Helen’s Asian Kitchen – Spiciest Dish in Columbus

We are always on the lookout for new restaurants to add to our list and stumbled upon this gem after some friends suggested we go with them for the dumplings. What we found was an amazing smorgasbord of Chinese dishes, each with a great deal of flavor and a few with an awesome amount of heat.

This particular evening the lady of the farm and I escorted the parents of the farm, also big fans of Chinese cuisine, to The Continent. Back in olden times The Continent was the place to be in Columbus. There were night clubs, stores, etc but now sadly it’s mostly rundown and dilapidated. Standing out like a diamond in the rough, and behind a Waffle House, you’ll find Helen’s Asian Kitchen, an unassuming building that is clearly a remodeled strip club (no judgements) with mirrors still included! The menu is broad, but there are some specialties in the front like Xiao Long Bao (hand made buns), Helen’s Hand-Made Dumpling (pork or vegetable) and what we decided to add to the list, the Stir-Fried Cauliflower.

Presented in a wok over top of a flame, the Stir-Fried Cauliflower cooks a bit longer once it gets to your table. It is jam-packed with peppers, cauliflower and a soy glaze. Pepper-wise you have the standard dried cayenne-looking peppers, but this also added some jalapeños to the mix. The cauliflower is coated wonderfully and our server (who we believe may have been Helen herself, but did not verify) was quick to refill drinks for those of us that don’t tolerate spice as well. For newbies, this is an insanely spicy dish. For those used to some heat, this dish will still make you sweat. Myself, this dish makes you aware of the spiciness, but the flavor overwhelms any of the heat which I’m totally fine with. For this particular dish, we’ve placed it at #14 at the time of this writing. There are many wings and things spicier, but man, we will keep going back to Helen’s for this dish.

One more thing about the Stir-Fried Cauliflower. We picked most of the cauliflower out, eating some of the other veggies along the way and were just going to leave the chiles. It was suggested that we take it home and use it with other dishes for flavor and heat. Later that evening we blended up the remainder (green onions, garlic, celery, remaining peppers), added some rice wine vinegar, additional garlic and a splash of water and used it with some shredded beef. The result was spectacular and we’re so glad it was suggested.

We tried a few additional dishes while we were there including their spicy dumplings in chili oil.

The father of the farm and I share the same love of General Tao’s Chicken and the crispiness of the chicken at Helen’s and the sauce are both on point.

Served family-style, we cannot recommend this place enough. We’ve not had anything we didn’t like and the dumplings are spectacular. While it may not be the spiciest dish in Columbus, it doesn’t need to be, because it’s flavor and spiciness pairing is incredible. Helen’s Asian Kitchen is located at 1070 E Dublin-Granville Rd, Columbus, OH 43229 and you can also find them on Facebook (where it’s a 4.9 out of 5).

See our current rankings of spiciest dishes in Columbus and feel free to let us know on Instagram, Facebook or through our Contact page about dishes we should add to the list!

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