Han Dynasty Review: Three cup chicken at Han Dynasty
A quick break from the Taipei food posts, I’m going to talk about a Taiwanese dish you can order here in Manhattan! Through The New York Times, I learned that Han Chiang wanted to serve some Taiwanese dishes at the NYC outpost of his highly successful Philly empire, Han Dynasty.
One of the main thing that sticks out on the menu of Sichuan dishes is the appetizer that’s just called Taiwanese sausages. You pretty much never see that at a Szechuan/Sichuan restaurant menu in New York. It comes fairly straight forward, just cut up into slices. Some sliced garlic accompany the meaty appetizer. Even thought it might seem weird to eat sliced garlic with sausage, it works well here. The sausage is slightly sweet and not too fatty, so it was quite nice.
We also tried the beef with scallions and onions. I thought this was just a straight forward stir-fried dish that you can find at many Chinese restaurants, regardless of its regional focus. I mean, beef, scallion, and onion are fairly common ingredients. There was a bamboo shoot here and there, although it wasn’t the focus of the dish obviously. This is also available as a lunch special, which saves you a few bucks if you go during the day.
Annnnd we get to the three cup chicken, or san bei ji. As a review, three cup chicken contains one cup each of soy sauce, rice wine, and (dark) sesame oil. Generally there’s also copious amounts of ginger and Thai basil. Han Dynasty departs from the usual fare by treating this dish like it’s General Tso’s chicken with Three cup sauce. I’m sure Han Chiang might take issue with me describing his dish as similar to a Chinese-American take-out classic, but it’s a great dish. Basically instead of having a typical san bei ji dish where the chicken is stewed, the chicken pieces have been breaded and deep fried before being coated with the sauce.
It’s a very small change to a dish that’s beloved by many, and I think if people tried the Three Cup Chicken at Han Dynasty, they would like the change. I think you can get away eating really well for about 20 dollars a head there, and they even have tasting menus too. I still have to go back to try their spicy offerings, but I hope there’s some more Taiwanese dishes on the menu too.
Han Dynasty90 3rd Ave.New York, NY 10003212-390-8685
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