Comments on: The Chinese Restaurant Three-Ring Binder

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:05:06 +0000

One detail that didn’t ring true with all of my non-US experience of Chinese restaurants was the chopsticks. Every Chinese restaurant I’ve been to (in the UK, Australia and New Zealand) has had plastic chopsticks. It has only been the Japanese restaurants that have used the wooden ones. Perhaps this is a slight international difference.

In the UK, curry places are all quite uniform.

By: nate

nate — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:51:40 +0000

Also, Jonathan, Jim: Bombay Cuisine. Yummm. I dig it too.

By: nate

nate — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:42:52 +0000

Patrick: I know about Chowhound, but only recently. It’s a wonderful site.

Sennoma, Coder: Thanks for the int’l perspective. I don’t know if I’m heartened or scared that the typical Chinese restaurant abides overseas as well. Spot on about some of decor options, Sennoma. Coder: Interesting about the inter-familial thing. Seems like it would be harder to manage across as much ground as the U.S. covers, but considering that there’s at least one of these restaurants in just about every town of reasonable size, maybe there is some sort of vast grouping going on. Or at least several sub-groupings. In Grand Rapids, where I am now, the best such restaurant, Seoul Garden, is run by a Korean family and serves solid Korean food on the side. The guy at Golden Wok looked very northern Chinese, maybe even Mongolian.

Jim: Thank Kristen for me. The missing placement has been inserted into the entry.

By: coder

coder — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:48:19 +0000

Well, if the places in the US are anything like the ones in New Zealand (and Australia, and Canada,) then I can tell you that while there is not a 3 ring binder as such, there is something similar. Almost all the places I know of from my home town, from the smallest and humblest takeaways and chip shops, to the best, most interesting and ‘authentic’ restaurants, via the largest, highest turnover, and most soulless barns, are run by people who know each other very well, have worked for each other in the past, and in fact are often relatives. Or at least had inter-familial contacts that preceded their or their ancestors emmigration from China. I don’t think there is a single restaurant worthy of the name in my home city (admittedly small at ~80,000) that didn’t have a member of my wife’s extended family worked in it at some stage.

One of the main effects of all this is IMO a de-facto standardisation process similar to the de-jure one that the franchise system is based on. The downside is that you get a homogenous, less interesting range of food, and some appalling ubiquitous crimes against cuisine such as glowing pink sweet and sour sauce (WHY? FOR KUAN YIN’S SAKE, WHY?)

The upside is that you also get a very good diffusion of knowledge through the system, so successful innovations are rapidly adopted. There is also the dependability factor. You can go into just about any Cantonese restaurant in the world, from Guangzhou to East Finchley, and order steamed rice, Choi Sum with garlic, tofu with black beans, and get a more or less good quality, tasty, and cheap meal. I’m vegetarian, but I know there are equivalent meat and fish dishes. They may not all be on the menu, or at least the English one, and details may differ, but you can be pretty much assured of a good, basic, cheap meal, especially if you are with someone who can speak Cantonese.

By: Jim Z

Jim Z — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 20:44:22 +0000

Comment by my wife upon reading this blog entry:

“He forgot to mention the placemats with the Chinese horoscopes.”

And so I write in, in an attempt to right the injustice. That, and to second Jonathan’s comment about Bombay Cuisine. It’s very good.

By: sennoma

sennoma — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 15:22:10 +0000

Chinese restaurants in Australia are most definitely run according to the same rules that apply to those in America, right down to the mints on the counter. But you left out (or perhaps there is a difference after all) the art: ornate, chunky frescoes and wall hangings covered in mother-of pearl, with lots of red fringe and tassels; big scrolls with Zen ink drawings of mountain ranges and bamboo shoots; and lovely Chinese characters everywhere. (I mean the writing, not the staff.)

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 15:02:54 +0000

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

By: Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Patrick Nielsen Hayden — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 15:02:42 +0000

May I assume you’re familiar with chowhound.com? If not, check ‘em out.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:10:17 +0000

Ah, but Indian all-you-can-eat buffets are imo the best of the sort. I’ve had *horrid* experiences with Chinese AYCEB’s.

The Indian one at Bombay Cuisine in Eastown on Sundays is incredible.

And I would add one thing to the items that your Chinese restaurants have in common: all of their lunch specials say the same thing: “No soup with takeout.” Which is truly a bummer.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:08:56 +0000

You err, my friend.

The wrapper on the chopsticks was white.

I know the red wrappers of which you speak, and it actually stuck in my mind that these were not the same.

Which in a roundabout way supports your point.