By Qi Zhai
Craig Smith says he’ll never forget that sunny morning many years ago in Ottawa’s Chinatown when a Chinese friend took him to dim sum.
The restaurant was a large, noisy place with lots of people speaking Chinese and the servers wheeling around food on trolleys that would pass by the tables. It was an intimidating spectacle, but the food was delicious.
Smith returned to the restaurant often without his friend, but his experience never seemed to measure up to that first visit. What happened?
Is it possible the food actually was better when Smith was eating with a Chinese friend?
Here, for what it’s worth, are some tips on eating Chinese in Centretown:
Tip No. 1: Go to a restaurant with a Chinese person.
It seems that eating with a Chinese person is one way to better your chances of getting a good meal. Some Chinese restaurants treat Chinese customers differently – they take more care and send out authentic Chinese food. If you don’t have a Chinese friend but want to head out for a dinner in Chinatown there’s a trick: pretend you were in China for the past 20 years and the restaurants will take care of you like they do for Chinese patrons.
Tip No. 2: Say “No” to honey garlic beef.
“Don’t order honey garlic beef, a Chinese will never order that,” says Jie Mei, the owner of May’s Garden – a northern-style Chinese restaurant on Preston Street.
“Don’t look at the menu, just look at what other Chinese customers are eating and order the same food,” she says with a laugh. “Maybe you don’t like the food, but that’s the only way you can get interesting food rather than chicken balls and egg rolls.”
Tip No. 3: Don’t ask the servers for advice.
Mei also says it’s not a good idea to ask the waiter for a suggestion.
“If they ask me, I will only recommend the food which Canadians like,” she said.
Tip No. 4: Order organ meat.
Daniel Levin, a graduate student at the University of Ottawa who traveled to China last summer says organ meats and some “weird” seafood are less likely to be Westernized.
“I love Szechuan cuisine,” he says. “If you try the real Szechuan cuisine, you might be surprised how good the kidneys in a spicy sauce can be.”
Levin says BBQ pork, simple Cantonese steamed fish and dim sum are more likely to be authentic Chinese food. He suggests staying away from fried foods, which tend to be prepared for Canadians..
Tip No. 5: Don’t eat the fortune cookie.
After eating in a restaurant in Chinatown, people are accustomed to being presented with a fortune cookie. The natural reaction for a Canadian is to eat the fortune cookie and get inspired by the words of wisdom inside.
However, a Chinese person won’t eat the fortune cookie but just throw it away on the table. Normally the waiter will serve fruit as dessert, rather than fortune cookies.
Now you can eat like a Chinese person in Chinatown.