The truth about Chinese Restaurants

JupiterKid

After reading a thread about an AHer eating undercooked chicken from a Chinese take away, it got me thinking. And that is that so, so many Chinese restaurants in this country are poor. Really poor. The fare they serve up is often bland and unimaginative and uninspiring, the decor is often worn out and tired and the staff rude and abrupt.

Don't get me wrong - a good Chinese eatery is worth its weight in gold and Chinese food when well prepared is sumptuous but from all the years I have been going to Chinese restaurants/take aways I have been usually underwhelmed - to the point that I now tend to avoid them.

Thai, Japanese and Indian restaurants are usually very good so why are so many Chinese places so rubbish? And why do Irish people put up with such poor fare?

galljga1

JupiterKid wrote: »

After reading a thread about an AHer eating undercooked chicken from a Chinese take away, it got me thinking. And that is that so, so many Chinese restaurants in this country are poor. Really poor. The fare they serve up is often bland and unimaginative and uninspiring, the decor is often worn out and tired and the staff rude and abrupt.

Don't get me wrong - a good Chinese eatery is worth its weight in gold and Chinese food when well prepared is sumptuous but from all the years I have been going to Chinese restaurants/take aways I have been usually underwhelmed - to the point that I now tend to avoid them.

Thai, Japanese and Indian restaurants are usually very good so why are so many Chinese places so rubbish? And why do Irish people put up with such poor fare?

Because of drink.

Definitely back in the 80s for a rural dweller like me, a Chinese was the height of exotic mystery, wilder than garlic bread or even those grilled pizzas, and we'd eat any crap thrown in front if us labelled "Chinese".

No excuse today though.

Armchair Andy

It was acceptable in the 80's,it was acceptable at the tiiiime.


I'll get me coat:o

El_Duderino 09

JupiterKid wrote:

Thai, Japanese and Indian restaurants are usually very good so why are so many Chinese places so rubbish? And why do Irish people put up with such poor fare?

The food in Chinese restaurants isn't Chinese. It's a made up genre. It's not like a chef could be working in China for 20 years, making chicken balls and sweet sour chicken, then come to Ireland and continue doing the same thing.

If they set up a restaurant here they probably have to create the menu based on whatever the other Chinese restaurants serve. In the words it's restaurant by numbers. This means any fool could do it (badly) and few will do it well.

Tombi!

I'd wager 99% of takeouts are terrible.
There's a big difference between a quality Chinese place that you'd pay high price for and "Mr Lee's Superfood Kitchen" where you stumble in at 4AM after being on a night out.

Electric Sheep

The majority of Irish takeaways of any type are disgusting, so what's new?

El_Duderino 09

Tombi! wrote:

I'd wager 99% of takeouts are terrible. There's a big difference between a quality Chinese place that you'd pay high price for and "Mr Lee's Superfood Kitchen" where you stumble in at 4AM after being on a night out.

Which is more profitable though? And which do Irish people actually want?

I used to make basic curries and bring them to work. People used to screw up their faces and say it looked disgusting because it's brown. They didn't recognise curry because they had only ever see it in a silver foil take away dish.

That's probably what the market demands

omahaid

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

The food in Chinese restaurants isn't Chinese.

I don't understand. Are barbecue spare ribs and chicken curry with chips not traditional chinese food?

gramar

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

The food in Chinese restaurants isn't Chinese. It's a made up genre. It's not like a chef could be working in China for 20 years, making chicken balls and sweet sour chicken, then come to Ireland and continue doing the same thing.

If they set up a restaurant here they probably have to create the menu based on whatever the other Chinese restaurants serve. In the words it's restaurant by numbers. This means any fool could do it (badly) and few will do it well.

Never a truer word said.

How about the European menu in the Chinese?

I'll have an omelette and a chicken maryland please...

El_Duderino 09

omahaid wrote:

I don't understand. Are barbecue spare ribs and chicken curry with chips not traditional chinese food?

Traditional Chinese food in Ireland.

It's more fish head soup and intestine stew with a side of boiled chicken's feet, over in China.

Pinch Flat

Ah those where the days when a chicken curry and rice in Johnny Jumbos in Waterford was the height of sophistication.

Can't remember the last time I had a Chinese takeaway (most of them were run by Vietnamese who came to Ireland in the late 70s and 80s, but that's a different stfory). Usually pure muck.


What amazes me is the amount of Chinese takeaways that feature in food safety issues, yet people go back.

https://www.fsai.ie/news_centre/press_releases/april_enforcements_09052016.html

Tombi!

