28 minutes ago, liuzhou said:
Gin is damned expensive in China (most people have no idea what it is) and I can't see it being cheaper than rice wine anywhere else. Also, I can't see how it could possibly substitute for Shaoxing wine. Totally different taste.
I'd stake everything on the OP's restaurant not using gin!
I agree the restaurant isn't using gin, and that gin isn't Chinese (however, neither is sherry, is it? an oft-suggested substitute). But the op seems to indicate that imported alcohol is almost prohibitively expensive in Norway. Gin is distilled right there. So suggested might be interesting to try a splash or two.
My Chinese master chef friend was sold in the 40's as a small boy from a poor family somewhere in central China to a wealthy Chinese family that owned restaurants in Hong Kong & Singapore back in the days when Britannia ruled the seas. There was a lot of gin around. Eventually the family that had "adopted" him began the trek to the US, at one point owning at least a dozen Chinese restaurants in California, Colorado and Missouri.
However, if you reread my post, at no time did I indicate in any way that I thought gin might be what the restaurant was using. Just more of a "if it's cheaper there, why not give it a try just for grins."
