Proper Chinese restaurants

[GTIR]

Do Chinese people eat in UK based Chinese eateries or do they just prefer to cook at home?
I know that most of these country cusines are basic menus or just changed to suit the foriegn taste buds and the natives of that country wouldnt go near them.

I am taking out a Chinese girl who is from near Shanghai but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable or for me to look silly if I take her to - what I consider a proper Chinese buffet?

For anyone in Cambridge there is an excellent buffet at Cambridge Leisure and I always see Chinese people tucking in, this is the one I mean.

Any Chinese on PH who can help?

[scorp]

In my experience chinese people don't like overseas chinese food, its quite different to authentic; i also find chinese people like to try things other than chinese food when overseas also

[shirt]

Yes they do. I take it the girl speaks/reads chinese? If so ask for the chinese menu.

Have been to a couple of places in Manchester's chinatown that are full of chinese. They eat from a different menu containing a large no. of different dishes. I just look at what looks tasty and ask for the same, or ask the waitress what she'd suggest.

Same in the curry mile, ask for the staff curry.

[threesixty]

GTIR said:

Do Chinese people eat in UK based Chinese eateries or do they just prefer to cook at home?
I know that most of these country cusines are basic menus or just changed to suit the foriegn taste buds and the natives of that country wouldnt go near them.

I am taking out a Chinese girl who is from near Shanghai but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable or for me to look silly if I take her to - what I consider a proper Chinese buffet?

For anyone in Cambridge there is an excellent buffet at Cambridge Leisure and I always see Chinese people tucking in, this is the one I mean.

Any Chinese on PH who can help?

Im assuming this is a romantic liason? A buffet? are you sure. Secondly I wouldn't take a chinese girl out for chinese. Show her some good english food and then get her to suggest chinese for next time?

Seeing lots of chinese people in there is abit meaningless. It's like someone from shagnhai taking you out to mcdonalds because theres lots of white people in the maccy Ds back home...

anyway best of luck!

[ascayman]

Chinese buffets on the whole are awful.

i certainly wouldn’t take a date for a buffet. if she was Italian would you take her to the pizza hut buffet????

there are many good Chinese’s about though what area are you looking at?

[Aranell]

ascayman said:

Chinese buffets on the whole are awful.

Agreed. A lot of the buffet food generally isn't what I would call authentic.

The only Chinese food we tend to eat in restaurants in the UK is dim sum, unless it's Chinese New Year, however dim sum can be a bit of an acquired taste

[shirt]

the one above wing yip in mcr gets rammed too, the car park is like a merc/bmw/lexus showroom on certain nights.

[Wadeski]

load up on groceries then dim sum lunch is a bit of an anglo-chinese tradition on sunday.

one thing to remember is that hong kong chinese food (from where we get English chinese food) is very different to mainland stuff - a bit like taking Spanish food as exemplary of all European food.

Nowadays there are a LOT of much better mainland restaurants opening, especially in London - mainly due to Chinese students coming here.

sadly, the tradition of "all the nice stuff being on the chinese menu" is still very much in evidence in the UK, which is a shame.

[Mx_Stu]

GTIR said:

For anyone in Cambridge there is an excellent buffet at Cambridge Leisure and I always see Chinese people tucking in, this is the one I mean.

I know it well (used to work opposite, not in the travelodge, across Hills Road)

I can vouch that it's always full of Chinese people who stack their plates like they've not eaten for 10 years.

A good Asian restaurant in Cambridge is Teri-aki (http://www.localsecrets.com/showreview.cfm?id=7795). The review describes it as Japanese but I would say more Asian as there is a bit of Chinese, Thai and Japanese on the menu.

ETA : http://www.teri-aki.co.uk/index.htm

Edited by Mx_Stu on Wednesday 12th August 14:50

[bazking69]

As a general rule, if Chinese people eat there then it's a good bet. I'd avoid the buffet though, as it is more a quantity of chinese food to feed the Brits who want as much luke warm duck as they can eat for £11.99 than a quality and unrushed dining experience ...

In Turkey, we always scope a good restaurant by how many Turks are or indeed aren't in there, and have never been wrong yet.

[bint]

We have a very basic tiny place in Swindon called Noodle King, always filled with chinese eating there. Type of place where the menus are under glass on the table and the food is just one bowl, very basic, very tasty and very filling. Oh and quite reasonably priced.

Having lived in and around Cambridge for 9 years I can't actually think of a Chinese restaurant akin to the one above. Closest is possibly the Noodle bar round the back in the centre (want to say Yo Noodle but know I'm thinking Yo Sushi). But there are a couple of Thai pubs (Wrestlers on Newmarket Rd and Railway at Gt Shelford) that are very good. Posh Thai however, I thoroughly recommend the place in Saffron Walden if you want a trip out - name escapes me. Plus the Pavilion was pretty good when we went last December.

[Shaw Tarse]

shirt said:

the one above wing yip in mcr gets rammed too, the car park is like a merc/bmw/lexus showroom on certain nights.

bazking69 said:

As a general rule, if Chinese people eat there then it's a good bet.

I'd say this is a good guide to eating places home & abroad, if the natives like it, there's something going for it.
Would you choose a quite chip shop?

[sleep envy]

GTIR said:

what I consider a proper Chinese buffet?

that's like ordering a kosher bacon sarnie, the orientals don't do buffets

[f13ldy]

Pick a decent dim sum restaurant for lunch.

Then show her some English tradition in the evening (by getting battered on strong lager, sexually assaulting some slappers in a club, having a topless fight in the high street then finishing off with badger meat and chips smothered in chilli sauce)