What I don't get about Chinese Restaurants (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Nicholls]

I remember a friend from Rhode Island said the local Chinese restaurant served corn on the cob and french bread with their meals....
Around here such places would last maybe a week.

 

[David Susilo]

They are lying to you. MSG is best used during cooking just so they can mix better with the entire ingredients, just like salt and pepper.

In several Asian countries, they even sell MSG-laced salt. In those countries as well I've seen that cooks add MSG, salt, and pepper AFTER the food is cooked. They sprinkle the salt, MSG and pepper just before they take the food out of the pan, mixed it once or twice, and give the food to you.

You can, also, mix MSG with hot water, stir it, so you'll have 'liquid MSG' and add to your food just like soy sauce

(btw, most soy sauce contains MSG, so all the theory of not being able to add MSG after the fact is wrong).

I'd personally go back to that restaurant and beat the $h1t out of that cook (JK)

 

[Max Knight]

Actually, corn on the cob can be very Chinese! My wife is from Shanghai, and she says that during the summer there would be food carts in the street selling corn on the cob (no butter of course). She loved it when she was little.

 

[ikiru]

I love PF Chang's.

In some circles, those words are grounds for war.
Personally, I love food. I love asian food, american, french, italian, whatever... If it tastes good, who cares if it is authentic. If it tastes bad, being authentic doesnt make me like it better. Some times "authentic" is a word for the elitists.
PF Chang's, to me, represents a very tasty fusion of american and asian cooking.
Fung's Kitchen in Houston is one of my favorites.
-ikiru

 

[Max Leung]

Some times "authentic" is a word for the elitists.

Not in this thread, that's for sure! Unless you're implying something.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Brit Chinese restaurants have separate Chinese and English menus where there is a large Chinese population (i.e. basically some of the larger cities). The Chinese menu is full of stuff which the round eyes won't eat (stuff with clots of chicken blood, etc). I know this because I used to have a girlfriend who could speak Chinese and took great pleasure in ordering from the Chinese menu. A lot of it was superb. We asked at several restaurants why they didn't offer more of the 'Chinese Chinese' food on the English menu, and were told that a typical white person is too squeamish to eat a lot of the delicacies, or wants something more 'exotic' (a lot of Chinese cooking is surprisingly simple).

 

[Howard Williams]

Wow !!! I never realize there was so much to Chinese food.

I like what MickeS & ikiru said

"Who cares if it's "genuine" Chinese food or not, as long as it tastes good."

"Personally, I love food. I love Asian food, American, French, Italian, whatever... If it tastes good, who cares if it is authentic. If it tastes bad, being authentic doesn't make me like it better."

I'd throw in ".... and reasonably priced.....". That pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[Mark C Sherman]

There is an "AUTHENTIC" Chinese restaurant that just opened up near my house. It cant hold a candle to the little take out place Up the Street. "YUMMY HOUSE"
RULES. I think I might have to get an order tonight. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
But back to the subject. if I want a Burger I go to Johnny Rockets, if I want a steak I go to OUTBACK and if I want Beef and mushroom with white rice I go to YUMMY HOUSE.

 

[GordonL]

Just out of curiosity, do all of you who like the "non-authentic" Chinese restaurants like the buffet-style restaurants that seem to be popping up all over the place now?

 

[Trace Downing]

Well, ya wanna know what I don't get?
The Happy Family, Pu pu platter, or Moo Goo Gai Pan. They just don't sound like food. They sound like a Disney ride.
I also heard Lo Mein is translated into "Cheap Crap"...Is that true?

 

[GordonL]

Moo Goo = mushroom. Gai = chicken. Lo = mix. Mein = noodle. I think someone was pulling your leg with the "Cheap Crap", although some Chinese folks might consider it that.

 

[Ken Garrison]

In addition, the heat from a Chinese restaurant stove is a *lot* hotter than from a domestic one,

Is that why the Chicken Fried Steak I ordered was nearly mutilated?

 

[ikiru]

NO TO BUFFETS!!!
They were great in college when one meal was all I got on the weekends, but now, if Im going to spend money going out to eat, I want to enjoy the food (obviously I have not found Morimoto's Iron Gourmet buffet yet ).
To the credit of buffet places, buffets are very economical, especially for chinese food. It allows for large volumes of people to come in and out in a short amount of time and if a dish is running low, it takes very little time to prepare more.
-ikiru

 

[Howard Williams]

Not that anyone asked but one of my favorite meals is Hon-Hon Shrimp and Tangerine Beef. Only a huge fresh lobster or a huge medium rare filet mignon comes close. I have only found one place the serves Hon-Hon Shrimp. Is it really that uncommon? I did a google search (about 6 months ago) on Hon-Hon Shrimp and got practically nothing. I think Hon means honey. Is that true? I searched all the recipe sites and I couldn't find what I was looking for. If I knew how to make my own, I would be eternally grateful to whom ever helped me. So why don't I just the restaurant? Wouldn't that be rude? They probably wouldn't tell me any-ways, right? Ancient family secret?

