Your typical Chinese Carry Out/Take Away Order...

[MacRy]

Duck and mushrooms in gravy, egg fried rice and chips

Mmmmmmmm. I'm having just that this evening.

 

[Platform]

Chicken in sweet and sour sauce w/rice

Some type of noodles

 

[bousozoku]

Such nasty noodles. Blech.

In my experience, european style pasta survives the drying-packing-shipping-cooking cycle lot better than asian style noodles. At least as far as readily available stuff. We don't have many specialty asian food stores around here...so I wouldn't know about the nicer stuff.

Nong shim and Sanyo Foods do much better. Actually, most everyone does much better than Nissin. Consider that I was on a 3 hour trip in the back of the original Honda Prelude and we were on the way back to the Tokyo area. My friend's friend decides to stop at the rest stop to get Cup O'Noodles. Ugggh.

If u want to try some of the others, I can send a couple of packages and specific instructions.

I tried instant udon once. Major PITA to eat. The noodles kept slipping out of my chopsticks. That, and I thought they tasted kinda funky, even though they're basically the same as ramen, just bigger and not dried. Also, don't bother with the instant yakisoba if you see it, so much water stays in the container, it's not even close to being right.

If you learned to eat with lacquered chopsticks as I did, eating udon wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Abstract]

That's amazing. Of course, you eat at McD's and like it, don't you?

Why not something more exotic?

I do eat at real chinese restaurants as well, but I definitely don't mind some "dodgy chinese food." I know it's not "real" chinese, but call it whatever you want, it still tastes good. I'm a student and I'm not picky, although it would be great to have real chinese food once in a while. I'd have to drive 90 minutes to Sydney to get anything I'd call "real" chinese food, and even then, Sydney's Yum Cha is horrid. It's funny, because every chinese person knows where all the good Chinese restaurants are. It's like the word spreads quickly to other chinese. After several weeks, I already knew that there were only 3 average Yum Cha places in central Sydney just from word of mouth, and I knew which restaurants they were.

That was a good article. They mentioned my favourite Korean ramen company but not the brand name of the certain recipe. I still can't believe that Nissin hasn't improved their noodle recipe since 1958. They always taste like wet cardboard ot me.

Is it Nong Shim company, and Shin Ramyun flavour? In the styrofoam bowl? That's my absolute favourite. It's not as good coming out of the sealed pack. It needs to be in a bowl already.

Just want to know which you were referring to.

Oh, and beef flavoured Nissin still tastes good to me, although I put all the flavouring into it, and only put enough water to cover the noodles.

That's what I'm saying, man! lol This is a HUGE BOWL! HUGE!
GIFREAKINGNORMOUS!

I mean, if you eat the whole bowl, you won't eat the rest of the day, and most likely part of the next. And it's so good. God I want some right now... *cries*

Yes, but Udon is still not ramen. Get it now?

 

[Abstract]

I live in Vancouver
there are more chinese restaurants than fast food places here.
and no I am not kidding come here and see.

Go to Vaughan, which is just north of Toronto. We're talking 5 minutes. Most of the population is chinese, and the variety of restaurants in the area proves it. It's not just the quantity of restaurants. It's the quality as well. There are some bad ones, but there's always a better one in the same plaza.

Oh, and despite all this, the restaurants are always packed. You need to line up out the door to get into these restaurants. There still aren't enough restaurants!

A big "asian" grocery store (ok, mostly chinese stuff) opened up at a mall 5 minutes walk from my home, and it's insanely busy there all the time. It's a bit smaller than the average Loblaws or something. I think there's a real shortage of them or something.

 

[iGary]

If you and Rob ever split - you and I might have a chance on the Chinese menu.

LOL!!

We'll have to get some Chinese next time you are in Naptown.

 

[regre7]

I usually get Mongolian beef. But it's at a Chinese restaurant....

I'm actually started drinking two cups of green tea a day, I've heard that it's healthy for you. I don't know if it stops cancer, but I don't think it hurts. I think it has been proven to reduce chances of Alzheimer's. I tried Starbuck's China-something or other green tea last night. It was okay, I think I might like the one with ginger better, it might be a little less bland. My tongue is still scalded, though.

 

[Kernow]

Exellent thread - I'm definitely having chinese tonight

For me:
Chilli squid with salt & pepper
Kung Po prawns or chicken

For the girlfriend:
Chilli prawns with salt & pepper
Prawns in black bean sauce.

