Where We’ve Been Eating: February 2025

So many restaurants, so little time! In the February 2025 edition of Where We’ve Been Eating, the Madison food tour experts at Madison Eats explore three unsung heroes in Madison’s culinary scene on the West Side. Stay tuned for more restaurant recommendations and book a tour with us to learn from (and dine with) the experts!

Hutong

410 E Wilson St, Madison, WI 53703
https://hutongmadison.com

Opened in 2021, Hutong features a small, made-from-scratch menu in a cute and cozy indoor/outdoor space. The pork fried rice (which included pork hock) was intensely flavorful and even better as leftovers. The potstickers were delicious and so was the Chinese popcorn chicken; this one had a good crunch and the sauce wasn’t too sweet.

The star of the evening was the Dandan noodle. It’s spicy, even for our expert food tour guide standards, so get a beer or a Japanese soda to cool the pipes! It was topped with house-made chili oil sauce and the noodles mixed with ground beef, peanuts, scallions and greens. Next time, we’ll get the lamb skewers and their famous noodle soup, which has broth that is slow-simmered for several hours before serving.

Turkish Kitchen

2616 Monroe Street, Madison
turkishkitchenmadison.net

Turkish Kitchen is another spot to add to your Monroe Street ‘to-eat’ list. We would highly recommend checking out the appetizer plate that comes with four giant platters of delicious, flavorful appetizer options, including hummus, ezme, Hayadri, and babaganoush, served with warm, pillowy pita bread.

Turkish Kitchen also offers hearty portions of their main dishes, mostly comprised of spiced, grilled or skewered meats. We got the Sukak Ekmek which were delicious and spiced (flavor, not heat) grilled turkish sausages. With any main dish, you receive a salad and a heaping rice portion to pair with the spices. If you go in on a weekend, you can also grab the Turkish breakfast that has a wide variety of traditional Turkish dishes and flavors. Whether you stop for a quick appetizer or a full meal, you will be transported to the flavors of Turkey — right here on Monroe Street.

Mishqui Cocina Peruana – West Side 

901 Cayuga St, Middleton
https://www.mishquiperu.com

Mishqui is a Peruvian fusion restaurant on Madison’s west side that features foods shaped from the cultures of Spain, Italy, Africa, China and Peru. As fans of Estacion Inka, AmarPeru, and PIKKITO, we were so excited to try this restaurant’s west side location.

To start, we had the chorizo and chicken Colombian empanadas, which were deep-fried in yellow corn dough and filled with potatoes, onions, red peppers, tomatoes and cilantro. They weren’t served with any specific sauces, but we were given a cilantro green sauce and a pink, fruitier sauce. Both these sauces had a very fresh taste and reminded us of a light salsa. The empanadas had a light flavor with a crispy texture; paired with a combination of the sauces, they were excellent as a starter.

For entrees, we tried the pollo saltado, a chicken breast stir fry with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy and oyster sauce that was served with homemade fries and rice. The chicken, rice and veggies were coated with a salty, savory sauce. The next entree we tried was the chaufa de cecina, which blended Cantonese and Peruvian flavors into a salty fried rice.

If you’re looking for unique fusion food (or yet another great spin on Peruvian food in Madison) then this is a solid choice.