American Style Chinese

[narkeddiver]

It seems to me that Chinese food is localised in the same way that all national food is localised - western food in Thailand tends to be thai-ified, the Chinese restaurants I've visited in the uk are subtly different to the ones I've been to in the USA and the ones in India were different again to the ones in Thailand

[Jingthing]

If you think American Chinese food is bad, try Mexican Chinese food!

Edited March 5, 2014 by Jingthing

[uptheos]

If you think American Chinese food is bad, try Mexican Chinese food!

I can't think of a single reason to eat Chinese food in Mexico.

[Jingthing]

If you think American Chinese food is bad, try Mexican Chinese food!

I can't think of a single reason to eat Chinese food in Mexico.

I used to eat Mexican Chinese food in San Francisco when I am was young and impoverished. Dinner for $2.50 ... free tea ... couldn't complain.

[kimbathewhitelion]

Why bother with American style which I believe is "Panda Express"! Go to Chinatown & get it proper.

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[CMNightRider]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll give it a try.

please report back whether good or bad, along with what you ordered please....

I tried Shanghai Lo' ng today for lunch. I had the crab fried rice with a stir fried chicken dish (#78) that was excellent. You are right about this Chinese restaurant being much like the ones in the states but no fortune cookies. Thanks for the recommendation.

[kimbathewhitelion]

If you think American Chinese food is bad, try Mexican Chinese food!

I can't think of a single reason to eat Chinese food in Mexico.

I used to eat Mexican Chinese food in San Francisco when I am was young and impoverished. Dinner for $2.50 ... free tea ... couldn't complain.

In America nowadays, it's Mexican-every food. Well on the other side there's Korean Japanese food.

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[sharktooth]

The village that I grew up in in Scotland had a 'Chinese' takeaway. Every weekend it would be full of pished folk trying to order hoo flung dung and cumof sum yeung ghiy... All eventually settling for "chicken curry and CHIPS, no that rice keigh!"

[junglechef]

Went a month or so back, had scallops with broccoli, was terrible

the food i had was not terrible.

probably not up to scratch for a 5 star chef as yourself, but it wasnt bad.

For the record I never was nor claimed to be a Chef at any of the 5 Star Chicken outlets in Chiang Mai or for that matter anywhere in Thailand.

As for the rubbery microwaved scallops and soggy broccoli of undetermined origin it was inedible at an incredible price for the quality.

[KRS1]

Went a month or so back, had scallops with broccoli, was terrible

the food i had was not terrible.

probably not up to scratch for a 5 star chef as yourself, but it wasnt bad.

For the record I never was nor claimed to be a Chef at any of the 5 Star Chicken outlets in Chiang Mai or for that matter anywhere in Thailand.

As for the rubbery microwaved scallops and soggy broccoli of undetermined origin it was inedible at an incredible price for the quality.

scallops are one of the hardest seafoods to cook, wok must be very extremely hot, either that or grilled so the juice goes out of it and into the fire so it doesnt boil itself, making it rubbery...more than likely frozen also, making it extra watery upon cooking. (this is chiang mai, no way they will have fresh scallops which cook much easier)

i suggest you dont make a decision based upon a single dish, of which is one of the hardest to cook properly.

[KRS1]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll give it a try.

please report back whether good or bad, along with what you ordered please....

I tried Shanghai Lo' ng today for lunch. I had the crab fried rice with a stir fried chicken dish (#78) that was excellent. You are right about this Chinese restaurant being much like the ones in the states but no fortune cookies. Thanks for the recommendation.

whewww...thats a relief.

[elektrified]

If you think American Chinese food is bad, try Mexican Chinese food!

Some of the best Chinese food I have ever had in my life was at a Chinese restaurant in Murcia, Spain. When I lived in a village an hour or so away from Murcia and would go into town once a week or so to shop at Carrefour, I would always plan on a day of the week that the restaurant was open and go there for lunch. Of course it was Cantonese style. The couple that owned the place were lovely people who had been in Spain for perhaps 10 years at the time. They spoke absolutely perfect Spanish and had many, many loyal customers.

[Jingthing]

No doubt. Mexican style Chinese is a thing in itself. It's for Mexican tastes, not Chinese tastes. No connection to Spain.

[Duvidl]

for those who still cannot grasp the genesis of canadian or localized (im sure amercan is similar) chinese food, here is an example.

Authentic restaurants certainly exist now, but up until the late 70's there weren't many around and those that were catered to an almost exclusively asian clientele.

strangely, these restauruants always seemed to do quite well, despite the rumors of missing cats that bigots seemed to enjoy trying to spread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Chinese_cuisine

In the 1960's, the Cathay House, one of the oldest and largest Cantonese restaurants in Boston's Chinatown, was temporarily closed when inspectors found cats hanging by their tails in the restaurant's refrigerator. Needless to say, I didn't eat there again. Cats, of course, are a regular menu item at many restaurants in China.

[kimbathewhitelion]

Sorry, probably off topic but prefer no to start a topic for such a quick question. In Chinatown, Bangkok, are their some fresh, tasty & very authentic restaurants. Just knowing, I'll make the journey. Thanks.

