18
Jul

postedbyYousef

My brother once told me not to try any chinese restaurants outside of Kuwait. He said that the chinese restaurants in Kuwait are very careful when cooking the dishes, they don’t want to alienate their Kuwaiti customers by cooking real chinese food, coz sometimes its too much for them to handle. My Brother basically said that in Kuwait they cook Kuwaiti friendly chinese dishes.

My brother’s favorite chinese restaurant in the world is Peacock in SAS Hotel, since Peacock is highly overrated in my opinion, I tried to take his advice with a grain of salt. I wanted to prove and make a point to myself, that there are good chinese restaurants out there, somewhere.

Today, I was out by myself, and I like to try new places when there is no one around. The reason I don’t prefer eating at new places with people with me is coz I don’t like the disappointed look and the “its all your fault” stare when the food turns out to be inedible (which often is the case). Anyway, As I was saying, I was out by myself and wanted to try a chinese restaurant, to prove a point. I entered the first restaurant I saw. Its called Chez Leung. There was no one inside besides the 2 chinese guys eating at a table near the kitchen and talking with the waitress, they were her friends, I think.

I chose a table and sat. I inspected the place for awhile, thinking to myself “this looks like a nice authentic restaurant. Look at the plants, the frames, the little plastic kitty waving, the plants again, the music… err.. the music?!” the Eagles “Hotel california” was playing from the speakers. Not so authentic. I was expecting some whiny girls singing words I don’t know. The waitress came, very friendly, took my order then went to the kitchen, all the while smiling like she’s just seen a friend. I took out my laptop, no wifi signal, returned the laptop back only to find the waiter standing next to me with my starters. The dish came out fast, definitely not a good sign. My starter was chicken on toast with sesame. It tastes bland, I couldn’t really taste the chicken, it tasted like a dessert called Samsamiya, Which I hated since I was little. My brother was half right by that now. But there was still hope, a chance for me to be right for doubting my brother. Not so long after she took my first dish, she came back with the main course, Hot & Sour chicken. It did not look very appetizing, and the mood they’re trying to set with the music is not working out well. By now George Michael’s “Careless whisper” was playing, followed by “you take my breath away”, Savag Garden’s “I knew I loved You”, Bryan Adams’ “Everything I do”. At first I was blaming the radio for playing all those songs, but after hearing them all back to back it was clear now that it wasn’t the radio playing all those songs, it was a them.. the restaurant! coz no radio would risk its reputation by playing all these sappy songs consecutively! (unless its 99.7 RKFM).

I finished eating and asked for the check. I couldn’t have been more off with the restaurant choice. The food was horrible, The place was not as authentic as I hoped for (I saw a ketchup bottle) and the music selection was… no comment.

I paid and headed to the door, A song started playing as I was stepping out the door, I couldn’t really catch it, it went something like this “If… I.. Shoould stay.. I would only… be in..”

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 6:24 am

11 Responses to “The One With The Chinese Restaurant”

  1. loco says:

    loool el 9ooraa el a5era ma2sat 😛

  2. K.theKuwaiti says:

    Chinese restaurants in china are different than Chinese restaurants outside of china. Authentic Chinese is much worse than what you experienced. I ordered shark fin soup in china .. it came with a chicken’s head in it.

  3. Intlxpatr says:

    *dying laughing*

    You can find bad Chinese food anywhere. Sometimes it helps to go online to Virtual Tourist or Trip Advisor and read the comments and recommendations there. We found a fabulous Chinese restaurant in Cupertino that way – probably fifty tables full of Chinese families and we were the only non-Chinese. We asked for recommendations.

    In Kuwait, a lot of the Chinese food is dumbed down. There is one small restaurant, in Salmiyya and somewhere south of the city, called China Garden. They have a menu, but you can also order off the menu, and the food is authentically Chinese – they have Chinese cooks.

    Good for you, Yousef, for giving it a try. It’s the only way to find the really good places. It’s like the old saying about “you have to kiss a few frogs before you find a prince.”

  4. bint aldeira says:

    hahahahahahahahahaha:) hated to say ur brother was RIGHT.

  5. almama says:

    next time you should listen, specially advice about food . you stay in france where the best food in the world is then you go for such chinese restaurants..

  6. Khaled says:

    No Fortune cookies?

    Where is China Garden located in Salmiya?

  7. Ansam says:

    I agree with K, all Chinese restaurant outside china are not authentic! I have eaten some authentic ones and they come with the weirdest things ever! I have also been to one restaurant in China Town -in the states- one of the vegetables (cooked) still had a sticker on, which means it was not washed to begin with!!! When we called the waiter, he simply came and REMOVED IT! Whatta a turn off!

    Have you tried RED in Salmiya?
    (http://www.6alabat.com/restmenu.asp?DlvRestCode=2574&MinPrice=5.000)

  8. The Talker says:

    لوووول انا شفت موضوع عن اكل قلت ولييه الرجيم اعتفس
    بس هاردلك حجي ^^

  9. Intlxpatr says:

    OOps, It is China QUEEN, not China Garden. NOT fancy, very plain, but good cooking.

    Ask for recommendations off the Chinese Menu (unless you can read Chinese)

  10. Yousef says:

    K.theKuwaiti Yeah I began to thinkg I may not really be a fan of chinese food rather than a fan of our Kuwaiti interpretation of what chinese food is. Eww X1000 @ the chicken head!

    Intlxpatr yeah as I told Kthekuwaiti, I think I’m not really a fan of real chinese food. I like our kuwaiti chinese food and my favorite would be the noodle house in Dubai. I love it. but then again, all the dishes I order are deep fried 😛

    I’ll try China Queen when I get back. thanks for the recommendation 🙂

    bint aldeira hehehe eee fashla 😛

    almama Chinese restaurants can be good sometimes 🙂 but apparently not outside the gulf area…

    Khaled no they didn’t give me any…

    Ansam LOL! same thing happened to us in egypt, in fridays. Mishary found a fly in his burger and when we told the waiter, he said “di dibana!” as in why are you making fuss, its only a fly!

    The Talker hehehe laa mako tekherreb reejeeem!!

  11. Lana says:

    i have to say you cracked me up not talking about the food but the music
    my job takes me every where in the world the best chiness resturant i ate at was No.1 Toronto 2. kuwait 3. UAE 4. Iraq (Sulimaniyah) these are the best places … yousef you have to give your bro a credit by the way never eat chines food in china TRUST me :))