Speaking of which, here are some pictures. The first is from the fish & chip shop in Crosby (seriously, THAT'S how long I've been meaning to write a food post). This particular fish & chip shop would be considered a Chinky, meaning they serve mostly Chinese food, and 'chinky' apparently isn't a horribly racist term like it would be in the US. Or maybe it is a horribly racist term here as well and now I'm going to get hate mail due to my ignorance.
I've been struggling with Chinese food since I've arrived here and it's due to the fact that none of the Chinese food dishes are termed the same as I'm used to. In all fairness, 90% of the Chinese food in America is not really Chinese food at all but an American bastardization of it but I thought there might be some similarities here. There isn't. The biggest difference I've seen is that in the US, you normally choose your meat and vegetable accompaniments. For example, I normally get beef with broccoli or chicken with snow peas. In the UK, the Chinese dishes are separated out by sauces. Beef with OK sauce. Chicken with Peking sauce. I have no idea what these sauces are and I don't know what kind of vegetables will be coming with my meal. As someone who doesn't eat mushrooms or onions (both very prevalent in Chinese food) it's a bit of a crap shoot when ordering Chinese food here. The best that I've worked out is that I like the oyster sauce (that thankfully doesn't actually taste like oysters), the rest, as they say, is a mystery.
Board of Mystery Dishes #1
I don't even want to know what "special fried rice" is.
The 2nd thing I was itching to show you was the launch of Stella Artois's Cidre last week. Yes, I did spell that correctly spell check. Apparently it's not pronounced "cider" but "see-dray" or some equally lame ass pronunciation like that. As someone who has a soft spot for Snakebites made with cider and Stella, this is an interesting development for me. Not that I've had time to hang out in the pub getting smashed on Snakebites recently, but when that time does come again, I'm going to be as embarrassed to order a Stella\See-Dray snakebite as I am my decaf sugarfree vanilla lattes with a half pump of syrup. But order it I will because dammit, it's got to be awesome.
Wait for me my pretentious sounding future hangover!
Chinese takeaway in the UK is pants. Indian and Thai takeaway is ace. I was burned by the Chinese place too many times (okay, two times) that I had to switch it up!
ReplyDeleteStrangely there isn't a decent Thai takeaway place near us. Might just have to go whole hog and go to a proper restaurant.
ReplyDeleteAlright, you HAVE to come to my village. The Chinky here (and yes, it is slightly racist, but tolerated mostly) is FABULOUS!
ReplyDeleteVW: I'd still need some serious guidance on what to order.
ReplyDeleteUm, your slang for a Chinese restaurant is definitely racist and in my 11 years of living in the UK, I've never heard it tolerated, unless of course you are racist. As a new immigrant to the UK, I'd just call it a Chinese takeaway.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous!
ReplyDeleteMoe got the term from me. It's very much a regional thing in the north of England, and in Scotland, to refer to a Chinese meal as a chinky. As far as I know most people in these areas, including the local Chinese populations, have no problem with this use of the term. I would be delighted to be corrected if that is no longer the case (I've been away 9 years).
Using it to refer to a person is definitely a pejorative term, and not something I would countenance.
So, if you are of Chinese descent, and you find it offensive, I apologise as no harm was intended in the usage. I would be very interested to find out where you're from originally and where in the UK you are based so I can see if and where people do find it offensive.