Oh - forgot to say - Mu Shu and Mu Shi are the same thing. Sometimes it’s pronounced Moo Shoo, sometimes Moo Shee. I have no idea why this is. 
I’m going this coming Saturday night. I appreciate all the advice; I got some good ideas, I have a Chinese menu here that I’ve been reviewing against all your comments. Frankly, a lot of it sounds good! Now, another may-seem-obvious question, but, if I order soup plus a meal, is that a whole lot of food? Or is it like little tapas where you order a bunch of things separately, a’la carte? It seems like the menu has appetizers and soup, then meals, but then “combination platters”. If I order a combination, should I not order soup and appetizers? If I don’t order a combination, am I going to get a tiny portion that won’t fill me up? I’m not a big eater.
Most chinese restaurants tend to copy the generic chinese restuarant menu.
So if you order “Lunch Menu A”, it will come with something like a tiny cup of soup (wonton, egg flower or hot&sour), an eggroll, a tiny plate of BBQ pork, fried rice or noodles, and an entree from column A, slightly smaller than the typical entree plate.
Or you can just order an entree with rice, and it will be a pretty big plate. That plus rice would be fine.
But if you’re going with a group a typical way to order is for everyone to choose an entree, plus a few appetizers for the table, plus big bowls of white rice. Then when the food arrives it’s put in the middle and everyone digs in. This is a great way to ensure that you have something you really like, plus you get to try your friend’s favorites.
When I’m by myself, I order a soup (or occasionally sweet and sour cabbage or steamed dumplings) and an entree. This is one of those things that you will simply have to try several times to discover how hungry you are. Just ask the waiter or waitress what’s included in a combination meal. If it includes soup or some other appetizer, you presumably won’t want anything additional.
Several questions come to mind, but I am going to sit on my hands. I just realized that there are some people left on the planet who haven’t ventured very far off the culinary block.
I am blessed that I have friends from all parts of Asia, so as long as it doesn’t bite me back, I will give Andrew Zimmerm and Anthony Bourdain a run for their money.
Sweet and Sour pork (in the US - the Brits totally eff this up) is breaded pork chucks with a sauce containing catsup, vinegar, and other things.
Tso, depending on which Chinese person you are talking to could be “So”, or “tzo” (as in, it’s so wonderful with out the “i”).
**Kung pao chicken **is stir fried chicken with peanuts, other vegetables, a sauce (sometimes using black beans) and peppers.
It depends on the dish. I have eaten shrimp heads, and they taste fine to me. If you don’t like them, cut them off.
Here’s a good way to experience Chinese food. **Don’t order dishes that contain things you don’t like or are allergic to, or spicy. Then just eat the dish and ask what you ate later. **
Your choices are the McDonalds of Chinese food. While tasty, they are as Chinese as a chimichanga is authentic Mexican food. Broaden your horizons in 2010.
This doesn’t really ring true to me, I’ve never had egg drop soup that has vegetables or tofu in it. 100% of the egg drop soup that I have had is simply plain chicken stock with egg drizzled in and perhaps thickened with cornstarch and garnished with green onion. It’s one of the safest choices on the menu for unadventurous eaters, providing you like eggs.
Please forgive me for this. I’m not trying to rag on you. I’m genuinely curious about the story.
How is it that you’ve never had Chinese food? It’s so incredibly widespread in the States (*are you in the States?) that I can’t imagine that the lack of availability is the issue. I used to live in a town of 500, and there, sure as hell, was a Chinese buffet there.
Is it the lack of an adventurous palate? Just no interest previous to now?
Again, not trying to be an ass.
Strictly, it should be General Zuo’s chicken (though the general himself probably never ate it). However, a lot of overseas Chinese don’t use Pinyin.
Also, I’d be wary of the Gen. Tso- as some are saying it’s very sweet, but I’ve always seen General Tso’s chicken as one of the more spicy things on the menu- then again my cousin from the West Coast points out that his area’s version of Gen.Tso is what we call “Orange Chicken” over here on the East coast.
So the Gen. Tso’s chicken is sort of a mixed bag- it varies from location to location on how it’s made and the spicy levels of it.
If you’re a picky eater- I highly agree with the Sweet and sour Chicken- it’s very akin to lightly breaded Chicken Nuggets especially if the sweet and sour sauce comes on the side- that and some White/Fried rice will easy satiate the pickiest eaters usually. It’s just sort of bland though (but sometime’s it hits the spot).
I personally love Gen. Tso’s Chicken (the spicy kind- usually I just ask the chefs to make it hotter though- as hot as they would normally eat it) with white rice. When I want a sweeter version of this dish, I get the Sesame Chicken, and when I want comfort food (Ie: chicken nuggets), I go with the Sweet and Sour Chicken and fried rice.
My favorite dish as a kid and one that I still order occasionally is Pepper Steak - beef, green peppers, lots of onions served with white rice. The sauce is a mild brown sauce. Not spicy, no mushrooms or broccoli, very yummy.
Mandarin Chicken with the sauce on the side can be a pretty safe bet. The sauce is a teriyaki-ish sauce that a lot of people usually like.
Well, I’ll try to make a long story short.
Yes, I’m in the US. My mother was a picky eater, and she was not a good cook. She never served us anything that she didn’t like herself. So our menu at home was very limited.We also didn’t have much money, so we didn’t eat out much, and if we did, we wouldn’t go Chinese because my mother didn’t like it.
I wasn’t really exposed to Chinese food until college, and frankly, a lot of it looked unappetizing. I tried egg rolls, fried rice, etc. a few basics, but I still think that most of it looks like a bunch of leftovers thrown together and heated up. So, I was never interested in trying it. So I never learned what any of it is. Same with Mexican food - I think it looks gross, and I hear it’s spicy, so I just don’t eat it. There are too many other foods I DO like, to waste time eating foods that I’m iffy about.
My family likes it a little, so if we ordered out, I would order whatever my then-husband and kids wanted, then I would just add a little wonton soup and an egg roll for me (not a big eater). It just never appealed to me and I managed to avoid trying it.
Now I am going to dinner with a group of friends, including this new guy I started dating, and they all decided they want to go to a Chinese restaurant after the movie. I don’t want to be a killjoy and I especially don’t want to embarrass myself by admitting to them that I’m too wimpy to try new foods.
Something that hasn’t been touched on:
What kind of food DO you enjoy? Chinese doesn’t have a lot of parallels, but we might be able to make a connection.
Frankly, the best way to do it would be to find a menu with a full list of ingredients, and go from there. If there’s one thing about it you don’t like (i.e. if there’s a really good sounding dish if it only didn’t have mushrooms), they might be able to leave them out.
I think that the Cashew Chicken recommendation is perfect. Everything’s identifiable, everyone likes cashews, and it’s not spicy in the least*.
*But you should definitely check ahead of time. And usually spicy things are only made spicy by the addition of chili peppers - if they leave them out, it’s not spicy at all.
Okay, what you want to find out is what kind of cooking does this restaurant do? Asking to try Chinese cooking is like saying you’ve never tried European cooking and want to know what to eat. Well are you going to France, Denmark, etc? Or for the US, New Orleans are know for Cajun cooking, where as the South is largely known for their ribs and BBQ, and so on. The main restaurants you’ll find are:
There’s Schezuan which IIRC is from northern China. Much spicier (going forward, spicey does NOT mean hot, but rather a lot of spices for flavoring) and some dishes can be on the hot side. So be careful if you don’t like hot food, and ask. One of my favorite dishes is Salt and Pepper pork chops. The pepper here is chili peppers, not the traditional pepper associate with salt and pepper. Kung Pao (Said Coong [start with Coo like a pigeon and end with ng from bring] Pow) shrimp or chicken is a safe bet. It is hot so ask for the appropriate heat level.
There’s Cantonese which tends to have a dual nature to flavors. Sweet and Sour, Hot and Sweet, Sweet and Savory, etc. Honey Walnut Shrip is a personal fav, can be expensive depending on the restaurant. Shrimp Canton is okay, if you like sweet and sour. To me, the chef has to really be on the ball because I like my sweet and sour to be a balance, not just sweet, which it usually is. I don’t eat a lot of Cantonese food myself, although there are a lot of restaurants, so I’m sorry I can’t be more help here. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that I’d eat. Though looking at the names, you should be able to figure out something. You’ll usually want to choose something with two flavors in the title as it’s more likely to be a house dish and something they do well. I believe Mu Shu Pork is Cantonese as well (It’s said Moo Shoe) it’s a wheat crepe with plum sauce (the sweet) and a savory mix of pork, lettuce, and other vegetables. Like do it yourself burritos, I always end up pigging out and stuffing too much in the crepe and end up having all the ingredients explode out of it. The wairess will usually do the first one for you, if you’re nice you can ask them to do the rest. They’re practicesd and fast so it’ll only take them a few seconds, while it will take you minutes. Heh, and it’s cleaner.
There’s also Hong Kong style, which tends to more Cantonese with the dinners, but something unique to them is usually for breakfast or a late lunch, although I’m noticing places serving dim sum at dinner. Dim sum are little appetiser like dishes. You can get Char Siu Bao (char siu is kind of like Chinese BBQ and Bao is any bread with the ingreadient before stuffed in it) It can be served steamed or baked. Baked is a little sweeter because they put a glaze on it to make it shiney. Either is fien with me. I like half moon (dumplings with shrimp and water chestnuts shaped like a half moon) and shrimp shu mai. Deep fried Taro (usually asked to be cut in half, becareful, can be cooking hot). Jelly fish with the red chili sauce and some shoyu (soy sauce) is good. And Chicken feet. The black bean sauce they simmer it in is fantastic. I love this, though I realize it’s not for everyone. I’m a try it kind of guy. If it tastes good, I don’t care what it is. One of my all time favs, and it’s not going to eat dim sum as far as I’m concerned unless I’ve had several of the above mentioned dishes.
Imperial style is General Tsao (sorry I can’t be more help but said like it looks, or the TS sound is like ts Tsetse Fly, and ow like Ow! Tsow) Chicken, Peking Duck, Drunken Chicken, Clay Pot Chicken. While it’s technically it’s own cuisine (at least accoding to Iron Chef Japan), a lot of restaurants will pick up certain very popular dishes. So it’s not uncommon to see these dishes offered in other style restaurants. Drunken Chicken is good and Clay Pot Chicken is also good, but usually has to be ordered in advance. Peking Duck is 50/50 my fav. While I like the duck, when you order this, you’re actually getting two dishes. The duck skin is served seperately, the have these little sweet buns and they take a piece of slightly savory crispy duck skin with a dab of sweet plum sauce and green onion or something that looks like green onion. One of my all time favorite foods. This is expensive and again usually has to be ordered in advance.
Usually the Chinese restaurants will be one of these, some mall-type stores (like Panda Express) carries a mixture of dishes. I’m guessing on what is popular in your area. One caveat, Chinese cooking is notorious for adapting to their area. I’ve had Chinese food in China and it’s not 100% the same, though I live in Hawaii and we have a strong Chinese influence, which might account for the restaurant styles here. I’m not Chinese, and I think I got everything right, some of it is through observation and some from what I recall from the food channel. Any mistakes are obviously from my faulty memory.
I also seem to recall that you can expect certain starches depending on the area. For instance, IIRC the northern dishes are served with a lot of noodles, because it’s not a good area to grow rice, so they grow wheat instead. In the south there’s a lot of rice dishes for the opposite reason. Chinese food (IMHO) is best eaten family style. Thats where several dishes are in the middle and everyone uses spoons to sever themselves on plates. Mainly because while Chinese food can be served ala carte, the dish is considered eaten as a whole. So the flavors are all planned to mesh and enhance each other when eated together. I’m guessing this is not how you eat Chinese food normally, and if you try it this way, you’ll find that the dishes are better when eated together. I usually pick a starch something with rice or noodles, a fish or seafood, a pork/chicken/beef dish with an appetiser, soup or spring rolls or something. Sometimes a second pork/chicken/beef dish that we didn’t pick first.
Hope this helps.
Ahhh, after reading what you’ve said, this is a good point. What are you favorite food items? Maybe we can recommend something similar or something with those items? I agree with Cashew Chicken if you’re not the culinary daredevil (not to sound like an ass and not to imply anything wrong with this, you like what you like). Completely safe.
