Hengry Is Defining Guizhou Cuisine in Southern California — Just in Time for Lunar New Year

In a region where Sichuan heat and Cantonese comfort often dominate the conversation, one restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley has spent the past year quietly reshaping how Angelenos experience Chinese cuisine.

Inside Hengry's modest storefront in Alhambra, diners are discovering the bold, bracing, deeply layered flavors of Guizhou Province — a culinary tradition rarely seen outside its mist-covered mountain homeland.

Fifteen months after opening, the restaurant has evolved into something more than a destination.

It’s become an education in sourness, fermentation, and balance — a place where chili heat meets bright acidity and preservation techniques developed over centuries drive nearly every dish.

Now the restaurant is leaning fully into celebration with an elaborate Lunar New Year feast designed for abundance, symbolism, and communal joy.

A Family Story Rooted in Flavor

For owner Chueling Au — you can call him Leo — the restaurant represents both a personal homecoming and a continuation of a legacy that began decades earlier in Guiyang. His family’s original restaurant started small in 1991, serving a single dish learned directly from the Miao people: sour soup. That humble shop eventually expanded into a three-story regional institution known for Guizhou’s unmistakable sour-and-spicy identity.

After immigrating to Los Angeles, Au built a successful career in luxury retail, representing storied watchmakers like Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin for more than a decade. But the pull of food — and family — never faded. When he finally left retail to open his own restaurant, he saw it not just as a business, but as an inheritance carried forward.

“We opened Hengry with the hope that people would fall in love with Guizhou cuisine the way we have,” Au said. “But for me, this restaurant is also a continuation of my family’s legacy — one that began decades ago in Guiyang.”

His background in luxury retail has guided how he views the dining experience.

“I bring the same high standards of service and aesthetics to Hengry, whether it’s the presentation of a dish, the design of the space, or the way we interact with our guests," Au said. "What sets me apart is my keen eye for detail, my artistic taste, and my genuine desire to create a memorable experience for every guest who walks through the door.”

A Cuisine Built on Intensity and Balance

Leading the kitchen is Guangzhi Long, a decorated culinary veteran born in Meishan with nearly three decades of experience and multiple gold medals from Chinese culinary competitions. His cooking anchors the restaurant in technical rigor while honoring Guizhou’s complex culinary traditions.

The menu reads like a study in contrast and harmony. The signature Miao sour soup delivers layered tang and fragrance that build with every sip. Guizhou spicy chicken balances numbing peppercorn with aromatic heat that lingers rather than overwhelms.

Pork belly cured in-house for two weeks carries deep savory intensity, while crispy potato pancakes offer crunch softened by warm spice. Even fried rice takes on new dimension through fermented chili paste sourced directly from the region.

It’s food that doesn’t just satisfy — it reveals.

Lunar New Year as Ritual and Celebration

From Feb. 17-22, the restaurant celebrates surpassing its first year and the new lunar calendar with multi-course banquet menus designed for shared dining. The meals emphasize dishes traditionally associated with prosperity and renewal — not just delicious, but symbolic.

Chicken represents good fortune and smooth days ahead. Fish and seafood signify abundance and surplus year after year. Tables fill with sour soup seafood, chili-braised pork belly, wok-seared beef tenderloin, garlic greens, and celebratory desserts like steamed pork belly with sweet glutinous rice.

For the special Lunar New Year menus, each guest receives a traditional red envelope with small gifts and raffle prizes, reinforcing the idea that Lunar New Year dining is both feast and blessing — a gathering meant to usher in hope for the months ahead.

Guizhou cuisine remains one of China’s least globally represented regional food traditions, shaped by mountainous terrain, diverse ethnic communities, and a culinary philosophy grounded in preservation and fermentation. Its defining sourness feels at once ancient and unexpectedly modern — a flavor profile that resonates with contemporary diners seeking intensity, complexity, and authenticity.

Just over one year in, the restaurant has established itself as a place where cultural memory and contemporary dining meet. It’s not simply growing the local Chinese restaurant landscape — it’s redefining it.

For Lunar New Year or any day of the year, the message is the same: come hungry — and expect to leave with an expanded definition of Chinese cuisine.

Hengry
2718 W. Valley Blvd, Alhambra, Calif.

Lunch: Monday-Sunday (closed Wednesdays) 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Dinner: Monday-Thursday (closed Wednesdays) 5–9:30 p.m.; Friday–Sunday, 5–11 p.m.
Reservations are available via OpenTable.