Today Chinese food is so
extremely popular
that practically each town has its own “real”
Chinese
restaurant, not to tell about big city where Chinese food restaurants
compete with each other, trying to attract potential visitors with
original design and Chinese
food popular dishes.
However, one is deluded thinking that in Chinese food restaurants
he/she can taste genuine Chinese food (unless the restaurant is
situated in China). Don't forget that, as Chinese clothes which are
much stylized before it gains popularity in the West, Chinese food
should also be adapted to please our taste. Sometimes western versions
of Chinese cuisine and Chinese food restaurants differ so much from the
original that they can be considered as new independent cuisine, like Canadian Chinese food
or American Chinese
food.
Most Chinese food restaurants in the West offer one definite type of
menu with some variations, depending on the location (whether the
restaurant is situated in the downtown or in the outskirts) and status
(it can be prestige and elite or just a kind of fast-food). Many
Chinese food restaurants dishes feature chow mien (a sort of noddle),
like shrimp chow mien, chicken chow mien, beef chow mien or roast pork
chow mien. Another version is lo mien which has much in common with
chow mien, actually, so much that it is difficult to tell one dish from
another in most of western Chinese food restaurants.
One of the key points of such places is comparatively low prices which
explain the popularity of Chinese food restaurants better than the
so-called aspiration for exotic which most people pretend to have. But
take into account that Chinese food restaurants dishes contain more
vegetables than meat, so they aren't so nourishing as simple steaks and
hamburgers.
Apart from common dishes, there are special ones, some mysterious Ma Po
Tou Fu or Choy Gai Pan. Fortunately, most Chinese food menus
contain detailed descriptions, so that the most inexperienced Chinese
food fan could understand what he/she is really eating.
So, among myriads of Chinese food restaurants choose one that
corresponds to your idea about how a real Chinese restaurant should
look.
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