In my experience, the best fish & chip shops here in England are all owned by Chinese people. The best I've been to is a little one near the station in Mortlake. It looks grubby and run down from the outside, but the food is fantastic - they only fry in tiny batches, so you can almost guarantee that what you're getting is fresh and hasn't been sat in the little glass box thing for hours.

 

[realityisterror]

Sesame Chicken!!

My cousin's husband is Chinese, and on occasion we've had him cook for us.
Doesn't even compare...

 

[zach]

i rarely eat chinese, even less often takeout, but when i do, i jump all over the map.. about the only constant thing is steamed dumplings. general tso's chicken is another fav though.

 

[Piarco]

Crab and sweetcorn soup, salt and pepper squid, special chow mein (or special fried rice)...

Which is what I'll be doing tonight - need my strength for the beer (or maybe Pimms if the weather is good) fest that the MR London meetup will be...

 

[bousozoku]

I do eat at real chinese restaurants as well, but I definitely don't mind some "dodgy chinese food." I know it's not "real" chinese, but call it whatever you want, it still tastes good. I'm a student and I'm not picky, although it would be great to have real chinese food once in a while. I'd have to drive 90 minutes to Sydney to get anything I'd call "real" chinese food, and even then, Sydney's Yum Cha is horrid. It's funny, because every chinese person knows where all the good Chinese restaurants are. It's like the word spreads quickly to other chinese. After several weeks, I already knew that there were only 3 average Yum Cha places in central Sydney just from word of mouth, and I knew which restaurants they were.



Is it Nong Shim company, and Shin Ramyun flavour? In the styrofoam bowl? That's my absolute favourite. It's not as good coming out of the sealed pack. It needs to be in a bowl already.

Just want to know which you were referring to.
...

Nong Shim, but Neoguri flavour. It has all the bits of seafood and seaweed in it. I buy it by the case of bags. I don't buy bowls unless I have special needs, like being away from home. Shin is okay. Ramyun means Ramen, by the way. myun = men = mein = noodle.

It's always funny to me how restaurants will serve something called Chop Suey (not real) or Chow Mein (same thing with fried noodles) and call them Chinese. It's also interesting to be given a plate instead of a bowl.

I've noticed a couple of places doing Mongolian Barbecue and that would be great but you usually need a group to make that fun. That's something that spread out. The Korean restaurants all have BBQ and Japanese restaurants some places handle the Shabu Shabu and the Sukiyaki similarly with a big pot at the table.

 

[crdean1]

I like Thai more, and will typically get fresh spring rolls (w/ rice paper, not fried, and no mint) and a nice plate of pad thai.

For Chinese, I will typically order Kung Pao or General Tso's chicken (only if at Pei Wei or PF Changs http://www.peiwei.com or http://www.pfchangs.com ) Other than that, if at a buffet, I'll have a little of everything.

Edit: If you go to PeiWei or PF Changs, you absolutely have to order the lettuce wraps!

I love to eat, period.

CRD

 

[UKnjb]

Can you help an ignorant Brit?
There are 10 posts here that mention General Tso's chicken. Um - just what is this dish? I don't think we have it here; certainly I haven't heard of it.

This is who he is/was, anyway.

 

[MacRy]

I've just finished eating my duck and mushrooms in gravy with special fried rice and chips and it was effing marvelous

Washing it all down with a nice cold pint of lager now.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................................

 

[Mav451]

Can you help an ignorant Brit?
There are 10 posts here that mention General Tso's chicken. Um - just what is this dish? I don't think we have it here; certainly I haven't heard of it.

This is who he is/was, anyway.

General Tso's Chicken (or Orange chicken) is your standard, fail-safe Americanized dish. But, considering I'm an ABC, even I get it sometimes. Depending on where you go, it could suck (90% breading) or it could be really nice (mostly white meat, almost no breading).

Since we're talking about carry out though, I usually would go for Chinese Broccoli (zhong guo jie lan) + another dish. Shrimp + Pineapple (probably another Americanized dish, lol) is beast. Fried Porkchops w/ Rice is usually good too. Or heck, Niu Ro Gai fan (Beef and Egg over Rice w/ Vegetables...depends on where you get it).

Xian Gan Rou Si is also good.

Lol, I basically just named my favorite dishes.

 

[Leareth]

Go to Vaughan, which is just north of Toronto. We're talking 5 minutes. Most of the population is chinese, and the variety of restaurants in the area proves it. It's not just the quantity of restaurants. It's the quality as well. There are some bad ones, but there's always a better one in the same plaza.

yeah there are lots of good chinese food places here.
I know that I go to different ones depending on what I want. Like I had Dim Sum for lunch today at one restaurant and I will probably grab chow mein or noodle soup from one of the places right by my house.
I do alot of my grocery shopping at T&T supermarket which is an Asian Safeway type store, huge , fresh tasty and inexpensive groceries...

