Where to get REAL Chinese food in Houston? (Spring, Bellaire: houses, live)

[Aliana926]

I highly recommend Banana Leaf. My parents are very traditional and no complains on the food. The kitchen is open, so you can see who is cooking...and they are Asians!! However, Banana Leaf is not Chinese, they are Malaysian/Singaporean.

[EEstudent]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Houston is the only US city in the South with a Chinatown, so yes, there is real Chinese food here prepared by real Chinese chefs. This isn't your typical urban Chinatown like you would find in San Francisco, Chicago, or New York though. Its very suburban & car oriented full of brand new shiny strip malls brightly lit up at night in Chinese neon characters. Many places stay open till midnight or 3 am. The street signs are even written in Chinese.

Houston Chinatown,Chinese Restaurant in Houston Guide

[Mod cut - Inappropriate]

San Francisco has the BEST chinatown in the United States hands down.

I can forgive you since you are soo entrenched and blinded in your love of Houston.

to the OP

there is a nice lil place in West University called DANIEL WONG'S KITCHEN
Daniel Wong is usually there in the back cooking and running his restaurant. He used to be in the military and he has many pictures and articles about him posted at the entrance.

The restaurant itself is kind of a hole in the wall but when I was working in that area, I used to frequent this place.

Hope that helps

[Premont]

Wok Bo (just kidding)

[bfizzy]

Originally Posted by irishlover

PF Changs is AWFUL...if you like Americanized (the extreme) Chinese food go there.

I never said it was good. I was just correcting the poster that said it started in Houston.

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I'm coming for business soon and am wondering if there's real Chinese food in Houston, preferably super spicy Sichuan or Hunan style. I did a search, but found people recommending PF Chang's and the like, which is not Chinese food. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I'll be impressed if someone can point to a place that serves stinky tofu, which smells like week-old wet garbage. My first encounter with it was in Hong Kong, albeit from ten yards out. Adventurous as my palate is, I never mustered the guts to actually order it, let alone eat it.

There's also fried rice with a variant of salted fish that smells like fresh fish that's been left out for a week. My Chinese SO ordered that dish in a restaurant in China. I held my breath, took one bite, and gave up. She slurped down the rest of that plate like it was fresh oysters (which I love, and she can't stand).

I've not encountered either of these dishes anywhere stateside, so it would be interesting to know if somebody else has.

As to questions of authenticity, I think your mileage will vary, depending on which regional food you prefer. Talking about Chinese food is a lot like talking about European food. Each Chinese province - being a remnant of one or more ancient kingdoms with distinct extant cultures and spoken languages - has a different type of cuisine. For instance, Szechuan is 50% bigger than Italy in terms of land and population, and has a cuisine as different from Canton's as French food is different from Italian food.

My experience with different variations of Chinese food while traveling with my SO in China has led to the following conclusion: the American Chinese food that I have encountered is closest to a subset of Cantonese food. Hunanese food in America is a subset of Cantonese cooking with hot peppers and a little more salt. Szechuanese food stateside is Cantonese cooking with hot peppers and vinegar. And so on. And having encountered a variety of "genuine" cuisines across most of the continental-scale* land mass that is China, I strongly prefer American Chinese food, however inauthentic it might seem to foodies and Chinese who pine for their particular regional specialties. In terms of appeal to the palate, I think authentic American Chinese cuisine can stand on its own two feet..

* Third largest country in the world behind Russia and Canada.

[modster]

I'm really not sure, however, I think if you couldn't find SOMETHING that fit that description out in Bellaire Blvd China town, then give up.

[crbcrbrgv]

I like TeaCup on the SW corner of Beechnut and 8. I always get the same thing (curry chicken, fried egg on top of the rice). Those I go with always enjoy whatever they order. Good teas too if that's your kind of thing.

[Rick Lee]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I'll be safe with most stuff around Bellaire. Zhang Fei, I've never seen stinky tofu in the states and, although I've seen (and smelled) it everywhere in China, I don't recalling ever seeing it being cooked indoors, but rather only by the street vendors. I usually prefer the street vendors in China unless I'm with some other people and then it's easier to sit and order a feast.

I don't mind PF Chang's food. It's just not Chinese food. Putting a Terra Cotta soldier in your dining room doesn't make it Chinese. I'm kind of impressed they actually serve Harbin beer there. One time I did have a side of asparagus there that was spiced just right. Their problem is that they're afraid to use real hua jiao, the Sichuan chili peppercorns that make your mouth tingle like novicane, though it's not hot.

[Metro Matt]

PM sent

[Rick Lee]

Just for the hell of it, I'll post a few photos of my favorite meals in China. THey were all dirt cheap too.




Here's a Tibetan lady who cooked for us. We just knocked on a random door in a village and asked if she'd cook us lunch for money. Cost about $3 for a feast. I wanted to pay her more, but my Chinese friend wouldn't let me. I got a beer with it too.



Not bad for a mall food court in Chongqing.


One of the best ever.




That raw eel was kinda bloody until we cooked it.


Shenzhen airport lounge.