Do you eat Chinese food?

[pjcnet]

I live close a major city that even has it's own Chinese quarter, so I have a choice of numerous Chinese and Cantonese takeaways that deliver as well as many restaurants including a couple that offer good value all can eat buffets which I've tried out too, although like many people on the autistic spectrum I especially hate buffet restaurants when they're really busy and I try to go at quiet times. I will therefore eat Chinese on average a couple of times a month. I'm vegetarian, but there's still plenty of good options available even if I go to a buffet. I've also tried Japanese food, Ramen is nice.

I'd be very surprised if you don't like some of the dishes on the Chinese menu because there's a large variation available which usually means there's something for just about everyone to enjoy. Personally I don't particularly like Chinese curries because they're often quite hot, but that's just one thing out of various different types of dishes available and if unlike me you eat meat or fish there's a huge selection. I see you didn't really like spare ribs, but again that's just one dish out of many things on offer. Do a little research before you go and decide on a dish that you think you'll enjoy. Most restaurants will offer the vast majority of popular dishes available, but even if you didn't happen to see your chosen dish on the menu at a particular restaurant, most will make it for you anyway on request, so don't be afraid to ask. At worst most Chinese restaurants offer an English alternative which is often omelette and chips, but chips aren't usually the best at a Chinese restaurant and it would be a shame not to have something Chinese since you're there, also even if they do allow you to bring in your own food I personally wouldn't do it anyway because it's kind of an insult. A Chinese alternative to an omelette is foo yung which can be plain egg (boring), or much better like an omelette you can add just about anything within reason, since I'm vegetarian I usually have mixed vegetables and sometimes mushrooms, very nice in my opinion. Buffet restaurants can be especially good when you don't know what to have because you have the opportunity to try lots of different dishes and you can try just a little at first to see if you like something or not if you're not sure.

For the full Chinese experience why not try to eat with chopsticks, they're usually optionally available in Chinese restaurants and they can be fun, in fact I went to one about 20 years ago where they were the default and you had to actually ask if you wanted a fork or spoon instead. Attempting to use them was actually a great icebreaker when I was on a first date, we seemed to get on great together and she even naturally put my anxiety at ease allowing me to genuinely enjoy my time with her which was really rare, it's a shame she still decided to go out with my so called mate instead about a week later however, I wanted to k*** the b****** at the time, but that's another story lol.

Enjoy!

 

[kay]

I love most Chinese and Thai foods.
We have a restaurant here that is a huge buffet so you
can pick and choose.
My favourites are the shrimp, salmon, egg drop soup,
lo mein, sauteed mushrooms and chinese donuts for a sweet.

Do they still have those little places that sell a dish of
chicken livers in brown sauce with rice in Springfield?
I ate those all the time when I lived there, but, have never found them anywhere here.
Just wondered.

I have no idea, yuk! Livers. I just stick to cashew chicken and veggies, doubt I even look past that on the menu. I never even order an egg roll because somehow those ended up being a make it at home item, not an eating out thing. Livers??? I'll check a few menus and see.

 

[VioletHaze_03]

uhhhhh.....this is a really tough question. "chinese food" is a really broad category. there are A TON of different dishes because you know, any given culture doesn't live on one thing (even americans live off something other than mcdonalds,sometimes ), but most restaurants have generic noodle/meat in sauce/curry options. Also, like fortune cookies, spare ribs are one of those american things that have been passed off to another culture for some reason. i can't really tell you what to expect, but i can say that a lot of take out restaurants are similar to our fast food joints: not really authentic, but an condensed, convienent version of a culture. i've been to a few places, and if it's strictly chinese (thai and japanese are a little different) here's a general guide of what to order for certain tastes:
Noodle dishes tend to be saltier though you can customize them (Lo Mein and Chow mein fit into this category) mild stir fries can also be very salty, and like the other mentions, usually come with vegetarian options
Curries are usually spicy as eff, so if you don't like that go for mild options(My parents play the "who sweats first" game when they have curry) *also vegetarian
Chicken with sauce tends to be sweeter, so if you're into that go for things like pinapple, sweet and sour, orange, and lemon chicken
for the savoury people, i would say go for stir fries and milder meat dishes, It also pays to familiarize yourself with the ingredients so you know what you're getting.
Finally, if you have blander tastes, go for something like fried rice, tempura (not chinese but they might have it, or chicken balls.
note that this is a not a guide for upscale restaurants, those are far more authentic and the menu is a lot different. If you're at those restaurants, you might get this hot lemon tea. I don't reccomend that, it personally tasted like toxic blades of grass with sad lemon.

 

[Adora]

I like Chinese food,my favourite is rainbow steak,cashew chicken and honey chicken,also there is a noodle bar near me and I like their pad stew beef noodles.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I put 'other' because while I love actual chinese food (as in the sort you get in china, or homecooked) I find the british-ised, overly salty and greasy version of chinese food you get at takeaway places to be utterly revolting.

 

[pjcnet]

I put 'other' because while I love actual chinese food (as in the sort you get in china, or homecooked) I find the british-ised, overly salty and greasy version of chinese food you get at takeaway places to be utterly revolting.

That's a good point and I agree that real authentic Chinese food is considerably better, although I wouldn't go as far to say that the Westernised version is as bad as revolting, I still like it, just not as much. If you see actual Chinese people eating in a Chinese restaurant it's usually a very good sign however, especially if you see chopsticks as the default eating utensils which is less common in the UK even though they're normally optionally available. Similarly it's a good sign when you see Indian people eating in an Indian restaurant, again there's big difference between real authentic Indian food and the Westernised version, in fact in my opinion there's an even greater difference to the extent that I'm not really keen on Indian food at all unless it's authentic and so many places advertise that they specialise in authentic cuisine when they don't.

