Peter D.
Yelp
There's an old adage that you don't want to eat in a Chinese restaurant if you don't see any Chinese people eating there. So I took it as a good sign that when I walked into Silky Kitchen, the seats were filled with Chinese people (bonus points because they were also speaking Chinese).
So it isn't that surprising that Silky Kitchen is serving up some seriously tasty and authentic Hunan cuisine.
The space itself is a clean and modern shop on Willoughby in Downtown Brooklyn, and they have a pretty tight menu a few apps, dumplings, and drinks, but mostly main dishes that are all available over rice, dry noodles, or soup noodles. This is the fast casual world we live in.
The lovely girl behind the counter found out it was my first time, and recommended a couple of things for me. I ended up rolling with the Hunan Beef over dry noodles, and a side of the string beans. I asked for medium spicy, and she took one look at me and said that medium is pretty hot, and I should probably go with mild.
I realize I may have a mild face, but I was a little offended...until I starting eating my food, and realized it was SERIOUSLY HOT. I don't know if she was playing a joke on me or saving my life, but mild was HOT. Also, seriously tasty.
The string beans were a perfect side, and I dumped them all into my bowl (too much food for one sitting) to calm down the spice, which made the whole thing perfect.
I'll be back to try more dishes, and I hate to say it, but I'll probably stick with mild.