Chinese food

tufterween

Before I start let me stress the point that I know chinese food is not good!

But... the situation has arisen that I have to go to a chinese restaurant for dinner tonight. Does anyone have any idea what food would be the least unhealthy in a chinese restaurant?

Thanks guys

EDIT: Am on a low carb diet so food without carbs would be best. I don't mind leaving out the rice or noodles from the meal.

EileenG

Something like beef or prawns and broccoli. If it's a good chinese, they probably have a special menu they keep for relatives which has lots of steamed fish etc on it.

Tell them in the restaurant that you are diabetic and can't have anything with flour or sugar, see what they suggest.

Dotcomdolly

a prawn or chicken (not battered) dish (not satay ) with a side of wok fried greens or veg.

Kimia

Out of interest, why not satay? I was under the impression that this was ok on a low carb diet? As in, high in nuts etc..

jam_mac_jam

Stir fry if they have it, some places do a garlic stir fry or similar, stay away from anything with batter, curry sauce or bbq sauce.

tufterween

Had a chicken dish with no batter and not satay. It had water chestnuts and cashews in it.

EileenG

Satay is great if you make it yourself. In a restaurant, there is likely to be a lot of sugar in it. But obviously, lots less than in the rice etc.

Oh, just remembered, sizzling dishes are usually great. A big pile of beef/chicken/fish, lots of veg and easy on the sauce.

El_Dangeroso

If stuck, I pick the Peking Duck, ditch the pancakes, ask for extra spring onion and cucumber, eensy-bit of hoisin (full of sugar you need it for flavour - only use a small bit for damage limitation)

Chinese's are the worst for low carb out of all restaurants, everything has sugar and flour in it.

Kimia

I have tried so many times to make a nice Satay sauce that doesn't taste sweet. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! Does anyone have a good recipe?

EileenG

My quick and basic version is to mix some peanut butter with a little chicken stone, some chili/tabasco and salt if it's not in the pb. Then add to stirfry or brush on skewers. No sugar at all.

merlynthewizard

We have over 100,000 chinese here and they all wouyld never eat anything they sell in the take aways...does that tell you anything?
It's MSG filled dishes which have been evolved for western tastes Ie.. Sugar coated sauces on either chicken,pork or shrimp....they tell me the real chinese food don't sell as we don't like vegtables ..lol

jam_mac_jam

merlynthewizard wrote: »

We have over 100,000 chinese here and they all wouyld never eat anything they sell in the take aways...does that tell you anything?
It's MSG filled dishes which have been evolved for western tastes Ie.. Sugar coated sauces on either chicken,pork or shrimp....they tell me the real chinese food don't sell as we don't like vegtables ..lol

I wish they would sell the real stuff.

Supercell

There are plenty of places that sell real Chinese food in Dublin.
Have a walk down Parnell street and have a look in where the Chinese people are eating, thats just for starters.

As to the OP's comment about "chinese food is not good" ...words fail me.
Funny, when I was in Guangzhou, Shenzen, Shanghai, Beijing, Taishan, Tianjin, Hong Kong etc...the only place i saw lots (and by lots i mean about half the amount of fatty people you would see walking down any street in any Irish town) of fat Chinese was in Hong Kong...
Hmm wonder why that might be?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Supercell wrote: »

There are plenty of places that sell real Chinese food in Dublin.
Have a walk down Parnell street and have a look in where the Chinese people are eating, thats just for starters.

As to the OP's comment about "chinese food is not good" ...words fail me.
Funny, when I was in Guangzhou, Shenzen, Shanghai, Beijing, Taishan, Tianjin, Hong Kong etc...the only place i saw lots (and by lots i mean about half the amount of fatty people you would see walking down any street in any Irish town) of fat Chinese was in Hong Kong...
Hmm wonder why that might be?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I am pretty sure the op wasn't talking about chinese food in china, but in ireland, which is pretty bad for you as it contains lots of bad fats, msg, sugars and other crap.

I tell you what, why don't you eat a chinese meal every day for a month and let us know how you get on

Chinese food in general is crap.

Supercell

Gael Tasty Tribune wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I am pretty sure the op wasn't talking about chinese food in china, but in ireland, which is pretty bad for you as it contains lots of bad fats, msg, sugars and other crap.

I tell you what, why don't you eat a chinese meal every day for a month and let us know how you get on

Chinese food in general is crap.

Eh..I hope you mean ChIrish food thats served in the two and two type places (shudders)?
And no funking way would I eat that for a month.

I regularly eat the real Chinese food for a month over there, its great - my skin clears right up, I loose a few kg weight and feel great overall.

No argument about the quality of the ChIrish rubbish here, I wouldn't feed it to a dog honestly. but like our politicians, we get the food we vote/pay for ...

tufterween

Yes I did mean chinese food from chinese takeaways and restaurants in general in Ireland.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Supercell wrote: »

Eh..I hope you mean ChIrish food thats served in the two and two type places (shudders)?
And no funking way would I eat that for a month.

I regularly eat the real Chinese food for a month over there, its great - my skin clears right up, I loose a few kg weight and feel great overall.

No argument about the quality of the ChIrish rubbish here, I wouldn't feed it to a dog honestly. but like our politicians, we get the food we vote/pay for ...

I very very rarely get anything from a chinese, but I do eat more frequently in thai resturaints, like the weeping thaiger and the lemongrass, I find the first resturaunt to be quite good and a lot healthier than most resturaunts.

Where can one eat in a proper chinese resturaunt that serves food like you would see in China? Speaking of Dublin really. I would love to try out a real one. It's a pity they are so uncommon and that the other muck has taken such a hold.

rubadub

Gael Tasty Tribune wrote: »

a proper chinese resturaunt that serves food like you would see in China? Speaking of Dublin really.

There are several threads in the food & drink forum

Supercell wrote: »

There are plenty of places that sell real Chinese food in Dublin.
Have a walk down Parnell street and have a look in where the Chinese people are eating, thats just for starters.

I have seen one in moore street with no english on the menu at all. As you say, look to see if Chinese people are in there.

I have been in China a few times with work so was brought out by colleagues and business people and some places did have english sections on the menu, they have pictures and descriptions and they looked & sounded nasty, I always told them what I liked and let them choose. I found most Chinese people presumed you would not like Chinese food, when they visited Ireland they hated Irish food and were VERY set in their ways. One loved spicy food yet had never had a curry in his life, and I did see Indian restaurants over there. I was given luke warm bags of UHT milk and tins of pate as they thought this is what "westerners" ate!

I have to say I have got stuff in takeaways here that was close to what I got in decent restaurants in China. I have got dry chicken chow meins which were just noodles & chicken. I found the sauces were not thick in China. The descriptions are always too vague on menus, just one or 2 words. Many takeaways have dishes with (dry) in brackets and I found these to be most similar.

Also do not be afraid to ask for something different in the local takeaway. We brought a Chinese colleague to the sichuan house in stillorgan and he was impressed, I think it is not closed though. He was talking to the waiter for a while so probably asked for some specifics.

Supercell wrote: »

the only place i saw lots (and by lots i mean about half the amount of fatty people you would see walking down any street in any Irish town) of fat Chinese was in Hong Kong...
Hmm wonder why that might be?

Well one reason would be they are more likely to be wealthy in Hong Kong. Fatness is still seen as a sign of wealth there. Most business owners I met were overweight and my colleagues told me it is a sign of wealth. When I visited again I had lost a few stone and they were all shocked and trying to fatten me up! which was fine by me:pac:

Many young professional men had one long fingernail growing which was also a sign of wealth that you did not depend on manual labour for a living.