Authentic Chinese food for us Gwai Los

[Reggie Dunlop]

Any good local joints?

None of that greasy starchy stuff covered with gooey sauces.

And how do you convince the waiter that's what you want?

[Otto-matic]

Emerald garden

289-3881
1006 16 Avenue NW

I point to the menu and make them tell me what I ordered before I get it.

There might be some gooey sauses one some of the meals but I think you could ask them to go easy on it. The waiters are friendly from when I last went there.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally posted by Otto-matic@Aug 22 2005, 12:25 AM
Emerald garden

289-3881
1006 16 Avenue NW

I drive by that place every day on the way to work. That location is shuttered down for good because of the 16th Ave. street widening.

Have they relocated?

[Incinerator]

Most Chinese restaurants have 2 menus, one for the "gwai los" and one for the Chinese folks, order off the menu that's written in only Chinese and you will get the real Chinese food...but of course you will need to learn how to read Chinese first

[Claeren]

My girlfriend is Chinese so over the past few years i have had quite an experience realizing that my beloved chinese food is not so chinese and that real chinese food is pretty frikkin.... chinese! ack!

lol....

Most of it has no exact english name, most of it is near impossible to order unless you are chinese and are speaking chinese (if only because the waitress thinks you couldn't possibly want the REAL chinese version and thus brings you the less chinese version even if you managed to correctly convey the name of the dish you wanted), but the best part is that Cinese people (stereo-)typically complain about how bad/greasy/salty/not-as-good-as-hong-kong-or-whereever/etc the food was at ANY restaurant in Calgary regardless, so....



Claeren.

[Otto-matic]

Originally posted by Reggie Dunlop+Aug 22 2005, 01:28 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Reggie Dunlop @ Aug 22 2005, 01:28 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Otto-matic@Aug 22 2005, 12:25 AM
Emerald garden

289-3881
1006 16 Avenue NW

I drive by that place every day on the way to work. That location is shuttered down for good because of the 16th Ave. street widening.

Have they relocated? [/b][/quote]
Oh really. I didnt know that. I went there a while back and they were open. Darn they were pretty good.

[Otto-matic]

I'll give em a call later on tomorrow to see if they are relocating to a new store. I hope not because they had some pretty good items there.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally posted by Otto-matic@Aug 22 2005, 12:31 AM
I'll give em a call later on tomorrow to see if they are relocating to a new store. I hope not because they had some pretty good items there.

Well, you don't have to go to those lengths....

And yes, a lot of restaurants have two menus. But if they give this Gwai Lo the straight goods, I might be a repeat customer.

[Regulator75]

A little place I like to go is called Fortune Food. It's a little Dim Sum diner on 23rd Ave and Centre Street N. Prices are good and the food rocks, my co-workers can't get enough.

[TheCommodoreAfro]

I was (and still am) a fan of Ho Won (Chinatown). And if you like things not covered in sauce, the Silver Dragon Dim Sum is also good, tasty and healthy at lunch.

Of course, if you want some truly authentic cheap eats there's Calgary court - and if you chicken out or can't eat what you ordered they have pork chops, veg and potatoes (just like mom used to make)

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by Claeren@Aug 22 2005, 01:28 AM
My girlfriend is Chinese so over the past few years i have had quite an experience realizing that my beloved chinese food is not so chinese and that real chinese food is pretty frikkin.... chinese! ack!

Ack... my g/f is from Sask and thinks that egg rolls count as authentic "Chinese food"...

Silver Dragon is a good compromise between good food and service. It's also a bit more of an acceptable experience to the "less hardcore" Chinese food eaters. It's bathrooms are decently maintained whereas Ho Won is somemore more....medieval...

That Fortune Food place that Regulator mentioned is good, but I never eat in, instead I buy the frozen Dim Sum there and always have some in my fridge for a quick fix when needed..

If you're in the NW, the Edgemont Palace by the Esso is also a good place to eat. There's a special there where deboned duck meat is pressed against a shrimp mix and then deep fried.... my favorite.... yum.

Ho Won is good for certain things (their salt & pepper squid is the best, bar none), and is cheap but their crappy service, the dumpy surroundings may scare off the uninitated. They also seem to suck at certain dishes too (I had them do a satay beef hotpot that Edgemont Palace does; they failed miserably)

Isn't Emerald Garden across from the Brick, and don't they serve Northern Chinese food? If so, I've been there, and to be honest, their food didn't really seem all that good to me. Kinda bad actually, but as I said I think it's a Northern Chinese place which I'm not as familar with.

[cheung31]

Originally posted by Claeren@Aug 22 2005, 01:28 AM
Cinese people (stereo-)typically complain about how bad/greasy/salty/not-as-good-as-hong-kong-or-whereever/etc the food was at ANY restaurant in Calgary regardless, so....



Claeren.

that's so true.

there's two styles of chinese food. the calgary court like someone mentioned, is one type (more contemporary), and the other is what you'd get at normal restaurants like silver dragon etc. (more traditional)

places like kam han which (avenida mall) i heard is excellent, typically serves to gwai los. similar to ginger beef restaurant.

