Hunan Impression

A sister restaurant to Ping’s Bistro in Fremont, Hunan Impression is decorated with quirky cardboard moose heads on the walls, and ordering is done by punching your selections into a tablet. There’s plenty of heat in the dishes: Steamed Fish Fillet With Chopped Peppers is a yinyang dish in which half of the meltingly tender fillets are covered in fiery red chiles and the other half in grassy green chiles. Sauteed Cauliflower turns this usually mild brassica into a savory sensation with red peppers. Fried Pork Ribs With Cumin, which are large enough to pick up with your fingers, are strewn with enough Sichuan peppercorns to leave lips tingling. Like an inventive Chinese version of scampi, Baked Prawns With Fried Garlic come to the table with a flourish in a chafing dish to keep the buttery shrimp and slippery cellophane noodles warm. One of the more unusual offerings is Sweet Dumplings With Preserved Vegetables. These glutinous rice spheres, airier than mochi, are filled with sweet black sesame paste. They are fried to a crisp then tossed with a Hunanese combination of fermented black beans and chopped chiles. — Carolyn Jung

If you go: 5152 Moorpark Ave., Suite 30, San Jose, (408) 873-9982. Lunch and dinner daily.

What to order: Steamed Fish Fillet With Chopped Peppers, Fried Pork Ribs With Cumin, Baked Prawns With Fried Garlic, Braised Duck With Mushrooms in Flaming Pot, Stir-Fried Shredded Potatoes, Sweet Dumplings With Preserved Vegetables, Tripe With Poached Eggs.