HUNAN EMPRESS CHINESE RESTAURANT, CHESTERFIELD, MO

A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON

Hunan is a province in China.  The  translation of the word means south of the lake.  I don't know about a big lake in the St. Louis area but there sure is a big mighty river called the Mississippi and this restaurant is south of there.  An emperor is a male monarch or ruler of an empire or imperial reign.  We think of Asian culture when we hear the word emperor or the female counterpart of empress.  The only remaining current monarch in the world using this title is the Emperor of Japan, Akihito.

We are visiting St. Louis for a couple of days and Hunan was not our first choice of restaurant tonight.  We set out in search of an Italian restaurant, but the way it's been going lately we kept striking out.  We were even beginning to think that some restaurants shut down on Sunday's after finding a couple of the ones our GPS led us to were closed, one turning out to be Viviano's which was more of an Italian grocery.  It was getting late and our bodies were still on Eastern time and really starting to get hungry, so with Hunan's a couple of doors down, we decided that's where dinner was summoning us. 

While it was obvious that they did have a carry-out service, they also had a large dining room with tables that had white tablecloths set with teacups and appetizer plates.    The waitress was very friendly with good English and was very helpful when I was struggling with the menu on wanting fried rice but not wanting a full order in addition to my meal.  She suggested getting a "family dinner" which came with rice prepared the way I wanted.  The family dinner was three courses with soup, appetizer and entrée'.  I ordered the Cashew Chicken with Egg Drop Soup which was very hearty along with pot stickers.  Gary had Shrimp Lo Mein with Egg Drop soup which he mentioned had the best flavor of any he had eaten.  His appetizer was an eggroll.  The timing on the first two courses was perfect and we only had to wait a little while for our entrée.

I'm not a big veggie eater, so I wish there had been a little more chicken and cashews in my dish but it was fine.  Gary enjoyed his meal, as well.  In my research about Asian cuisine, I found that  the difference in Chinese and Japanese food is that the Chinese sometimes do serve their meals family style to share and we did just that.  After we finished our meal, we each got a fortune cookie, mine saying "you do good in business".  I wished it would have said "you do good in finding next Italian restaurant" because we'll be looking for one again tomorrow.

While we were waiting for our check, a couple was leaving and the lady went to an adjacent table and said to the older couple sitting there …. you're the cutest couple, you remind me of the Kaufmann's on the Swifter commercial.   I don't know if I'd take that as a compliment or not but the lady thanked them.

HUNAN EMPRESS CHINESE RESTAURANT

162 Four Seasons Shopping Center
Chesterfield, MO

Visited on Sunday, November 3, 2014