Huan Xi
In Mandarin Chinese, Huan Xi (2428 N. Murray Ave.) means “to like,” and there’s an abundance of dishes for which diners can develop fondness at this brightly appointed destination whose strip mall locale belies its menu’s diversity.
Those with especially hearty appetites should opt for the hot pot, available a la carte or buffet style. That steamy, piping receptacle can come filled with any of 25 different vegetables, nine varieties of soup base, 12 sorts of meat (six of them pork, including pig blood and Spam) and multiple types of meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, seafood and noodles.
Entrées explore flavors, textures and ingredients few Asian eateries in Milwaukee offer.
Pork intestines (what African Americans call chitterlings) come sautéed by themselves or offered alongside cabbage or preserved vegetables. Not only slices of duck meat, but the waterfowl’s tongues may be prepared, the latter spicy and stir-fried.
Akin to Mexico’s menudo, chao san du is an entrée so uniquely Chinese that my waitress attempted to dissuade me from ordering. It combines thin, browned slices of beef tripe and pig stomach with red bell pepper, red chilies, white onions and scallions in a mix of sweetness and heat, chewiness and crunch.
Diners can also find many familiar soups, sweet and sour offerings, shrimp, beef, chicken, roast pork and vegetarian main courses.
Huan Xi’s unassuming location offers a world of Chinese delights, some of them unlikely to be found elsewhere in Milwaukee.
