I’d love to see an “American-style Chinese Restaurant” open up here and so how that goes over … they sure as hell have enough crappy Taiwanese-style American restaurants, maybe it would be a good lesson for them, hehe. 
Count me in. Yum!
mmm… let’s see.
potstickers
sweet and sour pork
General Jor’s Beef
Kung-pao chicken
Brocolli Beef
Crab Rangoon
8 Treasures Soup
Hot and Sour soup
Crispy wontons
fortune cookies
and little packets of Chinese mustard, soy sauce, plum sauce…
And oh yeah. Chopsticks with wrappers that teach you how to hold them properly. Or just forks. 
[quote]Count me in. Yum!
mmm… let’s see.
potstickers
sweet and sour pork
General Jor’s Beef
Kung-pao chicken
Brocolli Beef
Crab Rangoon
8 Treasures Soup
Hot and Sour soup
Crispy wontons
fortune cookies
and little packets of Chinese mustard, soy sauce, plum sauce…
And oh yeah. Chopsticks with wrappers that teach you how to hold them properly. Or just forks. [/quote]
Are you seirous about the food? Those things are all we ever eat here and I feel like suiciding…Don’t you like Taiwanese food a lot better? But I do love those fortune cookies…yummers… 
BTW I’m going back to Taiwan mid Dec…would you like me to bring some packages of plum sause, soy sause, chinese mustard or chopsticks with instructions on the wrap? I have tons of those in my house…
[quote=“Jenny299”]Are you seirous about the food? Those things are all we ever eat here and I feel like suiciding…Don’t you like Taiwanese food a lot better? But I do love those fortune cookies…yummers…
BTW I’m going back to Taiwan mid Dec…would you like me to bring some packages of plum sause, soy sause, Chinese mustard or chopsticks with instructions on the wrap? I have tons of those in my house…[/quote]
Um. Partially serious. Yes, the food is much better in Taiwan than in most “Chinese” restaurants in the US (of course!) Anything beats Panda Express That said, though, there is actually some pretty decent Chinese-American food. But it’s exactly that–Chinese-American. No more, no less. If you expect it to be Chinese food, then you will very disappointed. Good crab rangoon hits the spot, as long as you accept it for face value–it was invented in the States, and there is nothing Chinese about it. And P. F. Chang’s isn’t so bad either, is it? I’ve actually had a couple pretty decent dishes there before. Just think of it as American food and it instantly tastes better 
Panda Express …yuck…there’s one near my house. And there are also the “China Express”, “Buddha’s Oriental Express”, etc etc etc.
Man those food are GREASY! I’d never eat there. The smell of those food repels me…
Sorry, I live in Canada and I do not know of this “P. F. Chang”. Could you explain?
Still, would Taiwanese people want to eat Chinese-American style food? (unless they’re fancy of course) Maybe just for North Americans…
MaPoDoFu,
Yes exactly that. Did you learn how to use chopstick off of that? You see I’m Taiwanese and I dont’ use chopstick the way the instrustion does.
Maybe you left Taiwan as an infant, but the food here can be more grease than food. And I love it!
I doubt any one would like it. But if you look back at Little Buddha’s original post, I think he was suggesting scary Chinese American food as retribution for the scary Western food often inflicted on diners here. I was the one who took it a step beyond the necessary and asked for packets of mustard
PF Changs is like the Friday’s or Chili’s version of Chinese food–found in or near upscale shopping centers across the US. You know–theme restaurant, family dining etc. etc. Think Cheesecake Factory. They must have that in Canada?
PF Changs has awesome food. Most chinese in Taiwan would feel like they lose face if they admitted that they enjoyed american chinese food in any style.
I really miss the Chinese food in the US. I hate to admit it, but I really do love that orange glue that holds everything together in the sweet and sour pork. I don’t think an American-style Chinese food restaurant would go too well here, though. Most Taiwanese I’ve taken to eat at Chinese restaurants in the States couldn’t stand anything.
Perhaps I’m mistaken, as I’ve only visited China once… but isn’t ‘Chinese-American’ food more of a derivative of mainland food? I saw many of the ‘standard’ Chinese-American food over there in regular local places, at least much more than here… After all, Taiwanese food is a bit different from food over on Ze Mudderland.
reminds me after a few years in taiwan i went to hong kong once and walked into a takeout joint, immediately thought “wow it looks just like one in ny”
No, I only left 7 years ago so I know pretty well how food is in Taiwan.
More grease than food? Maybe because they’re so yummy I don’t focus on the grease as much in Taiwan. 
No, we dont’ have PF Chang here in Vancouver but yes we do have the Friday’s or Chili’s. Maybe they’d have PF Chang in the east coast.
I’d like to try out PF Chang though…since you people love it so much
Yes I did find similarities between american-chinese food and cantonese, chinese food when I went to HK and China.
Go to a Beipin style restaurant here and it will be more like american chinese food.
As with Indian restaurants, there are two distinct grades of Chinese restaurant in the UK; the hole in the wall places and the proper sit-down ones. Of course the sit-down ones will have better quality food and it will more resemble real Cantonese food but even so, the variety of tastes and ingredients is not there and many things are sweet and gloopy. If Cantonese or other Chinese people actually eat in the restaurant, they will probably be ordering from the Chinese-language menu which I believe has more variety and more authentic dishes.
The staff at the takeaway holes-in-the-wall don’t always eat the same food they prepare for customers; they’ll often cook up some dishes for themselves at the end of the night, much more to their own tastes.
BUT, I must admit to sometimes having a craving for UK takeaway Chinese food; prawn balls, chop suey and lots of gloopy sweet-and-sour sauce.
One thing has long puzzled me: why is it so difficult to get hold of decent quality Chinese tea in the UK? Surely at least some of the older Cantonese remember what good tea used to be like? There are basically three kinds sold, always from the same producers; an oolong, a jasmine and a ‘gunpowder’ green which latter comes in a little cubic box. They are all low-quality, stale and have very little taste. This is all over the UK, even in London’s Chinatown. Presumably there are specialist tea importers somewhere but the only decent tea I saw during a day in London was in Fortum and Mason’s and cost a fortune so I didn’t buy any.
(The varieties sold in health food shops are also stale).
For some reason, lots of American like American-Chinese food like Panda Express and Mr. Chau. But trust me, that is NOT Chinese food. That is the American Chinese food which fits their taste bud. People in Taiwan (or Chinese) don’t eat KaoPao Chicken everyday nor do they have brocolli and beef daily. Wait, maybe they do in China, but def. not in Taiwan.
P.F Chang are only in states and I believe only in West Coast where asain food are popular. I had it a few times and it is not bad, espeically their seafood (pretty fresh compare to all the other ones) But the one in San Diego is better than the one in the bay area. Very ironic, I think.
People like PF Chang because of the environment, decoration, atmopshere, services…etc, but the food is okay, in my opinion. You are paying for everything, but the food.
I can tell you guys a personal Mr. Chau / Panda Express experience and I doubt you will ever eat there, again!
Do tell! :mrgreen: