« What if we elected a Muslim black nationalist? | Main | Kill the Farm Bill »
China fact of the day
There are some forty thousand Chinese restaurants in the United States -- more than the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined.
That is from the often quite interesting The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, by Jennifer 8. Lee (yes, readers, her middle initial is the number "8"). Of course arguably most of these restaurants do not count as Chinese food at all.
At the end of the book the author undertakes a global pilgrimage to discover the very best Chinese restaurant outside of China. The winner?: Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine, just outside of Vancouver. The number two choice came -- justly -- in Mumbai (Nelson Wang's China Garden). I've never been to Richmond but I believe all of my top picks would come in India. Hunan, in London, deserves consideration as well. The author is correct that Chinese chefs, for whatever reason, do not flourish in France. Recommended.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 5, 2008 at 07:51 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
I must wonder how far exactly her global pilgrimage was. And what counts as Chinese food. One would imagine restaurants in Taiwan can easily trump Canadian ones. Though, thorny cross-straits issues aside, wouldn't other slivers of greater China like Singapore do better?
Granted, Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese food are the kind you can never find in China...
Posted by: Rajan at Mar 5, 2008 8:37:45 AM
"The author is correct that Chinese chefs, for whatever reason, do not flourish in France."
I'd guess that this is because Viet has largely filled that niche, given France's longtime engagement in Indochina (sort of like how Indian used to dominate the foreign food niche in UK).
Posted by: David Hecht at Mar 5, 2008 8:37:55 AM
Funny, I was discussing the subject of Chinese restaurants in France with a friend recently (I live in France). The above poster is correct: Vietnamese food has filled the Chinese-food niche.
I'm not sure there's a sufficiently large market for authentic, high-quality Chinese food in France - not only does does that word association sound like an oxymoron in our collective psyches, but it's received a lot of bad press, mostly documenting the squalid conditions in which some of the food is prepared. Though the power of generalisation.. I think it might be too late for higher-quality, affordable food from mainland Asia to flourish.
I'd say that pricing is an important factor with Asian cuisine in France - we need reassurance. Unsurprisingly Japanese cuisine, which is invariably more expensive doesn't suffer from the same image problems.
We also don't seem to clearly identify the cuisines of different Asian countries - upmarket restaurants aside, I have not yet come upon a restaurant that didn't also serve Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese of even Indian dishes as well.
Just to give you an idea, Chinese food ranks below McDonald's for a lot of the youth here..
Posted by: Chris at Mar 5, 2008 9:25:59 AM
I would have guessed Japan. Everyone I know who has lived in Japan can't stop raving about the fancy, delicious Chinese food there are is unlike anything we have here in the US.
Posted by: OneEyedMan at Mar 5, 2008 10:11:09 AM
As a life long New Yorker, as far as my city is concerned I'd vote for Wo-Hop followed by Hop-Kee, which is a VERY close second. Both are located on Mott Street. I'm sure most of my fellow Manhattanites would agree.
Posted by: Mike Mogie at Mar 5, 2008 11:46:35 AM
Richmond is like a mini Hong Kong without the tall buildings. The population is something like 60% Chinese. I'll have to try the place, I work just a couple of miles away from there.
Posted by: Amiya at Mar 5, 2008 12:01:39 PM
I cannot consider most of them 'Chinese restaurants' when neither the chefs nor the cuisine are Chinese.
Posted by: qui tacet at Mar 5, 2008 12:29:20 PM
Her middle initial is not the number 8; rather, her middle name is "8." (with the period).
Why doesn't she just write Jennifer E. (for Eight) Lee? Because then, you wouldn't be talking about her.
It's a brilliant trick for name recognition.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at Mar 5, 2008 2:04:47 PM
Well, people would still talk about her. But they'd call her "General Lee" and perhaps that's not the type of name association she wants. :)
Posted by: amy at Mar 5, 2008 2:48:03 PM
What I want to know is why a guy who writes about ethnic food does not mention his own Chinese restaurant posts....
http://www.tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com/chinese/
Posted by: chug at Mar 5, 2008 3:41:02 PM
Mike, even without having tried those two places or the Chinese food in flushing, I'd still bet that Flushing has better Chinese food than Manhattan.
Posted by: Keith at Mar 5, 2008 4:07:41 PM
Chinese restaurants (aka "traiteur chinois") are ubiquitous in France, but these occupy the same sort of niche as Subway restaurants: walk up to a counter, point to various fresh items that are combined to constitute your order, for takeout or consumption at one of a small number of tables. The sit-down "Chinese cuisine" style restaurants with waiters are largely, as others have mentioned, Vietnamese. Partly adapted to local tastes naturally... I believe you can get frogs legs, for instance.
Posted by: Anonymous at Mar 5, 2008 5:42:46 PM
For me, an overseas Chinese, Vietnamese food hits the same spot in my head as Chinese food does. The principle difference between the two is that a Vietnamese restaurant usually prefers a name ending with 5, for example, 65, 75, 95, etc. while a Chinese restaurant usually prefers a name with 8 in it.
Posted by: Yan Li at Mar 5, 2008 6:42:22 PM
I remember dining in China Garden in Mumbai as a teenager. Since I am in my early thirties, I can't tell if the memory makes it seem better, but I have yet to eat better Chinese food. Of course, I haven't been to China, so my experience is limited. However, the concept of 'Indian' Chinese food is definitely a winner in India for the last 20 or so years.
Posted by: sunbomb at Mar 5, 2008 9:19:11 PM
Tyler,
Admit it, you're a fan of the Colbert Report! She was Stephen's guest last night.
Posted by: David at Mar 5, 2008 10:29:14 PM
I beg to differ re Chinese restaurants in France. Nothing has filled the niche, it doesn't exist.
As anonymous suggests, the food available is not even faintly Asian. A give-away is that most restaurants advertise themselves as offering at least three different national cuisines (you can forget entirely about regional differences!), ie 'resto Chinese/Korean/Thai'!
I am surprised that none of the world's better Chinese restaurants are in Australia.
Posted by: Patrick at Mar 6, 2008 12:27:11 AM
The best Chinese food I've had, bearing in mind I don't have much variety in my Chinese dining experiences, was hands-down in Saudi Arabia. Admittedly, it isn't the easiest of countries to gain access to when writing a global culinary guide and I'm not sure the (relatively small) amount of Chinese restaurants there are worth the hassle.
But it was good.
Posted by: Anonymous at Mar 6, 2008 9:55:13 AM
Hunan in London is very good.
Posted by: james c at Mar 7, 2008 3:31:08 AM
Hunan in London is very good.
Posted by: james c at Mar 7, 2008 3:31:43 AM
Oh yeah? Well my middle name is pi. Not "Pi," not the greek letter pi, but the actual number pi. My middle initial is "3." My middle name cannot be fully spelled out, but it begins "3.14159265358979"
Posted by: Topper at Mar 11, 2008 3:06:48 PM