BTW, it totally amazes me how much more shrimp you get at Chinese restaurant than at an American restaurant. $10 will get you enough shrimp (+1 lbs) for 2 hungry people at a Chinese restaurant. $10 will get you 6 butterflied shrimp with crappy batter at most American joints.

 

[Philip_G]

there's a buffet here in town, it's not bad. I like buffet because there are so many dishes i like I have a hard time choosing.
There aren't any really great chinese resturaunts in town, so the buffet is kind of a toss up, neither is really that much better.


edit: DAMNIT this thread is making me hungry.

 

[Ted Lee]

i think i'm pretty lucky. my family on my mom's side live in the alhambra/monterey park area in LA. they have, hands-down, some of the best and most authentic chinese restaurants in LA. we're talking award winning type cuisine. i've had that stuff since i was a baby.
plus my grandparents are totally old school - i've eaten stuff i know i wouldn't have ordered on my own. stuffed turtle shell, bizarre fish dishes, weird goopy stuff that i didn't even wanna know about..but asked anyway! all of it very tasty. unfortunatley, my chinese sucks big-time...i'm lucky if i'm able to ask for a glass of water...so i don't know that i'll eat that stuff on my own.
it is true that most...ummm...non-asians ( ) order standard-issue type stuff. i always crack up whenever my friends order anything "sweet and sour" - to me that is such an americanized plate. i'm not knockin' it...if you like it that's all that matters. another is beef and broccoli. too funny!
msg is not really a flavoring. it's more of a meat tenderizer - typically it allows a restaurant to use lesser-grade meat which would normally be too tough. the problem is it tenderizes everything...including your stomach! my family never use it at home, but we don't really care if it's used at the restaurants...it's not like we go every night. plus we usually go to decent restaurants that don't rely on it. so the waiter who said you can't add it later was correct.
pf chang's isn't too bad...i don't really consider it "true" chinese food, but i'll wolf it down just as easily.
regarding buffet's...if i'm more interested in quantity then they're just fine. my friends and i used to party big-time...when we were done we'd be famished. we always nailed the same buffet place by my house. four heaping plates of food later we were more than satisfied.
authentic chinese food is hard to come by...mostly because people don't know what to order...plus it's pretty expensive! if you're feeling brave, ask the waiter to recommend a few meals for you -- one fish, one meat and a vegetable plate. that should hold you over.
[edit] oh yeah...i forgot the whole point of this thread. if you can order any american food at a chinese restaurant, then you're not, by any means eating chinese food!
[edit2] oh yeah...another excellent indicator that you're eating in an authentic restaurant...a rude waiter!

 

[JoshF]

if I want a Burger I go to Johnny Rockets, if I want a steak I go to OUTBACK and if I want Beef and mushroom with white rice I go to YUMMY HOUSE.

I feel bad for all of you living in chains-ville. Here in NYC, we have at least one (often more) Chinese restaurant per block, and that doesn't count all the places down in Chinatown. As far as steaks go, if you haven't been to Luger's in Brooklyn, you haven't had a steak.
All the chains (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Outback, Fridays, and all the rest of the over-salted, over fried American chain crizzap places that all serve something called a "blooming onion" which is some sort of cholesterol nightmare) are in Times Square for the tourists to feel comfortable.
My girlfriend (she's Chinese) and I often go down to Chinatown for dim-sum on Sundays. They don't speak a word of English at the place that we go to, so my girlfriend orders everything. I often have no idea what I'm eating, but I love it nonetheless (except for the tripe which she continues to try to get me to like).
So I'll one-up you all. If they speak English at the restaurant, it's not authentic.

 

[Ted Lee]

josh -
bust this out on your girlfriend next time.
"Honey, I'd like to try some "sew-my" (little pork do-dads) or some "ha-gow" (shrimp dealy-bobs) or possibly some "cha-sew-bow" (buns with pork) or at the very least some "gai-bow" (buns with chicken)."
note: pronounce "bow" like you're bowing down...not bow like bow and arrow.

 

[JoshF]

She's made sew-my a few times, actually, and cha-sew-bow are one of my favorites. MMmmm sticky buns! She also sometimes makes these little pork spare-ribs (her mom's recipe) that are amazing.

Oh - she also got me into jellyfish salad, which is an excellent summertime treat.

 

[GordonL]

"sew-my" (little pork do-dads)

So that no one gets the wrong idea, "shiu-mai" is pork dumplings and not pig testicles.