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Which is more profitable though? And which do Irish people actually want?

I used to make basic curries and bring them to work. People used to screw up their faces and say it looked disgusting because it's brown. They didn't recognise curry because they had only ever see it in a silver foil take away dish.

That's probably what the market demands

It's what sells. But my point is to the OP that there are good places out there. I could get chips and a burger from McDonalds and say it's terrible and there's no real burgers in Ireland. Or I could go to a decent place, pay an extra 5-10 euro and have a damn good meal.

ongarite

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Traditional Chinese food in Ireland.

It's more fish head soup and intestine stew with a side of boiled chicken's feet, over in China.

Yep, if you want real Chinese cuisine I highly recommend M&L on Cathedral St.

Alf Stewart.

Deleted User wrote: »

How about the European menu in the Chinese?

I'll have an omelette and a chicken maryland please...

Over in China they eat that when they go out "for an Irish".'

mr_edge_to_you

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Over in China they eat that when they go out "for an Irish".'

Boiled spuds or fried spuds?

If you spend over 200Chinese Yolks you get a free bag of cream crackers.

gramar

The vast majority of Chinese restaurants don't serve typical Chinese food. I find it had to believe that over a billion Chinese people eat chicken balls, special fried rice and prawn crackers as the cornerstone of their diet.

Speaking of which, a special mention goes to the Happy Garden in Waterford, Chinese or not they did truly excellent chicken balls.

md23040

It's a national scandal. Theres a Chinese restaurant near me being run by a Taiwanese couple, they may look the part but their not fooling me....

Patrick2010

gramar wrote: »

The vast majority of Chinese restaurants don't serve typical Chinese food. I find it had to believe that over a billion Chinese people eat chicken balls, special fried rice and prawn crackers as the cornerstone of their diet.

Speaking of which, a special mention goes to the Happy Garden in Waterford, Chinese or not they did truly excellent chicken balls.

So what?. I don't get this snobbery that unless you're eating what someone in someone in some remote Chinese province is eating you're not really having chinese food.

_Brian

Spent a few weeks in China earlier in the year, third time there.
What is served in most take always here doesn't reflect their food at all.

I avoid most of these generic Restraunts but there are the odd one that serve something close to what you'd see in a China.

Rice and egg fried rice is eaten pretty much three meals a day.

gramar

Patrick2010 wrote: »

So what?. I don't get this snobbery that unless you're eating what someone in someone in some remote Chinese province is eating you're not really having chinese food.

I'm not being a snob, just pointing it out. A friend of mind used to do deliveries to a Chinese restaurant and got to know a few in the kitchen fairly well. He told me that what they served on the menu and what they ate themselves were two very different things.

everlast75

in a Country where abrakebabra exists, we can't afford to cast aspirations at Chinese restraints

Alf Stewart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTIs9fvkUA

Speedwell

I could run a better Chinese restaurant out of my house than any of the ones I've eaten at in Ireland, and add Korean and Vietnamese food to the menu, and I'm not even a bit Asian. The takeaway in my village is probably the best of the lot, given that their food is typically edible, but even they can't seem to make a recipe consistently. I'm not even looking for authenticity, just, well, higher standards.

My Irish husband, culinary-trained, opines that if you tried to run a good Chinese restaurant in Ireland (or a good pizza delivery, or a good everyday BBQ restaurant, or a good anything but a chip shop), you would fail because it's not what the locals are "used to". I would like to say he's wrong but I have no evidence.

Allinall

Patrick2010 wrote: »

So what?. I don't get this snobbery that unless you're eating what someone in someone in some remote Chinese province is eating you're not really having chinese food.

I like well done steaks.

So there.

Awesomeness

Yep I live in china and Chinese takeaways are nothing like the food you would get here.

There are a few decent chinese restaurants around dublin where you can get proper Chinese food.

That said I cant wait to get me some chicken balls and curry sauce when I get home

Speedwell

Jesus, everyone in Ireland can't live in Dublin.

shane9fingers

There's some good Chinese food places on Parnell st. They will hand you the Irish-Chinese menu because the majority of people will stick to chicken balls or a 3-in-1. If you ask for the Chinese Menu you'll get the real stuff. No idea how to read the menu but the staff is usually more than obliging with translations. Well worth trying some steamed dumplings.

