Eating Chinese in New Jersey

[andrewhwest]

Well, Rosie, I'll restrict my answer to places we dine that we (our family) are competent to judge. Because my wife and her family are from Chengdu, China, often considered the food capital of China (which is saying something because all of China has a food-oriented culture), they are quite picky about good Chinese food. We're also biased in favor of hot and spicy food. In general, we don't go to restaurants to eat Chinese food, because most Chinese restaurants don't orient their output to Chinese eaters. I've learned to cook authentic Chinese food over the years, and family members on trips smuggle decent sichuan peppercorns out of China in their luggage for us.

There are a few places we think are ok. There are a few semi-authentic Chinese restaurants in Edison. Cathay 22 is our first choice if we want a fancier meal out, per previous instructions. There is a Tianjin restaurant that serves ok, everyday food, that opened this year located on Lincoln highway, can't remember its name, because the Chinese name is different from its English. They make pretty good dumplings normally, and a few Tianjin dishes are good simple food. There's a sichuan restaurant in the plaza on the corner of Wood and Oak Tree Rd. that serves Ok food like twice-cooked pork assuming you ask for the fatty pork, and the hot pot is OK. No ambiance, which is good if we're taking the baby and don't want to feel guilty. That 1-9 Seafood Restaurant on Route 1 has pretty good dim sim when we're in the mood for that. Joe's Shanghai has ok soup-dumplings in NYC but the rest of the menu is below-average, and the soup dumplings are no longer worth the trip either, and the restaurant in NYC now just takes advantage of its old reputation to treat guests like cattle, thus the place is now pretty devoid of Chinese patrons. Soup dumplings aren't that big of a deal anyway. Cantonese and Shanghainese food isn't that big of a deal to us, so we haven't extensively searched for those kinds of places to eat regular meals. It's easy to steam a fish at home, you know.

My wife would almost rather eat spicy food from other cuisines (that she doesn't know as well) than eat botched or average Chinese restaurant food, so for spicy food we like Keum Ho Jeung Korean on Old Post Rd. in Edison, like Thai Thai in Sterling (good not exceptional), and Moghul (Indian) in Edison. We've never been to Raagni, curious, considering we're only 10 minutes away, but I tend to avoid restaurants that look empty.

[dumpling]

Went to Baumgart's tonight. Had intended to go to Saigon Republic, but couldn't get in. Hadn't read the earlier posts about having to call ahead so far in advance. I had tried to go before but they closed early on the day that I went. My luck with them has not been good so far.

I enjoyed the comfortable ice cream shop kind of atmosphere. We were served our appetizers very quickly. Serving Plates were very mod and interesting retro hip. We had Saigon Roll which was served like a vietnamese summer roll but with no meat, just lettuce, cabbage, mint and a piece of mango with a mango sauce on the side. Not particularly exciting although my friend liked it. It was accompanied by some seaweed which was okay.

We also had a chicken soong which was good and very plentiful. Our last appetizer was their sizzling duck crepes-deep fried tofu skins with bits of duck inside served with some nice white bread hoisin sauce and scallions. It was good albeit not subtle. Not a whole lot of duck meat.

Our last dish was Pad Thai. That was very nice-plentiful dish with lots of egg and shrimp that were supposed to be baby shrimp but were really big enough to be teenager shrimp, any way, I did not complain. Compared to the Pad Thai I had taken out from Pimaan the prior week where the sauce mugged the noodles, this Pad Thai pleased me greatly.

For dessert, we had their flavor of the week, pineapple coconut ice cream with fudge and an egg cream.

The ice cream was excellent well worth trying again. The egg cream was okay; not enough milk.

Other diners seemed pretty satisfied on the whole, although there was one man who was served cold white rice with his meal. There were some interesting looking dishes we didn't try that other people had including a whole fried fish and a seafood dish cooked in foil. There were several people who seemed to order one huge plate of ice cream that was the size it seemed of a bowler hat.

I think I stick with my original comments that although I find it good if you're looking for true Chinese chinese food maybe this isn't the place. I'd go again especially because I have friends who like it. It is

an attempt at fusion now including various Southeast Asian dishes(a couple of the dishes were purportedly Malaysian). The ice cream rocks.

[coughy]

Rosie - you mentioned a take-out in Livingston - which one is it? Has anyone tried Asian Delite in West Caldwell. They do Chinese/Japanese. Some of their Chinese dishes are interesting and good and the sushi is always fresh.

