely a menu that calls for large quantities of cold, cold beer. We know. Beer shouldn’t be too cold. Wrong. Not here. Not with this cuisine. The menu does provide heat ratings on some dishes on the usual 1-10 scale, and the kitchen seems willing to modify things, but we felt that since we consider ourselves to have a fairly good tolerance of spicy we should take things as they normally are.
Han Dynasty is not for the faint of heart or sensitive of palate, but dinner was different and exciting.
Dan dan noodles sometimes appear on menus as cold sesame noodles. These were the real thing, though, with ground meat, probably pork, although we were paying more attention to the fireworks going off in our mouths than exactly which meat it was, plenty of chiles and chile oil, and good, very slightly chewy, Chinese noodles. Wonderful, probably addictive enough that they should require a medical warning.
Pork belly in garlic sauce was a sweet-hot hit, a relatively meaty piece of pork belly in a sauce laden with bits of sweet garlic and hot peppers. It was listed as a three, compared to the noodles’ six, and its sweetness made for a good contrast. It’s listed as a cold appetizer, although it was merely cool, so the fat in the dish wasn’t lard-like.
Cumin lamb was absolutely startling. Hot, but not so hot that the heat and other spices overwhelmed the flavor of the meat, it was a stir-fry with peppers, both hot and sweet, and onions. But the cumin, the seeds so coarsely ground that their texture became part of the eating experience, was the major note. It’s said that cumin is the most widely used spice in the world. It’s common in Mexican and Indian cooking, among other cuisines, but we’ve never had it in Chinese food that we know of, and it’s at once familiar and a whole new taste. It was listed as a six.
Beef in the “long hot pepper style” came in as a four for its heat. And that’s because we ate around some of the peppers; otherwise, the dish’s heat-number (eat-number?) could soar. The beef, tender and not largely gristle, wore strips of pepper draped like a stole over the shoulders of an elegant woman, and we thought we detected some of the glow of Szechuan pepper as well. By this time, however, our mouths were applauding so loudly it might have come from one of the other dishes, still reverberating around our taste buds.
Our service was good, although other websites report occasional chaos on busy nights. Still, we can’t speak highly enough about this amazing place for people interested in serious and seriously spicy Chinese cuisine.
108 Chestnut St., Philadelphia
215-922-1888
Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Poor
Smoking: No
Entrees: $8-$23
Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Poor
Smoking: No
Entrees: $8-$23