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[junglechef]

Went a month or so back, had scallops with broccoli, was terrible

the food i had was not terrible.

probably not up to scratch for a 5 star chef as yourself, but it wasnt bad.

For the record I never was nor claimed to be a Chef at any of the 5 Star Chicken outlets in Chiang Mai or for that matter anywhere in Thailand.

As for the rubbery microwaved scallops and soggy broccoli of undetermined origin it was inedible at an incredible price for the quality.

scallops are one of the hardest seafoods to cook, wok must be very extremely hot, either that or grilled so the juice goes out of it and into the fire so it doesnt boil itself, making it rubbery...more than likely frozen also, making it extra watery upon cooking. (this is chiang mai, no way they will have fresh scallops which cook much easier)

i suggest you dont make a decision based upon a single dish, of which is one of the hardest to cook properly.

I actually think there might be even more to that. When I buy scallops here say from Makro they come out tough too and give off lots of liquid during cooking. I surmise that it's from being pumped full of chemical for preservation and/or increasing the weight by retaining water. Also the day I went there was nobody in charge and everybody was playing on the their cells etc so perhaps the kitchen was taking the day off too.

I just stated what I had and how it was as I was alone I only had one dish. But if they have it on the menu (and it's one of the more expensive dishes) they should know how to prepare it if they are charging me for it. But the question is if you went to a restaurant and got a bad dish would you go back to see if any there were any better? I hate wasting money and even more so hate wasting a good hunger!!

Duvidl, nice to see another Bostonian on TV. I managed restaurants in the 90's for the business men (read triads) of Boston's Chinatown so got carte blance at many of the dining places there. Some real good food there, much better than the Jewish Chinese restaurant out in the burbs where I grew up!

oz893, I had decent food in BKK's Chinatown, esp. at places that specialize in duck and some acceptable Thai street food at night also. Sorry I can't recommend anywhere but it's a fun place to wander about and make a night out of it.

Edited March 5, 2014 by junglechef

[Konini]

On my one and only visit to China for two months, I hated most of the food I ate and I'm open to quite a few options. Didn't care much for the people who served it either. The UK version of Chinese is OK if you're really hungry.

We were there for 11 days, and for the last 8 of those lived on Pringles and Mars Bars with an occasional McDonald's for variety.

[Konini]

It seems to me that Chinese food is localised in the same way that all national food is localised - western food in Thailand tends to be thai-ified, the Chinese restaurants I've visited in the uk are subtly different to the ones I've been to in the USA and the ones in India were different again to the ones in Thailand

This is very true. We lived in NZ for a couple of years and Australia for 18 and Cinese food in both countries were very distictively different from each other, as well as being far inferior to UK Chinese food; suppose what you grow up with is just too hard to beat.

We're currently in Malaysia pigging out on REAL Indian food. I never liked Indian food that I hadn't made myself in any country we've lived in without really knowing why. I've since learnt that it's because it's very sweet and bland, and I'm glad we only wasted our money on it a couple of tmes in each country. Penang is said to be the closest to Tamil food outside India. Never been to India, Penang is good enough for me.

[cm das]

I took my wife and daughter to Shanghai Lo'ng for dinner tonight. We won't be going back. The place looked clean - that's about the best I can say about it. I ordered orange chicken and water. Somehow they got my order wrong on both counts. (I ordered a medium sized plate of the chicken & was brought a small plate. And I asked for my water with no ice & it was served with ice.) Anyway, it turns out that I was lucky they brought a small plate of the chicken. The meat was really low quality - more skin and gristle than flesh. On top of that it was over-fried and drizzled with cheap, artificial-tasting orange syrup. That's it. Not a hint of any other ingredient or flavoring. At first I thought the orange chicken was edible if disappointing, but despite being seriously hungry I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. We also ordered shrimp wonton soup. Now, I hardly expected freshly made wontons, but these tasted like they were frozen some time in the 80's or 90's. They weren't spoiled, they just had that old freezer taste. Again, barely edible. Luckily, at least the water was ok! As we left I said to my wife that I could only hope our experience there was really finally over (i.e. we wouldn't suffer Shanghai Lo'ng's revenge in the middle of the night). I'm glad others have had better experiences there. For me it was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in Chiang Mai.

[KRS1]

When i went the shrimp wonton was spot on.

and the chicken dish i had , had no skin or gristle at all, and they only came in small and large - no medium.

Doesnt sound like you even went, sounds more like youre making things up, just to bash a business for the hell of it.

[Jingthing]

He said they had two sizes. Restaurants in Thailand are notoriously inconsistent. I believe the orange chicken story.

[terminatorchiangmai]

Had 6 delicious dishes there last night.

Sizes you can order are small or medium.

No skin on the chicken cashew nuts.

This is so far the only Chinese restaurant that comes close to European or American Chinese restaurants.

Will be coming back many more times for sure.

[cm das]

Doesnt sound like you even went, sounds more like youre making things up, just to bash a business for the hell of it.

And it sounds to me like you've spent too long on ThaiVisa!

As terminator confirmed, the sizes on the menu as of yesterday were small and medium. Maybe I just got really unlucky with my dishes. I'm actually glad to hear that nobody seems to be coming out as disappointed as I was. Never understood the whole "bashing for fun" thing.