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How do you feel about driving two hours north to Vancouver?
It's just not happening in this area. Flame me all you want, peoples. it's true.›6 Replies-
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re: Ligament
That's actually now a somewhat debatable point. There are a growing number of people claiming that Vancouver (and/or Toronto) actually has better Chinese food than in Hong Kong. Their theory goes that all the good chefs had emigrated to Vancouver prior to Hong Kong's handover back to mainland China, and a good number of them had decided to stay permanently.
I had not visited Hong Kong in over 10 years, but have just recently returned. I felt that a lot of the food is now very different, and not in a good way. A lot of stuff felt very rushed together and very fast-food. From what I hear, a lot of dim sum houses just now source their dim sum pre-fabbed in some large factory which serves hundreds of dim sum houses in Hong Kong. I definitely see a large cultural shift in the importance of food preparation within families. Many families in Hong Kong don't even own a rice cooker anymore (that's equivalent to American families living without a range/stove). They would opt to eat out in fast food-style cafeterias (stuff like Purple Dot in the ID) instead of cooking because it's cheaper and faster. That's understandable, considering many white collar workers there can work over 12 hours a day. Throughout most of history, Cantonese people have been known to spend a third of their income and a third of their waking hours eating. It looks like that's starting to change.
I also hear this sentiment from my coworkers in India. People are just too busy making money to really care about food anymore. It's really just something to "get over with" before going on to make more money. So the essential ingredients are "quick and fast". It's really sometimes just one step above microwave food.
Or maybe I'm just getting old and not appreciating all their newfangled food...
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re: HungWeiLo
This post reminded me of visiting Toronto with a grad school friend who had just emigrated from Beijing. We had dinner in a great Chinese restaurant there and my friend proclaimed the food much better in Toronto. Her theory was that China lacked the right infrastructure to deliver such fresh meat and produce to urban restaurants and that, of course, it was the quality of the ingredients that made the difference.
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re: doramicat
soypower
Jan 4, 2008 05:34 AM
allow me to rant for a moment:
i'm constantly amazed by people on this board (Pac NW) who think an appropriate answer to a request for a recommendation in Seattle is 'drive to vancouver' or 'fly to los angeles'. i'm all about going out of my way for good food, but geez, is that kind of answer really helpful or does it add anything to this board at all?
when i get a hankering for chinese seafood, should i just quell the craving and save it for when i have 4-5 hours to make a round trip vancouver? or can i hope that some good-hearted chowhound will trust that a trip to vancouver is not feasible at the moment and just give me the name of a 'best in seattle' restaurant, realizing that if i had the time to make it to vancouver or portland or los angeles, i would have worded my post entirely differently...
okay, end of rant. as you were. :o)
btw, i think i forgot to mention top gun seafood in bellevue
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re: kirkj
I am mildly sympathetic to those who frequently invoke the BC caveat when responding to queries on Seattle chinese food. I had always been highly suspect of those who exalted BC while denigrating Seattle - how much better could it really be, I thought? However, after a visit to Richmond, I realized that it really is a different game up there...a truly world class gastronomic mecca. Once one gains that perspective, it can be difficult to recommend local places that don't reach that level...at least without mentioning it. Also, for some chinese food fans who use this board in planning a Pacific NW trip, venturing up to Richmond is quite feasible. This makes it even more tempting to invoke the BC option in connection with Seattle-based tips.
That being said, I agree wholeheartedly that offering a cavalier "just go to BC" opinion in response to a Seattle query is utterly useless. I also maintain that Seattle has some strong Chinese, particularly Sichuan and Taiwanese.
For chinese seafood reccomendations, the OP has got some great tips listed above, and I concur with each of those that I have tried. Several years ago, I used to deliver food from several restaurants including Ho Ho Seafood, which always impressed me. Don't know if its still got it.
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knowspicker
Dec 31, 2007 12:25 PM
Shanghai Garden is very good. Try the hand shaven barley green noodles.
My current favorite is Szechuan 99 in Lynnwood. They make their own tofu so if you care a tofu fan try something like fish with bean curd or sliced chicken or beef with bean curd. Any of the items marked as chef's specialties are worth trying.
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soypower
Dec 31, 2007 07:12 AM
tnt seafood - shoreline
noble court - bellevue
shanghai cafe/garden - bellevue/seattle (seafood barley green noodles and salt & pepper squid)
seven star restaurant - mercer island (crispy pan fried noodles w/ seafood)also, not seafood, but finally tried it and absolutely loved it:
wonton city - bellevue (the best wonton noodle soup i've had in a LONG time)
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I have to second Szechuan Chef in Bellevue. Not much in atmosphere in a strip mall, but very tasty food and quite inexpensive for what you get. They make a great szechuan prawns and crab. Also hot pot.
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re: PAO
Very much enjoyed the crab with black bean sauce and salt and pepper scallops last night at Sea Garden. The crab cost about $35 (@ $15/lb), and seemed like an honest weight. The sauce was succulent and well-balanced between thickening starch and oil. The scallops were topped with an striking salty and hot relish with red and green chilies and scallions, really a great contrast to the lightly battered bivalves.
For me, in the scheme of chinese dungeness preperations, I think Szechuan Chef's szechuan crab beats out the black bean sauce version here, but the latter is very good. I've also really enjoyed ginger versions at SC and at Cantonese places in NYC. Still want to get the dry curry and/or black pepper crabs at Malay Satay.
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Yea's Wok for Clams both Black Beans and Basil are great. Kung Pao Calamari(not the squid) is very good.
For Szechuan Crab, Seven Peppers and Szechuan Che are great.
Szechuan Cuisine (both Seattle & Redmond) makes a very good Kung Pao Fish.
I haven't found any that does a great job on all seafoods. I'd love to find a Cantonese restaurant that does a good Fish with Corn Sauce.
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