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I love veges, and because of this thread I found a new favorite. When I read this, I was about to go get some groceries. I stopped at the "Rice and Spice" store here and bought some of their "on choy". I fried/steamed it with a little soybean oil, a few spoons of water, black bean sauce and fresh garlic, and yum. Cool to have found a new favorite!
I'm also really into rice, mostly basmati and "sushi rice". I wish the American Chinese restaurants here served good rice. The Korean and Indian restaurants do.
I don't know what Chinese restaurants y'all eat in, but the Taiwanese restaurants where I eat are authentic Taiwanese food. That doesn't mean they include everything on the usual Taiwanese menu, they're selective for Western consumers. But they're the real deal. I've been to Taiwan, I know the food in the restaurants in the US is the real deal.
And in Chinatown, the Chinese food for the Chinese is served in a back room, while the food for Westerners is served in the main part of the restaurant. So they DO serve very authentic food, but none of us here would ever see it. Or want to, probably.
Mostly small and family-owned. However, even the bigger ones aren't chains.
We have a large and vibrant Chinatown, where a lot of the food is pretty authentic. Most people don't order it, however. The Chinese do.
Yes, there is a pretty good locally owned and operated dim sum place in my home city (which does not have a Chinatown, in fact), and it's well-regarded...but most non-Asian diners avoid certain authentic delicacies, for sure.
I don't know what Chinese restaurants y'all eat in, but the Taiwanese restaurants where I eat are authentic Taiwanese food. That doesn't mean they include everything on the usual Taiwanese menu, they're selective for Western consumers. But they're the real deal. I've been to Taiwan, I know the food in the restaurants in the US is the real deal.
Most of the stuff in Americanized chinese restaurant you can find in china. Except for fried wonton with cream cheese and crabmeat and fortune cookie. I don't think I've EVER seen those anywhere in Taiwan or Hong Kong or in a restaurant that's designed to cater to a Chinese crowd. They don't even fold their wonton like that if they're going to deep fry it.
There's fried rice in Americanized Chinese restaurants and in authentic Chinese restaurants. But generally, Americanized Chinese restaurant's fried rice is almost always JUST a tad off, either too much oil pooling on the bottom, not adding the eggs at the right time so it evenly coat the rice but it's still not too chunky or the rice being too moist (day old rice or put the rice under the air conditioner).
Also the mix of food available is different and tend toward the greasy side for the Americanized Chinese. Tomato and fried egg is a VERY typical dish in bento place in Taiwan and in households and just all over, never seen it before here. Ever. Three cup chicken? Never. Pork belly with pickled radish? Nope. Vegetable dish that stands on its own without meat (like sauteed/boiled kailan with oyster sauce on top please) or ot being a mix medley. Na uh.
Cream cheese-filled wontons are pretty common at the decidedly non-authentic variety of Asian buffets and takeout-style Chinese places in the U.S. They're pretty good, though they vary. My go-to takeout place near my old job in Chicago did cream cheese wontons where the filling had lots of garlic powder, chopped scalions...very savory. A buffet in my hometown, by contrast, uses such a sweet cream cheese filling, you'd swear it was cream cheese frosting.
A lot of times, they toss in some imitation (or not) crab meat and call them Crab Rangoon. Being named after the capital of Myanmar, it makes total sense that they're legit traditional Chinese, and all.
According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, "In the Pacific Northwest states of America crab rangoon are also known as crab puffs, although this primarily refers to versions that use puff pastry as a wrapper instead of wonton. They may also be referred to as crab pillows, crab cheese wontons,[6] or cheese wontons."
I'm also really into rice, mostly basmati and "sushi rice". I wish the American Chinese restaurants here served good rice. The Korean and Indian restaurants do.
Why would a Chinese restaurant serve Indian rice?
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