I am not very familiar with American Chinese food.
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@socks oh yes I’ve seen them do that with me and my friends. They even know which languages to use
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by [email protected]
American Chinese food still tastes closer to my Chinese food preferences than, say, northern Chinese food from China.
As a southerner I’m aware my palate is coastal canton by way of Southeast Asia; which is its own thing; just like Cantonese food also took on other forms westwards. So it’s like very familiar but different.
I do prefer it to a lot of northern Chinese food which feels like a completely alien food culture (that I also recently learned to like)
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Main difference being, Chinese food in Southeast Asia evolved to meet the needs of other people in the Chinese diaspora largely. Street food selling was a key economic activity for many new immigrants in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia. The local Chinese market was the primary consumer. Vs
Chinese restaurants in the U.S. that evolved to suit the palate of people discovering it.
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by [email protected]
Sometimes I see two menus! The standard American Chinese menu and one written in Chinese characters. I don’t think it’s a secret menu as such, it’s just
Two versions of food with similar roots.
I think the ‘American’ version bumps up the sugar, possibly even the salt and grease. Mainly just has the ‘new’ dishes
The Chinese menu tends to have the classics. Probably caters to old people. And new immigrants like me.
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@skinnylatte i think about this every time someone talks shit on panda express. sure they're not gourmet but it's also not as bad as people make it sound.
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@wilson it’s reliably the same standard as the most mid Chinese stall back home but at least it exists
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Anyway, I’m glad I have this place. It’s reliable. I think I’ll be coming here often and I’ll try some of the less-sweet items on the menu.
Any Chinese restaurant with a homemade roasted chilli, and that has enough of a ‘wok hei’ in their dishes, anywhere in the world, is a place I can rely on for comforting food. All you need on top of that is hot steamed rice
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Tyson, Chicken Rancher 🐓replied to Adrianna Tan last edited by
@skinnylatte Thai food has undergone the same Americanization
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by [email protected]
Somehow this reminds me of how wide-eyed I got when I met northern Chinese people in Singapore who hated the Chinese food there. Ahahaha
‘The noodles should be 3x thicker and chewier’ ‘There should be more wheat and less rice’ (now we have excellent northern Chinese restaurants in Singapore too, but for a time going to try those cuisines was like learning a new and alien food)
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Tyson last edited by [email protected]
@tsupasat I have 2 restaurants in SF that are reliably not, and many more in LA
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@skinnylatte The current cooks come from China? Sounds like what is happening in New Zealand. Too many Northern type of menus.
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@NZChineseGenealogy no, it’s a very distinctly sze yap / toishan cuisine that has then taken on new dishes that use the ingredients available back in the day. we have northern restaurants but they don’t do any American chinese dishes at all, usually, as they are super recent
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@NZChineseGenealogy this may be of interest to you
https://www.lowdownonchinatown.com/home/2018/1/30/locke-chinatown
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@skinnylatte I need to figure out which version bumps up the vinegar
(I did finally find an American-style place that makes stuff tangy enough for me but it’s still a lil too sweet) -
@Catfish_Man shanxi cuisine is all sour and vinegar forward. They have exceptional vinegars
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@Catfish_Man maybe also the southern ‘tribal’ cuisines
Chinese cooking demystified reviews that stuff sometimes (food from the south that has a lot of crossover with Burmese and Vietnamese)
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@skinnylatte I absolutely adore both Vietnamese and Burmese cooking so this is extremely relevant info
thank you -
@Catfish_Man this one is relevant (bit long but I like what he’s trying to say)
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@skinnylatte back when I was a professor, I had a weekly lunch for the grad students, and the department admin would pick a restaurant every week and order for us. One week...
"What kind of food is this?" asked one of the students who had just arrived from Shanghai, "It's very interesting, I don't think I've had anything like this before"
"It's Chinese food", one of the other students said, as his eyes widened in horror
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@dan a Singaporean of mine is a professor in New Mexico and they brought him to PF Chang as a welcome meal coz they thought he might want his food