[pope04]

Originally posted by Otto-matic+Aug 22 2005, 07:30 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Otto-matic @ Aug 22 2005, 07:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

I drive by that place every day on the way to work. That location is shuttered down for good because of the 16th Ave. street widening.

Have they relocated?

Oh really. I didnt know that. I went there a while back and they were open. Darn they were pretty good. [/b][/quote]
God, that location is a death knell for restaurants. Over the past 20 years or so, several establishments have opened up but none have been open for longer than a few years.

They are just taking out buildings on the south side of 16th ave for the road expansion, so the closure may be temporary.

On topic, I had a great Chinese meal at Aberdeen restaurant. I'm not sure if it's "authentic" enough for some of you guys. The place was on Center street just up the hill from downtown.

[FireFly]

Originally posted by TheCommodoreAfro@Aug 22 2005, 07:03 AM
I was (and still am) a fan of Ho Won (Chinatown). And if you like things not covered in sauce, the Silver Dragon Dim Sum is also good, tasty and healthy at lunch.

Of course, if you want some truly authentic cheap eats there's Calgary court - and if you chicken out or can't eat what you ordered they have pork chops, veg and potatoes (just like mom used to make)

My best friend (who's Vietnamese,)and her family took me to Ho Wan once. Apparently that's where they go for the best authentic Chinese food at reasonable prices, and they've been to all of them. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, until a family spat brought the meal to an abrupt end...

[MolsonInBothHands]

An office my wife works at has primarily Chinese clientele and staff, so one holiday season, we had the privilege of participating in a Chinese New Year's feast. There were about 100 people at this party, and my wife and I made up half of the... what is the name you used "gwai los" that were in attendance, and were the only ones sitting at our particular table of eight or so. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant, it was downtown.

The food was fantastic, one of my wife's coworkers acted as a "food translator" for us, and she explained why many things were served in ways we aren't used to seeing, such as fish served with the head and tail still intact, and so on. Even though I was told what I was eating in English, I don't think I could identify them again now because there were some pretty bizarre combinations: steamed spinach covered in raw egg whites for example.

The funniest part of the evening was when they brought out a course of crab, whole crab, smothered in a black gooey sauce, and plunked it in the middle of the table with no utensils, except chopsticks. We are all dressed up, so my wife and I look at each other, wondering how in the hell we are going to bust into that thing, and get the crab meat, and not get all sticky. That was about all the time we had to think about it because one guy grabbed the crab and smashed it on the plate/table, broke into it, and the rest of the Chinese folks had the thing torn apart with their bare hands in seconds. I even watched the first guy fashion himself a utensil out of the crab's shell to dig the meat out of the legs. I managed to crack a leg or two for the wife and I, but I mostly just watched in amazement at the efficiency and speed that crab met its destiny. They laughed at us because the poor white folks didn't know how to eat a lot of the courses that came out. The moral of the story was don't worry about getting sticky fingers, whoever grabs the fastest gets the mostest. It was a very unique evening of Chinese cuisine we had never experienced before.

[Ozy_Flame]

My personal favorite is the aforementioned Emerald Garden as well, simply because the food is tasty and prepared fresh, and the staff there are personable, friendly, and even remember your name when u come back.

I have quite a few Asian friends too who constantly complain about the quality of "western" chinese food, which I don't really give two hoots about. Whenever we decide to go for an Asian dinner I don't even bother recommending anything, they have their spots picked out haha.

Now wings and beer, that's where I call the shots!

[Bean]

Originally posted by TheCommodoreAfro@Aug 22 2005, 01:03 PM
Of course, if you want some truly authentic cheap eats there's Calgary court - and if you chicken out or can't eat what you ordered they have pork chops, veg and potatoes (just like mom used to make)

Last summer Calgary Court was ordered by the city to close their doors due to bad food management. (This also included a few other establishments along that strip of road in chinatown) The city posted a sign indicating their decision on the front door to warn the public; in this case, management put up a poster covering the ad and continued to operate months after the incident had occured. I remember this vividly as it was in the paper, on the evening news and I had found out about this a few days after eating there.

Granted the food is good, but when a restaurant does something like this; I have zero sympathy for them.

As for good chinese food, bring an asian friend and head over to Silver Dragon; a little bit pricier but it's a sure bet. (Yes, order from the 'other' menu for the real stuff)

p.s. I once saw a waitress at Calgary Court drop a box of straws on the floor; she then went ahead to pick up said straws and placed them back into the box.

[cheung31]

Originally posted by pope04@Aug 22 2005, 09:19 AM
On topic, I had a great Chinese meal at Aberdeen restaurant. I'm not sure if it's "authentic" enough for some of you guys. The place was on Center street just up the hill from downtown.

i think it's called Happy Hill now.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Say Gwai Los! :P

[Otto-matic]

Fortune Food is always good. Little Cafe which sells frozen food or you can get it fresh made too.