... why does chinese from a restaurant

[Shogun]

hmmm, if you give me a pm about where it is and who to ask for , il pop in sometime

[HarryOatcake]

I have been told that the curries etc,
produced by Restaurants in this Country
are made for the Western palete and are not normaly the same as
they prepare for themselves.

No doubt this possibly applies to the Chinese as well.

But I still like them.

I was waiting for that too

Tell ya summit else seems to matter a lot.....with Chinese food....

whether it really is Chinese or whether its designed for the area of England that youlive in

I know that sounds dreadfull, and I HAVE NEVER BEEN TI CHINA, but my bets are on the food there being as varied as it is here.....HOWEVER>...having had a Chinese on lots of different towns.....I find the entire ethos of whats in them, and how its cooked iS MILES APART ...which is scary.

Bit like having an Indian in Birmingham...totally different to one in Aylesbury or Devon .

I'm a rice man...first and foremeost....house special fried rice...the rest is a side line....rice , well fried, in good oil, with nice tasty bits and bobs in it....

the only way to fry

[Proplus]

Let me explain a bit hear....it is true with near ALL different types of cuisine, it is adapted to the tastes of the local populous. Just like Tikka Massala, it doesn't exist in India at all, and was complete made for the British tastebuds.

As for Chinese itself, many dishes you know off you'll be hard pushed to find over in SE Asia. Chop Suey (what you know as the mixed veg) means 'mixed water', in this case 'water' coming from the term 'sui mar' which means 'water (or wet) ingredient'. All the veg you see in a Chop Suey are stuff like bamboo shoots, waterchestnuts, beansprouts, sliced carrots, etc. are stored away soaked in water, hence being wet. It basically is a random mix of the wet ingredients a take-away has lying around, and was made up somewhere in a take-away's history (be it in this country, or some other country not in SE Asia). You can go over to the US, and will experience COMPLETELY different Chinese food.

Stuff like black bean sauce as you know it, tend to come out quite thick and dark, like gravy, with the black beans themselves quite mashed up. With traditional cooking, you can actually see the individual black beans, and the sauce much lighter in colour.

The best example is crispy seaweed. Thanks to Ken Hom, the whole world knows what it is. And in case you don't, its not seaweed at all, but fried thin shreds of spring green cabbage!! I can't say for sure if this is authentic to the UK or not, but I have never seen this in China or HK. And chances are that if it is served over there, it'll most probably be made from real seaweed.

[Gipo]

I find chinese food from restaurants really boring I prefer my mum and dad's chinese cooking back at home to be honest! Mmm Hong Kong food is nice too... well only if I haven't been back in ages

[Gipo]

My chow mein also tastes better than any restaurant stuff

[Clingy]

Best Restaurant for me is Gerards Corner China Town London. And maybe it's not just the food that makes me think that.
Surrounded by locals, busy place but time to relax, large table, lots of Tea...

But I'd say about 1 in 3 dishes I cook are very nice.