My earlier post probably isn’t as helpful to you, except if you see Schezuan (BTW said Chez [like the French] szwan like swan with a sz sound in the front) know to ask if the dish is chili hot, and ask for it to not be. What Munch said is true, generally speaking the heat is added with Chili peppers and by removing them the dish can be rendered eatible.
I second the Moo Goo Gai Pan suggestion. The sauce usually has less of the “slimy” quality than others (it’s a lighter sauce). It’s excellent over white or brown rice. Order it without broccoli as some places add it, although most don’t.
Why not? Just admit to not knowing much about Chinese food and ask for recommendations - they will probably be enthusiastic to help you out.
If your friends are so screwed up that they would make fun of you for the kind of food you like to eat, you really need to get a new set of friends. Here’s an idea: Don’t order anything for yourself (except for soup if everybody is going to start with soup, since usually you can’t share that). Let everyone else order entrees (and maybe appetizers, if they are the kind of appetizers that can be shared). Take a bite of every dish on the table (and let your friends know beforehand that you will be doing this). Get some white rice before you start tasting the entrees so you can fill out each of the entrees with some rice. I presume that this will be enough to feed you for the meal. This way you’ll get to taste everything and will have some idea in the future what dishes you like. Your friends will realize that you’re making an attempt to broaden your horizons. You won’t feel obligated to do anything more than taste something that you discover that you don’t like.
You also wrote:
> Yes, I’m in the US. My mother was a picky eater, and she was not a good cook.
> She never served us anything that she didn’t like herself. So our menu at home
> was very limited.We also didn’t have much money, so we didn’t eat out much,
> and if we did, we wouldn’t go Chinese because my mother didn’t like it.
>
> I wasn’t really exposed to Chinese food until college . . .
You know, this isn’t that different than many other people. In particular, this isn’t that much different from me. I’m willing to bet that I was more of a hick than you were. And then I got to college and I began trying different things. You can broaden your horizons at any time. Really, at any time. You’re not too old to try different things.
Yeah, it’s traditional in many Asian cultures to order family style (in some cultures, the oldest/most experienced in the crowd will just order a number of good things to share, so even among Chinese, you’ll meet people who don’t always order for themselves – a friend who was the youngest sister complained that she had basically never gotten to order at a family meal out, but tempered it by saying that Dad or big sis or whoever could generally be counted on to get it right).
Chinese people love, love their food, are proud of it, and are in every case I’ve seen happy to show it off to open-minded gwai lo – in fact they’ll get a kick out of it if you try something adventurous (by American standards). I delighted a waiter and waitress the other day by ordering tongue and tripe. “You have a Chinese stomach!” (literally, I guess, in the case of the tripe).
Chinese people are also aware that some Chinese food translates better in low end restaurants than others, and of the reality that budget restaurants are known to cut corners and use inexperienced F.O.B. cooks, so can steer you away from what experience has taught them won’t be executed well, will rely too heavily on grease/MSG/salt, etc.
Three keys to a great Chinese meal as a group:
[ol]
[li]Taste: Choose a good restaurant. A good sign is if there are Chinese people there. An even better sign is if there are large tables with Chinese people at them–Chinese folks only host their friends and family at the best places.[/li][li]Community: Eat family style. Authentic restaurants have tables equipped with a lazy Susan for the maximum shared experience. If something’s good, share it with someone else![/li][li]Variety/Fit: Have one or two experienced people order for everyone or, if no one volunteers/has the necessary expertise/wants to put in the effort, select a pre-set dinner combination (many restaurants have something like this for groups) . These people should solicit allergies/likes/strong dislikes (you’d be surprised how often someone “dislikes” something until they’ve tried a Chinese version of it). They should also explain what’s in every dish that they have ordered; if you choose a combination, have the waitstaff explain. Don’t be afraid of looking like a newbie–experienced Chinese eaters love to show off their ordering skills.[/li][/ol]
If you’re trying to figure out something that suits you (or, equally important, what you don’t like), this is a great way to sample and form your own opinion on a variety of dishes. Hopefully, out of the dishes you’ve tried, you’ll find several dishes that mesh with each other and develop some intuition about how to order on your own.
Otherwise, best case scenario, you’ll end up finding exactly one dish that you like (and sticking with that the next time), or, even worse, having to eat something you’re “meh” or “bleh” about.