EazyD

The truth is most Chinese eateries in Ireland use the cheapest of cheap ingredients, hence why most are utter crap. There are some very good ones in Dublin though if you know where to look.

gramar

Savonlav wrote: »

I think if you go into the average family home you can see that they are stuck in their routine.

The fact that a restaurant that is a bit different is described as "hipster" just proves the point imo.

You mean not every home is cooking Rosanna's and Roz's healthy and nutricious recipes?

cowboyBuilder

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTIs9fvkUA

I do love Karl Pilkington ..

endacl

Spice bag ftw.

HensVassal

Having lived in New York I was spoiled by the best Chinese food on almost every street. Even the kippy little low-budget dives with formica tables, laminated menues and flourescent lighting served up great food for pennies. Often you could just have 2 large egg rolls and a wonton soup for a $4 and it was delicious.
I walked into a similar place in Dublin and got Singapore noodles to take away. I asked for chop sticks and they looked at me like I had 2 heads and threw a plastic fork into the bag. Got the noodles home and they were fucking dire. A hodge-podge of dry tasteless vermicelli, bean shoots and grizzle the colour of some kind of radioactive waste. I slung it straight into the bin after a couple of mouthfuls. I've tried other stuff on the menu and it's all shit. Kung Pao chicken, Sweet and Sour, Szechuan beef.....absolutely crap. Where are all the vegetables? All you get is a load of meat blocks deep fried in a stodgy batter and doused with a sauce that is supposed to set it apart as a dish from the other sauce soaked offal. And a side order of bland rice.
That Charlie O chain is pretty lousy but they actually do a fairly decent hot and sour soup. Get a large one of them, like a litre, and it's a meal in itself. But their noodles, etc are fairly bad too.

I understand that these people adjust their menu to cater to locals but they don't have to serve shit like chicken balls and chips (for Christ's sake).

Chinese food is not rocket science. It's really quite simple. The skill is in the combination of herbs and spices and sauces like soy sauce, rice wine, chillis, ginger, garlic, corn flour, etc. It takes no more cost or effort to whip up a lovely load of wok fried brocolli, onions, snow peas, water chestnuts, cashews, shredded beef and a hot sauce than the deep fried gunk swimming in some kind of crimson slurry that Irish people seem to tolerate.

lawlolawl

Why are people on here always so surprised that ****ty fast food places are ****ty?

There was a thread about Supermacs being bad earlier on this week as well. It's all just cheapo handy garbage for when you don't want to eat something decent and just want to feel like a slob for a bit.

HensVassal

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Traditional Chinese food in Ireland.

It's more fish head soup and intestine stew with a side of boiled chicken's feet, over in China.

This is true. I worked in a large Chinese electronics company fully of Chinese people (not in China, in Europe). Everyday there was traditional chinese food in the canteen. I tried it once and it was stomach-churning. Grey soup that tasted like sea-water, some combination of meat that was like chewing elastic bands, another tray of what looked like tofu but it wasn't. I tasted it and spat it out after gagging. There was also tripe there.....yes, tripe, boiled brocolli that smelt like 3 day old cabbage, etc. And the Chinese lads were diving into this swill with gusto. It was bad.

HensVassal

HensVassal wrote: »

I understand that these people adjust their menu to cater to locals but they don't have to serve shit like chicken balls and chips (for Christ's sake).
.

Because people want chicken balls and chips. Don't serve them and you make less money.

I would eat chips with anything too (as an addational side, I'd always get rice too), hate this snobbery you see people having about serving chips with various different things as "that's not how they do it in x country". Most chineses are crap that should be no surprise I haven't had one in a long time (aside from 4 in 1's). Plenty of Asian street food and Japanese places now around which are much nicer also thai take aways/resturants are also usually much nicer and higher quality (beef red curry ftw).

But after a feed of pints its hard to beat a 4 in 1 at times

12Phase

Are there actually any good Chinese restaurants in Ireland? I mean ones that serve actual Chinese good that's made to high standards?

I can't find anywhere serving good dim sum for example and if you ask in some places they've never heard of it and ask if you want rice or chips !!

There are good and authentic Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Korean and various other Asian restaurants around, especially in the major cities that have a foody vibe, but no decent Chinese places.

Also Chinese food is more than one genre there are regional cuisines that would be as different as Italian and Swedish food.

Speedwell

12Phase wrote: »

Also Chinese food is more than one genre there are regional cuisines that would be as different as Italian and Swedish food.

Stop, stop, you're going too fast for the locals.

mahoganygas

Lace the food with monosodium glutamate and the punters will keep coming back for more.

