Delicious Engrish
I consider myself somewhat of an expert when it comes to oriental cuisine.
I can instantly distinguish between Vietnamese and Thai, navigate my way through Korean or Japanese eateries, understand the differences between Hunan and Cantonese styles of Chinese food, I've tried Malaysian and whatnot.
However, the place we went last night had me completely befuddled and confused.
alptraumhg and I went to check out a new restaurant that has openend on 39th Street
.
Normally, I can at least try to spot the potential for a tasty meal on most poorly worded menus of chinense restaurants...not this time
They handed us two menus , one for the "dumb American" with stuff like "general tzo's Chicken", and a laminated single page one with stuff like "jellyfish salad" and "braised lung in cup" for folks seeking a bit more adventure in their dining.
The single sheet just contained a list of over 60 dishes, split up according to Feng Shui, listed by name in Chinese, with an English translation of the name, like "Homestyle Triple delight", "Happy Seafood Family", "Lion's Head (Big Meatball) with Noodle", "Cucumber and Bean Flour Sheet Salad", and the mysterious "Pod Stickler" :)
Jeff and I are both fairly adventurous and foolhardy when it comes to our outings, so we figure, let's definitely explore the wild side of this place.
Their staff, as far as we could see, was an older couple and a woman, all of whom may or may not potentially know how to speak English.
The older man walks up and asks us "What you like?", and we asked what was in the Seafood Triple Delight. The man excitedly begins to explain in a Chinese accent heavy enough to require about 10 seconds extra time to figure out what his speech means.
But, we can sort out things like "Oh, it got prawn, and ah...(something)...we put homestyle noodle in, and we no buy noodle, make ourselves.It very good." Then he turns to Jeff and says "You like-ah prawn? I make for you special. Not on menu!".
We figure yeah, I say "Make it two.". He turns to me now and says "you'd like with chicken? Can share?".
Well, who am I to argue...
I just nod, and he walks off into the kitchen area. We're sitting there still puzzled by what exactly just happened.
At this point, we pretty much know there are only two possibilities after a surreal experience of ordering that just went on.
This is either going to be delicious or horrible.
I am happy to report it was some of the best Chinese I've had in this town for a while...with two entirely unrelated dishes.
Jeff got a big plate of shrimp, stalks of unidentifiable green vegetables, and oriental mushroom slices in a very light white sauce, and I wound up with a hot pot of thick brown sauce with stewed pieces of chicken, water chestnuts and onion.
Both were top notch, yet I have no clue how to order them again, since neither was "on the menu".
To our great surprise, neither meal contained the "make ourselves noodles" either. So, I'm definitely going back soon. :)
And if you are in the mood for comedy stylings of the most absurd waitstaff of any midtown eatery, and want to have some kick-ass Chinese, go to........Oh, yeah, I don't know what it is. We never quite got the name of the place, since there is only one small banner that has a weirdly spelled word that resembles "Shechuan"(with some extra consonants and vowels thrown in at random).
Go there!