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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 1, 2006 13:27:34 GMT
Does anybody else share my eternal disappointment with Chinese food? This really comes at the bottom of my list and never gets any higher. Yesterday evening Mrs Cactus suggested a visit to a local Chinese buffet restaurant to avoid trick or treat. Well it all looked like it should be tasty - beef in black bean sauce, prawns with mangetout etc.etc. Bland wasn't in it. I swear Chinese restaurants all buy their beef from the same place then boil it to death to get rid of any flavour. Indian restaurants generally seem to have re-invented themselves with many new dishes but Chinese seem to be stuck in a time warp with dull food and lacklustre staff. Or is it just me?  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2006 13:34:01 GMT
Admittedly, most Chinese restaurants serve the same stuff - stir-fried beef with bits of mangetout, sweet and sour pork which sticks to your teeth. But the Chinese restaurants catering for Chinese customers are lovely. We're really lucky in Dublin: lots of Chinese immigration over the past couple of years means that several 'ethnic' Chinese and Korean restaurants have opened on one particular street - which is set fair to become a little Chinatown - and they are great. Real home cooking, Chinese style. And great value for money, which is rare in Dublin these days. Unfortunately, where there is no Chinese population I think these restaurants have just limited themselves to what they think the local population wants - hence the tiny repertoire of tired dishes. But one of our new restaurants does (for example) a dish of fried noodled topped with pork cooked with black beans, rice wine and mooli, a sort of Chinese radish, with loads of giner and garlic ... yummy!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2006 17:05:38 GMT
The Chinese restaurant we use is superb the food is wonderful - and so is the owner and his staff - so I don't share your disappointment mick.  |
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Post by andy on Nov 1, 2006 18:00:09 GMT
Absolutely love chinease but it is kicked into a tin hat by a decent Indian. Chicken tikka dhansak (medium hot) with mushroom rice and peshwari naan.....divine
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Post by Plocket on Nov 1, 2006 18:27:41 GMT
I love oriental food and we are lucky enough to have a great takeaway that does Chinese and Thai so OH and I can mix and match. But we also have a fabulous Indian takeaway which is quite expensive. Both are excellent but our final choice usually depends on our finances and my mood!!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2006 19:15:00 GMT
Really not that impressed with restaurant Chinese food, much prefer Thai or Indian. Both of these two really do wonders with vegetarian dishes too. Miles from a takeaway here and the Asda /Tesco stuff is vile.
Fantastic Thai restaurant somewhere between Wimbledon and Chelsea - 5 of us walked in and said 'we're vegetarian just feed us' - it was fabulous, Very cheap too.
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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 2, 2006 7:03:23 GMT
I just love Chinese food and have perfected the art of making boiled rice that can be eaten with chop sticks  On my visit to see g.friend in San Francisco some years ago she gave me some lessons on cooking chinese food - you only need a Wok and you can make virtually anything WE have some good Chinese and Thai restaurants in this area and of course I live close enough to China Town in Manchester to take my pick I met an American on my holiday recently and he said his son had to answer a Q - What is the national dish of the UK? And he answered "Chicken Tikka Masala" That isnt good is it  |
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 2, 2006 8:40:50 GMT
Just to tidy up, I absolutely adore Thai food - it's just Chinese that doesn't ring my bell.
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Post by Plocket on Nov 2, 2006 9:25:40 GMT
I met an American on my holiday recently and he said his son had to answer a Q - What is the national dish of the UK? And he answered "Chicken Tikka Masala" That isnt good is it No it isn't good Jenny! There are some fantastic "BRITISH" foods, and there are lots of TV chefs out there encouraging us to buy British and cook British. Why on earth can't people think of our more traditional meals: Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, Lancashire hotpot, Shepherds Pie, Cottage Pie, Fish & Chips (don't laugh!), Ploughman's lunch, Bubble & Squeek (explain that to a foreigner!!!), Black Pudding (no it's not a dessert LP!), Toad in the Hole, Pork Pies..... Ooooh you've got me going now! And look at all the wonderful things we grow and produce in this country!!!! GRRRRRRRRR! (Rant over!) |
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 2, 2006 9:53:16 GMT
Spot on Plocket - well said!!  |
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Post by Plocket on Nov 2, 2006 10:19:34 GMT
Sorry for ranting on your thread Mick  ;D Px |
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 2, 2006 10:44:15 GMT
Rant away! Mine was a sort of rant after all.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2006 13:10:11 GMT
Plocket, you're right ... but surely some of that has to do with people simply not cooking (as in, cooking from scratch rather than heating up a ready meal) at home - and takeways tend to be Chinese/Indian/Thai rather than 'traditional' Irish or English. After all, I'm sure the people who say Chicken Tikka Masala is their favourite food don't actually prepare it from scrach, grinding and roasting the spices etc. An amazing thing I read the other day is that, while our home energy use on things like plasma TVs, playstations etc. has risen hugely, our energy use on cooking has actually declined  . Hopefully, things like Jamie Oliver's school lunch programme will help, with kids educating their parents - and hopefully people will realise that cooking, for example, a shepherd's pie from scratch is not rocket science, and need not even take that much time ... OK, rant over ;D ... cheers ... |
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Post by beejay on Nov 2, 2006 13:13:34 GMT
Very close to us we have a restaurant which is chinese as cooked in India. It is known as Hakka chinese & is how chinese food was adapted by chinese liviing in India. (As indeed Indian & Chinese food has adapted to our tastes). It is spot on food wise & very popular locally.
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 2, 2006 13:35:43 GMT
Beejay, now that does sound interesting. That's more like it.
I can (and do) cook Indian from scratch but an Indian dinner party takes me from breakfast until about 6 o'clock and I don't fancy it then!
