Grand China – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

On the outskirts of 270, in an unassuming plaza sits Grand China. With no real online presence outside of their website, we had not previously heard of Grand China. We don’t make our way over in the Hilliard part of Columbus often and when we do we tend to blitz right past the plaza on Cemetery Road.

Takeout only at the moment, I ordered online.

I felt like I’d seen it before, a menu with 100 items, all roughly the same, but all slightly different. The typical dishes had a pepper next to the name, making my decision hard, but it was settled, I was going to get the Szechuan Pork. Grand China popped onto our radar from a random Google review that said Grand China was one of a few places where if you say “extra spicy,” they’ll actually make it extra spicy.

Skeptical as always, I peered into the dish, noting specks of peppers (both black and a dark red) in the sauce for the pork and vegetables. There were also some dehydrated peppers similar to the typical tien tsin chiles that adorn American Chinese food, but these appeared to be more compact, more similar to a tabasco or red thai chiles.

Taking the first bite, I was underwhelmed. Then out of nowhere, I was whelmed. A wave of heat hit me in all corners of my mouth with a slight tingle (likely from ground szechuan peppercorns). Bite after bite, the same effect, with a decent linger. The “extra spicy” notation seemed to work, providing solid heat throughout the dish. As I sniffled through the rest of the dish I gave a knowing nod to the Google reviewer (wherever they were) for the tip.

From what The Lady of the Farm told me, and from a quick bite, the General Tso’s even had a slight kick, a rarity from Tso’s we’ve tried. Seems like Grand China isn’t afraid to kick things up in the heat department and as such we are placing them at #49 on our list.

We also ended up getting (though I forgot pictures until it was gone) the House Combo Platter which comes with 2 Fried shrimp, 2 egg rolls, 2 ribs, 2 crab rangoon and 2 chicken wings, 2 teriyaki chicken. Of those, the teriyaki chicken was the best, and the crab rangoon was pretty solid. You know how crab rangoon can be sometimes, flat, with almost no filling, etc.

The General Tso’s was a welcomed surprise as it was less of the sweet sugar chicken you typically get, instead of coming as a slightly sweet sauce with a bit of heat. Possible that adding the “extra spicy” note for this dish could get you a pretty spicy variation. Worth a shot if you’re a big General Tso’s fan.

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