My wife seems to be on a quest to find a decent Chinese food restaurant in the city of Austin. It's turning out, however, to be very elusive.
This past weekend, Christy suggested we go to a place called "Dynasty." She had read somewhere online that Asian people who lived in Austin thought this was the best place for Chinese food, and the best place to find "Kung Pao Chicken." Now, being a fan of Kung Pao Chicken, I thought we should give it a try.
In Taiwan, there are countless places where you can get good Kung Pao chicken. Even places that look like total crap on the outside, often have pretty good food inside. American Chinese restaurants are different, though. Even though the place may look decent, the food is usually mediocre at best.
"Dynasty" was really no different from most American Chinese food restaurants. Their "hot and sour soup" (swan la tang - in Chinese), was good, but everything else was pretty typical of what you can get anywhere here.
Christy's review of "Dynasty"? - "So so." she told me. So there you go. I should come to the realization that it's unlikely I'll ever find great Chinese food in Texas. The best Chinese food I've had here is the food that we've made at home.
(Picture: the "famous" Dynasty restaurant)
This past weekend, Christy suggested we go to a place called "Dynasty." She had read somewhere online that Asian people who lived in Austin thought this was the best place for Chinese food, and the best place to find "Kung Pao Chicken." Now, being a fan of Kung Pao Chicken, I thought we should give it a try.
In Taiwan, there are countless places where you can get good Kung Pao chicken. Even places that look like total crap on the outside, often have pretty good food inside. American Chinese restaurants are different, though. Even though the place may look decent, the food is usually mediocre at best.
"Dynasty" was really no different from most American Chinese food restaurants. Their "hot and sour soup" (swan la tang - in Chinese), was good, but everything else was pretty typical of what you can get anywhere here.
Christy's review of "Dynasty"? - "So so." she told me. So there you go. I should come to the realization that it's unlikely I'll ever find great Chinese food in Texas. The best Chinese food I've had here is the food that we've made at home.
(Picture: the "famous" Dynasty restaurant)
I think the restaurants get the food canned or packaged in some way. So, almost no matter what restaurant you eat at, you'll get close to the same thing. I've noticed that in Kansas it seems to be all the same, no matter where we go.
ReplyDeleteDoes the wife go out of her way to find authentic Chinese food, buy tea ten cases at a time and constantly mock the appalling driving habits of Texans?
ReplyDeleteYes to everything except for the 10 tea cases. She says that tea makes her "nei nei" hurt.
ReplyDeleteDo Texas drivers make left-hand turns from the right-hand lane, right-hand turns from the left-hand lane, drive in every lane at the same time, drive on the wrong side of the road, park in the middle of the road, go through red lights, stop at green lights, turn in front of oncoming cars only inches away, and block traffic to urinate in the road?
ReplyDeleteDid you try first chinese bbq or din ho. That's where me and my ABC friends ate. Also hit up the Vietnamese places, if Austin does anything right its Vietnamese, go to Than Ni (sp?) It's on North Lamar a few minutes before China Town. Peace.
ReplyDelete