Spicy Moment
Add: 71 Wuyuan Lu, near Changshu Lu 五原路71号, 近常熟路
Tel: 5403 0775
Hours: 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-12:30am
Price: 60~100 RMB/person
Visited: Jun 2011
Spicy Moment is a stylish little Hunan restaurant and bar that has recently sprouted on Wuyuan Lu. It fits squarely in its neighborhood of design stores, with 100% Design right across the street, and a few other similarly chic shops down the road. With a decor so unusual of a Hunan restaurant, would the food be authentic at all?
In accordance with the sleek décor, food at Spicy Moment is more refined (and smaller portions) than your typical Hunan restaurant. The two cold dishes we tried – sliced bean curd in sour and spicy sauce (12 RMB) and tofu with salmon (26 RMB) – were nicely presented but not too memorable, but it went uphill from here.
Sauteed vegetables (22 RMB).
Both noodles we ordered were excellent. The shredded smoked fish noodle soup (32 RMB) is suited for those who can’t take too much spiciness, but our favorite was the Hunanese fish head noodle soup (52 RMB), a bowl of perfectly chewy noodles topped with a pickled red chili-covered fish head, which blistered our lips but left us with a feeling of satisfaction.
We then soothed our palates with the only dessert on the menu, hollow pumpkin with sweet fermented rice (22 RMB), which took a while to cook but was well-worth the wait. The fermented rice was sweet and sour with a slight hint of alcohol, perfect when gulped down with scoops of soft, fragrant pumpkin meat.
If you are after a more authentic Hunan experience, stick with the more established chains such as Wang Xiang Yuan, but if a chic place with refined food to match sounds like a fun alternative, give Spicy Moment a try. Do know that the place is still very new and the menu is currently a succinct one-pager, so perhaps it is worth waiting a while for them to expand the limited food choices.
Very nice pictures. I’d like to try the tofu with salmon, next time.