Asiana Restaurant, Waldorf Maryland...
Ordered local 4 Spring Rolls, 1 Large Hot and Sour Soup, 1 Large Moo Goo Gai Pan, 1 Large Pork with mixed vegetables, 1 Large Sweet and sour pork. and 1 Large Schezhuan string beans.
Disaster.
The Spring Rolls were mush in a crispy wrapping. Spring rolls are supposed to have fancy stuff inside.
The Moo Goo Gai Pan was good.
The Hot and Sour soup was only vaguely hot and sour. Mostly tofu in chicken broth.
The Sweet and Sour Pork was hideous. It was just balls of pork in batter. Nothing else. And this particularly bothered me. And I need to explain about that.
When I was in college in the early 70s I learned how sweet and sour pork should be made from a real chinese cookbook. It is NOT batter pork balls in some wretched boring orange color sauce. The idea is that there is pork balls in batter surrounded with sweet things and sour things. Meaning pieces of pickles, green peppers, pineapples, and cherries in a sauce of sugar and vinegar.
I actually fed myself in college by making the real stuff for friends and their dates. We guys had just been allowed into coed dorms (formerly a girls dorm) and it was a real surprise. There were stovetops in the rec room. I won't even mention that there was a bathtub! But you could COOK there, and I did.
So my deal there was that I would cook a Sweet and Sour pork dinner for any guy and his date so long as they paid for enough for them AND me. So I ate free by cooking.
This orange crap that chinese restaurants are pawning off as "sweet and sour pork" offends me with their fake orangy sauce. But at least most of them have pickles and pineapple in them. Not so my local favorite chinese place. They USED to, but not now.
It got so bad that they messed up my order Friday. I ordered several dishes, but they gave me Moo Shi Pork instead of the "Pork with mixed vegetables" I requested. I hate that mushy Moo Shi Pork! Admittedly, when I called them soon after they knew they messed up my order and I went back today and got the Pork with mixed vegetables for free.
Its hard to know what you are getting at pickup unless you take everything out of the bags. And its almost that, if I check, they get it right and if I don't check, they mess it up.
Always check.
But mostly, I am disappointed. The food sucked. If I could make the sauces, I could do better at home. So I'm going to learn the sauces.
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2 comments:
Boo hiss. When you've got your face fixed for good Chinese takeway and you get mush with artificial colourings, that's disappointing. It's also disappointing to think that a restaurant that you used to be able to rely on is no longer reliable. Sounds like it's time to find another one for Chinese takeaway.
As for the sauces - have you investigated packaged sauces from the supermarket. I'm not a strong advocate - most of them are food colourings and artificial rubbish - but occasionally you can find a half-way decent one. We've found a pretty good sweet and sour sauce. We add onions, capsicums in several colours and fresh pineapple (so much better than canned) to stir fried chicken, add the sauce and voila - pretty good sweet and sour chicken in only a few minutes.
Megan
Sydney, Australia
That is so disappointing when you order take out! That would be one place I'd never go back to again. We do have a Chinese Restaurant here where we can order take out. I must say, it really quite good. We had eaten there several times tho before trying the take out.
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