I don't understand why most places, especially takeaways have only Westernised versions of these dishes available, because most people I talk to much prefer the authentic versions if they've ever had to opportunity to try them and some dishes aren't even available at all unless the restaurant serves truly authentic cuisine. I thought maybe it's cheaper and easier to make, but I don't think this is the case with Indian food at least because the restaurants that offer the most authentic dishes are often quite cheap.

I don't really like living so close to a major city in Birmingham in the UK, but it does have it's advantages because there's so much choice and there's a few places I know where both Chinese and Indian food is authentic. There's masses of Chinese and Indian restaurants all over the place in Birmingham (there's even more Indian) and many will even deliver to my door, there's even numerous Chinese and Indian supermarkets if you are brave enough to cook yourself (I'm not) and most main supermarkets have a fair selection of Chinese and Indian foods available these days, plus there's even a Chinese Quarter and a famous Balti Triangle.

 

[Tom]

I am typical Aspie-picky at eating, but find many Chinese dishes quite good,
like the basic meat and veggie with rice types. Pork, Chicken, Beef, etc.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

That's a good point and I agree that real authentic Chinese food is considerably better, although I wouldn't go as far to say that the Westernised version is as bad as revolting, I still like it, just not as much. If you see actual Chinese people eating in a Chinese restaurant it's usually a very good sign however, especially if you see chopsticks as the default eating utensils which is less common in the UK even though they're normally optionally available. Similarly it's a good sign when you see Indian people eating in an Indian restaurant, again there's big difference between real authentic Indian food and the Westernised version, in fact in my opinion there's an even greater difference to the extent that I'm not really keen on Indian food at all unless it's authentic and so many places advertise that they specialise in authentic cuisine when they don't.

I don't understand why most places, especially takeaways have only Westernised versions of these dishes available, because most people I talk to much prefer the authentic versions if they've ever had to opportunity to try them and some dishes aren't even available at all unless the restaurant serves truly authentic cuisine. I thought maybe it's cheaper and easier to make, but I don't think this is the case with Indian food at least because the restaurants that offer the most authentic dishes are often quite cheap.

I don't really like living so close to a major city in Birmingham in the UK, but it does have it's advantages because there's so much choice and there's a few places I know where both Chinese and Indian food is authentic. There's masses of Chinese and Indian restaurants all over the place in Birmingham (there's even more Indian) and many will even deliver to my door, there's even numerous Chinese and Indian supermarkets if you are brave enough to cook yourself (I'm not) and most main supermarkets have a fair selection of Chinese and Indian foods available these days, plus there's even a Chinese Quarter and a famous Balti Triangle.

This is what I miss about living near Leicester, loads of varieties of brilliant authentic indian food! I haven't found a single Indian restaurant in the rest of the country that's half as good...

 

[Daniel_Powers]

Love chinese food. However been trying to lose weight so it's a nono.

 

[Mr Allen]

Well I've just had Chow Mein flavoured Noodles for tea, and they were great.

Only cost me 81p from Tesco.

 

[Lena_C]

I love a Chinese takeaway. I have a friend from Hong Kong who likes it too, but says it is nothing at all like actual Chinese dishes. I'm not a fan of spicy food, so I would normally opt for something like chow mein, crispy beef (so long as it doesn't specify it's spicy) or Chinese curry. I love all the side bits you can get too like prawn toast and crispy seaweed

Haha prawn toast! You got a Cantonese restaurant!
For you guys' reference, there is NO Chinese cuisine in my eyes since the regional difference is THAT big.
I remember once my German tutor asked if we have steamed buns and congee for breakfast, all of us say "No, that is northern."
She got a surprised(very funny!) look as if saying "where have I been to!?"
We told her that HongKong people don't have such food for breakfast, partially due to the British culture influence, and partially because of we have a lot of choices as we are such a international city.
I tend to stay away from the so-called Chinese restaurant when I'm in Europe because I know it won't be the same story as my hometown, but I surprisingly tasted a good pork dish in Copenhagen(Yay! Denmark!) when I was in the tour, that is something I seldom try in HK because it seems too greasy, I almost "cleaned" the whole dish(which is supposed for 6-8 people) by myself that time.
But then in Stockholm, the "Chinese dishes" taste like nightmare and extra ugly.

To clarify the rumours, we don't have "scary" food here in HK.
Only seafood, pork, beef, lamb and poultry.

 

[tlc]

No. I only eat the most plain, basic thing there is. If I go with someone for Chinese, that's what I choose, usually chicken fried rice or plain chicken wings, probably the least Chinese thing there. No sauces, no salad dressings or condiments, nothing remotely spicy. The honest joke is that if it's plain with cheese, it works for me. Anything else just makes my guts turn, and the selection is getting more limited with time. No more beef, and pizza is even beginning to cause problems. It all runs in the family though. Heck, my daughter thinks most toothpaste is too "spicy".

 

[Mr Allen]

No. I only eat the most plain, basic thing there is. If I go with someone for Chinese, that's what I choose, usually chicken fried rice or plain chicken wings, probably the least Chinese thing there. No sauces, no salad dressings or condiments, nothing remotely spicy. The honest joke is that if it's plain with cheese, it works for me. Anything else just makes my guts turn, and the selection is getting more limited with time. No more beef, and pizza is even beginning to cause problems. It all runs in the family though. Heck, my daughter thinks most toothpaste is too "spicy".

Yeah I'm a bit like that, probably a general Aspie thing.

 

[LucyPurrs]

I love Chinese food but my most favorite food is Thai food. Thai food is unique in that you can taste each ingredient unlike Chinese food where the ingredients tend to blend together more. Also like Burmese food which is kind of like a cross between Thai and Indian, Afghan food and all kinds of Mediterranean food (Arabic and Greek). Now I'm hungry!!!