We are very lucky as it's in the genes. My grandfather was a chef on the Golden Arrow, my MIL
was a chef and my vegetarian daughter is a brilliant meat cook!
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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 2, 2006 18:15:03 GMT
Well for my tea 2nite I had beef casserole with onions, carrots and potatoes I put this in my slow cooker at 8am and it was ready at 6pm When you go out to work every day a Slow Cooker is a wonderful investment Not a chinese subject here but replying to Plocket Jenny |
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Post by andy on Nov 2, 2006 18:23:58 GMT
Well...i've got a cheesy pasta bake....and it's smelling very nice |
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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 2, 2006 18:28:41 GMT
But did you make it yourself Andy  Or is it a Ready Made |
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Post by andy on Nov 2, 2006 18:33:33 GMT
But did you make it yourself Andy Or is it a Ready Made Made all myself my dear.....i opened the jars myself, added the water myself and turned on the oven myself  ;D |
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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 2, 2006 18:41:07 GMT
Oh a Ready Made then Andy I dare you to look at the ingredients on the back of the jar/packet How many E numbers does it have? How many modified ingredients does it have? Hope I havent put you off |
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Post by Plocket on Nov 2, 2006 18:58:48 GMT
Plocket, you're right ... but surely some of that has to do with people simply not cooking (as in, cooking from scratch rather than heating up a ready meal) at home - and takeways tend to be Chinese/Indian/Thai rather than 'traditional' Irish or English. After all, I'm sure the people who say Chicken Tikka Masala is their favourite food don't actually prepare it from scrach, grinding and roasting the spices etc. An amazing thing I read the other day is that, while our home energy use on things like plasma TVs, playstations etc. has risen hugely, our energy use on cooking has actually declined . Hopefully, things like Jamie Oliver's school lunch programme will help, with kids educating their parents - and hopefully people will realise that cooking, for example, a shepherd's pie from scratch is not rocket science, and need not even take that much time ... OK, rant over ;D ... cheers ... Oh I agree with you CC - in this day and age it's much easier to get a jar out of the cupboard ( Andy!) and pour it over some pasta, but that's hardly traditional food even for Italians! Like you I hope that Jamie Oliver's programme will not only encourage parents, but the children in their lunches, and their futures. I also think Gary Rhodes is brilliant for promoting British food, and Gordon Ramsay is a close contender by trying to encourage working women back into the kitchen. With all the equipment we have these days preparing real food is much easier than it was - goodness my mum used to get a proper meal on the table every night, after working, without the use of fancy food processors, microwave, electric this that and the other AND she washed the dishes by hand afterwards!!! This is turning into a rant thread - sorry again Mick! Oh and I have a slow cooker too - a brilliant invention!!! Back to Chinese and take-aways though - my OH is excellent at cooking Chinese and Indian food, but sometimes it's nicer to get a take-away. And the preparation does take a long time! |
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Post by andy on Nov 2, 2006 20:13:56 GMT
Plocket...totally agree with you about the "get a jar out of the cupboard" culture these days. However, a year ago, my wife got a job in a residential elderly care home and she doesn't finnish work until 9pm. So i really became the house husband although i work from 6.30am to 2.30. I vowed to learn to cook as i was doing all the dinners. i didn't want my family living on chicken nuggets and chips. So we have something different every night, usually made from scratch. Quiche, home made burgers, toad in the hole, curry, spag bol, bubble and squeek....all made by me. But occasionally....like tonight, i have been very busy with lots of phone calls etc and i just didn't have the time to do anything. So it was pasta bake out of jars and mighty fine it was too. We all have to let our halo slip sometimes  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2006 22:33:04 GMT
Hello! I think the whole concept of cooking changed when the majority of women joined the workforce,which I didn't. I admire any woman who can work and run a home,.It must be hard trying to cook a meal after working all day. To me cooking is creative and something I enjoy which I seem to have passed on to my Daughter and two Sons. On the odd occasion I have tried packaged food but have yet to find oneI like. Better stop here or i'll go on all night. |
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Post by Plocket on Nov 3, 2006 11:21:22 GMT
Hia Andy! I'm not knocking "jars in the cupboard" as meals, more that they aren't traditional! I've got a tin of Frey Bentos pie in the cupboard somewhere in case of emergencies!!! And let's face it I bet the top chefs don't spend their day off preparing a fancy dinner for themselves and their partner - I bet they do something quick and easy. Back to my originally rant really - British food is great, and we are lucky to have such an amazing variety of foods available to us these days, but let's recognise what's traditional to us, not other countries.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2006 12:57:24 GMT
... must admit we also keep a pack of Bratwurst in the freezer, and a jar of pesto in the fridge, for those 'I really couldn't be %^$£ed' days .... ;D
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Post by sweetleaf on Nov 3, 2006 13:34:12 GMT
I have had some of those days where I really don't feel Ive got the energy to cook and the jar in the cupboard is very useful IMO. But now I am a lot more aware of the long term effects of such pre-prepared foods I make a conscious effort not to use them. The amount of fat they hide in those sauces...... (not to mention salt, preservative etc.) |
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Post by Plocket on Nov 3, 2006 13:34:45 GMT
I'm just trying to work out what you could prepare using bratwurst and pesto!!!!! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2006 14:08:39 GMT
Oh, Plocket . Grilled bratwurst, with a side dish of pasta and pesto! Actually great comfort food when you get in late ... cheers ... |
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Post by Plocket on Nov 3, 2006 14:39:21 GMT
I'll take your word for it CC! ;D
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. Hopefully, things like Jamie Oliver's school lunch programme will help, with kids educating their parents - and hopefully people will realise that cooking, for example, a shepherd's pie from scratch is not rocket science, and need not even take that much time ... OK, rant over ;D ... cheers ...
;D 