[Rosie]

We've had take out from the Chinese restaurant in Livingston on S Livingston Ave in the Kings strip mall. Have also had take out from the Chinese restaurant on Eisenhower Parkway near Eagle Rock Ave. There is a beauty salon, Tony's pizza restaurant, Weight Watchers in the mall.

Never been to Asian Delite in West Caldwell. Exactly where is it located?

[coughy]

Asian Delite is in the mall on Bloomfield Avenue west of Passaic with Kings, Marshalls and Walgreens.

[Rosie]

Yes, we did eat there once. It was good but no different than any other Chinese restaurant. We LOVE Hunan Cottage on Rt 46 which is about 1 mile away. Do a search if you want to read the many postings on the board about Hunan Cottage.

[scarlet knight]

We tried to go to Hunan Cottage on Sunday night. We did not make reservations. We thought things would be quiet on an August Sunday night--wrongo! It was packed with families and we were told that there was a 25-30 minute wait. We'll go back on a weekday. We went to Tuptim, an old favorite in Montclair that we took out of our rotation for a poor service experience that we barely remember. It is Thai and it was very good. We had a special of taro fritters that tasted like potatoes. Good plum dipping sauce. The entrees were BBQ chicken and a noodle combo plate (pad thai, vermicelli with broccoli and chicken and broad noodles with chicken and vegetables). We really enjoyed the food and we regret that we haven't been there in a couple of years. Entirely new staff and good service. I think it's better than Thai Chef and the service is better than Deja Vu. Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair.

[scarlet knight]

We went to Hunan Cottage, Fairfield on Tuesday night. Despite monsoon-like rain, the place was packed. It is overwhelmingly attended by people of Asian origin, which I consider a good sign. Vegetable dumplings were the best we ever had. An American menu item of fried shrimp, walnuts and broccoli was quite good. Slightly less popular with us was bean curd threads with mushrooms--it got to be repetitive. We drank a Chimay Belgian Ale--great match at this BYO restaurant. Bill was $35 with more than enough to eat. Rosie, this is a find!

[Rosie]

Glad you liked it. Hunan Cottage is my favorite Chinese restaurant. I like it more than China 46 but don't tell Jason!

[coughy]

Rosie - on your recommendation we went to Hunan Cottage for dinner tonight. I read the postings and made a reservation. For a Thursday night, the restaurant was jammed. Our table and one other were the only non-Asians in the place which we took to be a good sign.

We definitely felt we were discriminated. The waiter removed the chop sticks as soon as we sat down. We asked him to leave them. We ordered and then we waited and waited and waited some more. The table next to us came in way after us and were served immediately. My usually patient husband said that if our food didn't come out in 5 minutes we were out of there. Luckily, it did come out about 3 minutes later and it was only the soup course.

We ordered the house special wonton which needed help. I asked, and waited again, for soy sauce and mustard. Our next course were what we thought were pork buns but turned out to be more on the order of dumplings. They were okay. We ordered the shrimp with walnuts which turned out to be fried shrimp with steamed broccoli, walnuts and a very strange tomatoey sauce. We also ordered triple chicken dish which was tasteless chicken and vegetables, lemon chicken and sesame chicken. Again, we waited and waited. The sesame chicken part was good. The table that had come in after us by this point had paid their check and left. We had to keep asking for water.

I am willing to give this place another try but will look to bring Asian friends so we can get better service.

Ho-Lee, the take out joint on Pleasant Valley Way has better food than we ate tonight.

[Rachel Perlow]

Did you ask for the Chinese menu or did you order off the menu they gave you first?

Not that it is OK for them to have two different menus and discriminate against non-Asians, I'm just trying to figure out why you had problems. That is one of the things I don't like about this place (that you have to know to ask for the Chinese menu).

[tommy]

i tried this place (Hunan Cottage) for lunch not too long ago on the strength of the comments on this thread. there weren't many people there, and we were treated just as anyone else. we asked for the chinese menu as soon as we were seated, and it came out quickly.

the soup dumplings were OK, but didn't compare to China 46, which is simply the benchmark. the tripe and tongue was OK. didn't have the peppercorn kick of China 46. a few other dishes were OK, although one of the dishes (i think it was pepper and salt squid), came served over some gratuitous tomato slices. that just detracted from the dish, and i could have done without the lame tomatoes.

if i lived in that area, i would certainly consider this place to be a great find. but, i live much closer to C46, and C46 is just the effing bomb. in fact, i was at C46 last night with a group of friends, some of whom had never been, and they were just blown away and completely thrilled. Cecil brought some kindey out for us to snack on at the beginning of the meal. it was incredible. slightly sweet, with a nice spicy sauce. a really good dish.

