There’s still an old-fashioned Chinese restaurant in my city (1 of 2 branches-the
other one closed several years ago), and I ate there the other day-just as good as
I remember, even if I was the only customer in the entire joint (albeit at 3pm in the
afternoon). Instead of the classy sit-down places, we seem to increasingly get more
and more of these so-called “Chinee Takee-Outee” fast Chinese food dives (the
preceding is not intended as a racist statement as indeed at least one chain calls
themselves that). Either that or you get a buffet restaurant, which isn’t much
better.
For one thing they can’t get simple fried rice right. Instead of a heaping bowl of
the moist delectable kind I am used to, I get this tasteless incredibly dry yellow
pap, with a few pitiful scrawny little prawns scattered here and there. Most of the
other stuff seems exemplars of the motto “if we drown it in enough hot spices it will
disguise the true taste.” But alas the public has spoken, and the old-fashioned sit-
down-and-get-served-in-style Chinese restaurant, at least in my neck of the
woods (Florida), seems to be going the way of the apteryx.
Thankfully, here in Massachusetts we have a nice wealth of tasty, authentickish Chinese food and not so many gloppy pictures-of-the-menu-up-on-the-wall joints. A lot of places make most of their business in take-out, though.
All the time, as my SO is Chinese. Just earlier this week we had stir fry to die for, and then this weekend probably I might vote for pan-fried beef with crispy noodles.
Tuesday night I made Ma Po (tofu stri-fried with minced meat, scallions, ginger, garlic, chiles; then braised in chicken stock and soy sauce and sake), and served it over udon noodles. Gai lan (aka Chinese broccoli) in oyster sauce for our green veg.
I’m in GTA as well. My brother and I live about 2 blocks from a chinatown. The authentic chinese places are usually a pretty good deal too. The problem is, I hate authentic chinese food. I like the americanised crap but not the authentic stuff. THe last place I ate at specialised in dumplings (the fried ones were way better than the baked ones). They really weren’t all that bad, just kind of bland I guess. We also had some sort of egg soup filled with tons of other things, most of which I didn’t recognise. It wasn’t bad either.
I also ate at a real Korean restaurant about a month ago. It was pretty neat actually. They sent a ton of dipping sauces and toppings to our table (our table, for six, was literally full of them). Then they sent us this weird conical frying thing with a huge plate of pork and a huge plate of beef that was in some sort of sauce. We had to fry it ourselves. I frankly didn’t feel that obligated to tip considering we cooked ourselves. This place was actually kind of expensive but we were full.
My favorite real Chinese places in Seattle that have not in any way dumbed down their food for American palates or take out:
Kao Kao (in the international district): The best roasted duck in the known universe.
T&T Seafood (in Lynnwood): You’ll never find a tastier or spicier hot and sour soup anywhere.
Mandarin Chef (in the University District): The finest sauces and spice medlies on the planet.
Szechuan Noodle Bowl (in the international district): best dumplings on the planet.
Anyone that lives in the area, I highly recommend exploring these wonderful joints.
Yes, I agree. I was in the Las Vegas Chinatown (yes, there really is an authentic section of Las Vegas with mostly Chinese businesses and restaurants, just behind The Strip.) I was there on business and asked the office staff to suggest a good Chinese restaurant. They all agreed and sent me to a place a block away. Place was packed, mostly Chinese customers.
The food was awful. Chicken skin/fat, horrible lukewarm rice that was like a ball of paste, and the service was the worst I have had in any restaurant in years. I haven’t undertipped that much in ages and wouldn’t go back there if you paid me.
On the other hand, in NYC I used to have great dinners in that Chinatown…
My brother’s wife is from northern china. Her mom grew up close to the Korean border. Everything they cook is HOT HOT HOT. Not stove-hot, spicy hot.
My son went with them to Shenyang on a trip. The grandma, Lau Lau, cooked every day. My son made her proud of his cast iron stomach, the way he could eat barrelfuls of that hot hot stuff.
Today, he carries a love of the traditional Chinese foods. For breakfast he likes the rice porrige soup. “Mom, if you can make it HALF way as good as Lau Lau makes it …”
Lau Lau can toss off ends and pieces of a former meal and make a feast fit for kings.
The little dumplings. The turn of a carrot shred under her knife. The hint of the Five Spice in her rice. sigh
My brother eats real chinese food every day. The bastard.
I made some absolutely killer dim-sum this afternoon as a snack for me, four kids and two visitors. Minced pork and garlic and onions and bamboo shoots and chinese mushrooms and a dash of soy/oyster sauce and some arrowroot for thickening the mush before I deep fried them (in wonton pastry) in peanut and sesame oil.
I would love some real Chinese food. Even the americanized stuff we have here isn’t that great. Anyone have any suggestions of places in Virginia Beach?
I went with a group of people to a Chinese restaurant in the suburbs of Boston (sorry, blanking on the name or exact suburb) recently. Half of the people were born in China, and it was the favorite local place for one of them. We had a great round of dim sum.
One of my coworkers has occasionally invites me for dinner - she grew up in China, so I do occasionally get the real thing. She makes it spicy too, which I like - I find there’s a definite lack of decently spicy food in NE Ohio. Garlicky, sure, but not so much with the spicy.
I was a guest at the home of a Chinese friend of mine, and his mother cooked dinner. Liver, carrots, rice, tea. Honestly, the only difference between that and what my grandmother cooked in Ukraine was chopsticks instead of a fork.
Just earlier this week we had stir fry to die for, and then this weekend probably I might vote for pan-fried beef with crispy noodles.