I love this city for the food quality and variety but hate it for the cost of living.

 

[Abstract]

Nong Shim, but Neoguri flavour. It has all the bits of seafood and seaweed in it. I buy it by the case of bags. I don't buy bowls unless I have special needs, like being away from home. Shin is okay. Ramyun means Ramen, by the way. myun = men = mein = noodle.

That's great. I got 3 Aussie friends hooked on the stuff when at a conference in Adelaide. I don't know why Adelaide, but ever since last October, it's been Nong Shim all the time. We buy them by the box, and just have them for fun. It's so good. We sit under the room fan at full blast and just let the spices do their thing. The ones in the pack taste different and is a lot spicier, while the ones in the bowl are less spicy, but seem to have more flavour, IMO, hence my preference for the bowl. I don't even like spicy food, but I make an exception for Korean restaurants and Nong Shim.

It's always funny to me how restaurants will serve something called Chop Suey (not real) or Chow Mein (same thing with fried noodles) and call them Chinese. It's also interesting to be given a plate instead of a bowl.

Haha, yeah, chop suey definitely isn't real. Chow mein......not sure about that one. It's "real" food in Hong Kong, I think, although I don't think my family has ever ordered it, like......ever. Ok, we don't order it often, but we do order it in chinese restaurants.

And the only Mongolian restaurant I've ever been to was one where we put whatever raw meat, vegetables, oil and spices we want into a bowl, line up, give this bowl to someone sitting in a glass room through a little slot, and watch him fry it in front of you on his big circular stove/frying pan thing in the centre of the room. Good fun.

 

[2nyRiggz]

Shrimp fried rice with duck sauce...or just vegetable fried rice beacause i pick out the shrimp.


Bless

 

[bousozoku]

...
And the only Mongolian restaurant I've ever been to was one where we put whatever raw meat, vegetables, oil and spices we want into a bowl, line up, give this bowl to someone sitting in a glass room through a little slot, and watch him fry it in front of you on his big circular stove/frying pan thing in the centre of the room. Good fun.

They've got take away places like that in malls around Los Angeles: Ghengis Khan and Ghengis...something else. You pick what you want from the menu and they have this circular grill on which they cook it.

I'd rather do it the Korean/Japanese way where you get the ingredients and you cook it while talking.

 

[Abstract]

It's take-away in LA? Damn, just cheapened my experience with it. Mine was all you can eat, though, and was very very good (and around $18 USD to boot).

And in Toronto, going out for "Korean" food implies that you're going out for Korean BBQ. There aren't many korean restaurants that aren't entirely BBQ. I only mention this because my friend's ex-girlfriend was Korean, and she just hated it when people said, "I love Korean food. BBQ'ing indoors is such a great way to eat dinner with lots of friends!!" She really didn't like how Korean food was just reduced to BBQ when it's not what real Koreans do. I'm sure Korean's BBQ, but not often like that.

 

[bousozoku]

It's take-away in LA? Damn, just cheapened my experience with it. Mine was all you can eat, though, and was very very good (and around $18 USD to boot).

And in Toronto, going out for "Korean" food implies that you're going out for Korean BBQ. There aren't many korean restaurants that aren't entirely BBQ. I only mention this because my friend's ex-girlfriend was Korean, and she just hated it when people said, "I love Korean food. BBQ'ing indoors is such a great way to eat dinner with lots of friends!!" She really didn't like how Korean food was just reduced to BBQ when it's not what real Koreans do. I'm sure Korean's BBQ, but not often like that.

Well, in that way, Korean BBQ is like Japanese Teppanyaki. Lots of people think that's Japanese food, when it's not even close. Still, I've had Shabu shabu and Sukiyaki that way and it was fun. Cooking o-konomiyaki in Hiroshima was kewl, too. Real Korean food is so great but I don't see the white people getting it. They stick with the safe food, the gal bi and the bull doggy (bul gogi.)

 

[emmawu]

Egg roll
Hot and sour soup
Pressed duck
Crab rangoon
Almond cookie
Tea

 

[twistedlegato]

Budist Delight (spicy to-fu)
Chicken with vegitables (spicy of course)
Beef With vegatibles (spicy)
Egg Roll (i wish it was spicy)
Wonton Soup (i should but some spicy chinease hot sauce in it)

And a nice Fortion cookie (to bad they arent spicy )

 

[Electro Funk]

General Tzo's
Fried Rice
Wonton Soup

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...