I picked up a bag of it in an asian market recently. It's more addictive than cocaine!

md23040

md23040 wrote: »

It's a national scandal. Theres a Chinese restaurant near me being run by a Taiwanese couple, they may look the part but their not fooling me....

Tell them you don't think they're Chinese.

beach_walker

Deleted User wrote: »

How about the European menu in the Chinese?

I'll have an omelette and a chicken maryland please...

I want to meet a person who's ordered a steak from a Chinese. What would possess a man to do so??

Kev_2012

Have ye actually had traditional Chinese food? You'll be begging for chicken balls and a 3 in 1 after it. It's manky.

HensVassal

lawlolawl wrote: »

Why are people on here always so surprised that ****ty fast food places are ****ty?

There was a thread about Supermacs being bad earlier on this week as well. It's all just cheapo handy garbage for when you don't want to eat something decent and just want to feel like a slob for a bit.

People are complaining about Irish Chinese takeaways because Chinese takeaway food you get in London or New York is very good. What's your point?

It's possible to have excellent "fast" food and crappy "fast" food.

Do you know of a really good chipper that serves awesome fresh cod in a great batter with super chips and do you know of one that serves crap refried frozen cod and soggy chips? Because I do and I will bitch about the latter and praise the former.

Speedwell

lawlolawl wrote: »

Why are people on here always so surprised that ****ty fast food places are ****ty?

Simply because it's not necessary for fast food to be crappy. Really, it isn't. I made better pizza and fried chicken when a managed a petrol station with a minimal food counter many years ago in America. All I had to do was use the equipment and ingredients they gave me, and my know-how of how to make decent pizza.

I have to admit that the imposing grandmotherly black lady who came in every morning to make the American biscuits, elbow deep in self-rising flour, lard, and buttermilk, was a genius, though, and I have never had biscuits as good as hers since.

Pinch Flat

Awesomeness wrote: »

Yep I live in china and Chinese takeaways are nothing like the food you would get here.

There are a few decent chinese restaurants around dublin where you can get proper Chinese food.

That said I cant wait to get me some chicken balls and curry sauce when I get home

So no three-in-ones in China then :pac:

12Phase

12Phase wrote: »

Are there actually any good Chinese restaurants in Ireland? I mean ones that serve actual Chinese good that's made to high standards?

M&L on Cathedral Street in Dublin is OK although a little over-rated - probably because people are so shocked about getting half-decent chinese food.

OP is correct it is odd that it is almost impossible to get good chinese food when other takeaways / restaurants like indian, vietnamese etc are all pretty decent or at least some of them are.

btw good chinese food doesn't necessarily mean completely authentic, go to chinatown in manchester and you'll get fantastic chinese food that is still fine for western tastes, although you can get the weird stuff too if you want it.

Qiaonasen

Worked in Beijing for a few years as a consultant. The food there is very hit and miss. For every good dish they have something absolutely manky. The food is completely different to what you get in Ireland.

My wife is Taiwanese. She makes delicious food. Part of the reason I married her.

In Taiwan they have a lot of "Western" food. Steak, egg and noodles. Never seen it anywhere in the west but it is delicious.

El_Duderino 09

Patrick2010 wrote:

So what?. I don't get this snobbery that unless you're eating what someone in someone in some remote Chinese province is eating you're not really having chinese food.

It's not snobbery, it answers the question about why there aren't standards and why it's so inconsistent.

The answer is that there aren't culinary schools teaching Chinese chefs how to make chicken balls and beef curry. They set up a take away in ireland make it up as they go along, based on what the locals want. If the locals want slop, then they make slop or they go out of business.

12Phase

It's a bit like opening a "European Reataurant" though. China is HUGE and food varies from stewey, soupy stuff that's nearly Russian up in the north to very spicy stuff as you head south. You've a vast array of cuisines in reality and they're not really rigid about food and recipes like some cultures (Japan, France, Italy etc )

_Brian

Kev_2012 wrote: »

Have ye actually had traditional Chinese food? You'll be begging for chicken balls and a 3 in 1 after it. It's manky.

Wouldn't agree at all. It's very different ok and they use meats and cuts from animals that we don't but we found eating in China great. Our kids loved it too. Found the odd restraunt that we wouldn't go back to but in general the food was awesome.
Language can make ordering hard but a few apps on the phone helped get us fed.

Except the dog, it was very disappointing, chewey and gristly, I won't try that again.