How to Improve Bad Asian Food
 

Went out for dinner with my bf and mother in law to a pan-Asian place here in Chicago (Joy Yee) that we love. She didn't like her chicken with mango and lychee, so I took it home and sauteed it with soy sauce and sriracha. What a difference!

I think it's really the Sriracha that turns any mediocre-or-worse Asian food into something pretty good. :D

After reading the thread title I immediately thought to myself, "Sriracha" but it seems that that ship already sailed. :)

alternatively, one could simply avoid "pan-asian" or fusion restaurants, where the odds of getting good food are quite low.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha

I think this comic is perfect for this topic!

^ What is "asian food" anyway? It has rice, it has soy sauce, we might use a wok?

Excellent to see the usual grasp of international cuisine from our Colonial Cousins!

My favourite eating place in the whole wide world? Singapore? How much of it is "fusion"? I guess fairly close to 100%.

I guess I should avoid it in the future .............:D

M.S.G.

That's the problem. :p

No none of it is 'fusion'. It's just 'food' prepared by and for people who care about the stuff.

The problem with any food is that the greater the distance from people from its origin, the worse it tends to get. Hence 'Mexican' food in the UK is almost always a texmex abomination, most Pad Thai in the UK is oversweet and inauthentic, and most 'Asian' restaurants in the US are nothing of the kind. No Panda Express in Singapore.....

This is the exact reason I generally avoid regional cuisine outside of the region. If I want Mexican food, I'll go to Mexico. Japanese, there's a Japan for that. It's not always practical, but I know I 'm getting the real thing.

That's not to say the food shouldn't be appreciated for what it is. Just know it's not truly authentic in most cases.

I said 'generally', because there really is no US-style cuisine, except for BBQ (please don't say fast food counts as American ;)). I rarely go out to eat anyway.

Then the criticism isn't about fusion food at all, it's about any food not cooked where it originated. That seems to be an entirely different argument to me and not the two arguments I saw stated.

My issue isn't fusion, it is "what is Asian food?"

OT rant, to any non-asians: PLEASE don't ever add soy sauce to your rice when eating at the table. You will be perceived either as rude or juvenile. :mad:

Well not exactly. The thing I picked up from the OP's post is 'how on earth can you have pan-Asian?', Asia is vast and diverse, you might as well have Mexican-French fusion - the problem for me is basically so long as there are people who think 'Asian' is a meaningful label for a restaurant's food, these restaurants serving icky over-sweetened food will stay in business.

Mexique, the Chicago Mexican-French fusion place is a couple miles away :)

the "asian fusion" places are no worse than many of the Euro-zone Chinese and Thai places; they all specialize in detuned ethnic food