Edited August 8, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Cecil say, tommy number one customer.

[coughy]

I did see that they had another menu that wasn't offered to us. I caught a glimpse of it and it was only in chinese. Wouldn't have done us any good. Where is China 46?

[Rachel Perlow]

No, they have a Chinese menu in English. Oh well, just ask for it next time, they'll give you the English version.

China 46 is on Rt 46 West in Ridgefield. Here's a link to another thread all about China 46.

[jsibley]

I had a couple of general thoughts after reading about the recent experience at Hunan Cottage. First, the Chinese food that many Americans have grown up with is often quite different than Chinese food that Chinese people eat. Obviously, there are a lot of regional variations, but I don't think that any authentic regional food replicates many of the more standard Chinese-American dishes. As the Chinese emmigrated around the world, they adapted their food to local tastes, so Chinese food cooked for Germans in Germany, or Brazilians in Brazil, is likely to be different from authentic Chinese food and from American Chinese food.

So, there is no guarantee that Americans who are unfamiliar with more authentic Chinese food will actually like it, or it may be an acquired taste. I've seen folks send back food that Chinese people would have been quite happy with (I believe) because, for example, it was "too oily". It would be nice if more Chinese restaurants were interested in customer "education" (read the menu at Grand Sichuan in NYC, for example), but that isn't usually the case. So, instead, non-Asian customers may be written off until we "earn our stripes".

Along those lines, although many Chinese restaurants catering to non-Asian customers automatically bring soy sauce and mustard, I wonder if asking for them starts to put one into the "undiscerning" category in the restaurant's eyes. I could be wrong, but I suspect that putting mustard (even "Chinese" mustard) on Chinese food is somewhat like putting ketchup on French food. I don't think I've ever seen mustard on a Chinese family's table, for example. Similarly, I've wondered if asking for the less authentic Chinese dishes on a menu (granted, one would have to know which are which) also puts one into the non-aficianado category.

I hope none of this sounds condescending. I'm just trying to help explain some of the reasons people might go to the same restaurant and walk away with very different experiences.

[tommy]

i think it's safe so say that if you don't order from the chinese menu at Hunan Cottage, you're not going to have as good an experience as if you ordered from it.

[Rachel Perlow]

Along those lines, although many Chinese restaurants catering to non-Asian customers automatically bring soy sauce and mustard, I wonder if asking for them starts to put one into the "undiscerning" category in the restaurant's eyes.

I've never met anyone who uses as much Soy Sauce as my friend, Lin. She came to the US from China during college. I haven't noticed if she uses much on Chinese food in restaurants, but she puts it on almost everything else, like sub-sandwiches, for example. (note for the office drawer food discussion: she keeps packets of soy sauce in there to bring with her to the cafeteria)

[tommy]

(note for the office drawer food discussion: she keeps packets of soy sauce in there to bring with her to the cafeteria)

those packs usually contain some nasty sugar/salt water. is your friend a discerning diner? just because she's from china and all...reminds me of how people say that a restaurant was filled with chinese people, so it must be good. as if all chinese people have good taste in food.

[Rachel Perlow]

Exactly. That's why I thought it was important to note that Chinese people use soy sauce too and therefore the use of soy sauce should not be held against caucasians.

[tommy]

Exactly. That's why I thought it was important to note that Chinese people use soy sauce too and therefore the use of soy sauce should not be held against caucasians.

but perhaps they treat undiscerning chinese diners the same way they do undiscerning caucasian diners. is she a discerning diner? that stuff is nasty.

[Rachel Perlow]

No, not really. But speaking to the waiters in Mandorin or Cantonese gets you more respect than not.

[jsibley]

I chose to use mustard in my example because I thought there was less chance of someone Chinese using that (or asking for the fried noodles at the start of the meal, now that I think of it). I've also seen young Chinese use forks instead of chopsticks. I've also met French people who didn't appreciate good food (imagine!). Nonetheless, there are subtle signs (and not so subtle signs) that we all give in restaurants that can lead the staff to assume that we will know the difference between what they consider to be good food or that we won't. And, I don't claim that I've always given off the signs that I thought I was.

"Food for thought" for cultural anthropologists....

[tommy]

No, not really. But speaking to the waiters in Mandorin or Cantonese gets you more respect than not.

if you're caucasian and ask for soy sauce, you don't have a chance. i guess if you're chinese and ask for it, they figure you're just a tourist.

still, the stuff is terrible.

[scarlet knight]

We are taking my in-laws to China 46. They are traditional in their tastes. Any recommendations as to what to order? I'm open to suggestions.