BEST CHINESE

Hunan’s Chinese Restaurant and Sushi Bar 1101 Wabash Ave., 793-0999 It didn’t take us long to figure out why BOS voters couldn’t decided whether China Star or Hunan’s Chinese Restaurant and Sushi Bar has the best Chinese food in town. Diners tell us that Hunan’s offers some of the finest sushi in Springfield. In fact, during a recent visit, everywhere we looked nearly all of the diners were indulging (or overindulging) in the Asian delicacy. Though the sushi looked gorgeous enough to feature in a food magazine, we opted instead for the Hunan Deluxe dinner for two, which included egg rolls and crab Rangoon, sizzling rice soup, Mongolian beef, and Cashew China. This scrumptious meal was very filling, and even served as lunch for the following day. A visit will not be complete without a serving of Hunan’s dynamite dessert roll, which features sweet potatoes and cream cheese. We found them to be so tasty that we ate the roll and placed another order to go.

BEST CHINESE

China Star 1899 Sangamon Ave., 789-0800 With more than a dozen Chinese restaurants located in the capital city, BOS voters couldn’t decide which restaurant is the best, resulting in a tie for this category. So we decided to try them both. China Star’s online menu reads: “Excellent Food and Amazing Prices.” Not one to take a restaurant’s word, we immediately headed to China Star to see if it lives up to its claims. Serving Cantonese, Szechuan, and Hunan dishes, we decided to order one of each. We ordered orange beef (Hunan) and Kung Poa (Szechuan), and Happy Family (Cantonese), a dish with lobster, shrimp, scallops, crab, beef, chicken, pork and veggies. The food was absolutely delicious. And the prices? Well, “amazing” may be a slight exaggeration, but they are very affordable. In the end, we left with a stuffed belly, a carryout that lasted several days, and a smile.