Guys I split this thread yesterday to create a new one to discuss asian food as it was being derailed
It keeps getting derailed
Can you talk about Asian food in the new split thread please and keep this thread about opening an Asian restaurant and what 'type' of dishes would be recommended
I know it's been easy to go off topic but lets try not to
Oh and Phos naughty boy! - please do not serial groan - many people have been taking this thread off topic - you and me included - I reckon you should go and be a good boy and remove those groans
My mum in the past couple of years has been occasionally using salmon instead of mackerel or kingfish for her curries, and although it does seem weird at first, it works fine.
P.S. What's this obsession with 'authentic'. No idea what that means in fact. Only my Mother's food is authentic.
If everyone remained 'authentic', we'd all be eating the same food.
The only thing you could be authentic about is ingredients, and well they're not going be fresh around here anyways.
Regardless, to label something as authentic requires a very small granularity in Asia; they style changes from village to village.
P.P.S. We enjoyed a nice North Indian buffet at a restaurant run by Sri Lankans. None of the N Indians amongst us complained.
Mundial, in Kreis 5, a fine example of how a modern Indian/Asian restaurant should be presented. Good food, high quality ingredients, fusion decor, and no generic sitar in the background.
Funky, cool, and tasty. Great atmosphere. I'd recommend it as guideline for someone opening an Asian restaurant for the hipsters and those who enjoy good food in a good atmosphere.
Indeed, but there are still some similarities when we are talking about let's say green curry. So if I order a green curry, I would prefer if it's recognizable and not bright green tasteless jello, that I also have been served after ordering a green curry.. (after my complaint the chef explained that sorry, yes indeed he had put too much green food coloring into it)
There is a Korean noodle soup dish called Nengmyun that is served cold in the summer time. The noodles in this dish are served tough, almost like rubber bands. A lot of Swiss order this dish from a particular korean restaurant in Zurich. But most of them ignorantly return it claiming the noodles are not yet cooked. But that is how is suppose to be. So the restaurant preemptively overcooks the noodles whenever a gringo comes and orders it. Of course, it is no longer Nengmyun at that point. And so it goes with "authenticity".
A search for some elusive authenticity is a bound to fail. On the other hand, one definitely shouldn't ignore the lessons that can be learnt from how the dish might be cooked in the country it comes from, or in a home rather than in a restaurant.
I think the price is an important factor. many Asian restaurants are very pricey. That is okay if everything else is absolutely top notch, from the food quality and ingedients through the waitering to the general ambiance and experience. But unfortunately this isn't always the case. So in my opinion many Asian restaurants should either work on their quality or review their pricing. Some of the best Asian restaurants I've been too were actually the less expensive ones, so experience and price don't really correlate in my view.
My nan is undoubtedly the best cook I know. i've tried so many restaurants back home and no one comes even close. They are all great but there's something in her food that sets it apart from the rest. They are all authentic - dont get me wrong but recipes in her generation tend to be closely guarded and each family tends to put their own finishing touches to the dish (be it to fry the chilli longer, extra tamarind / lemongrass etc).
What authentic is for me, is simply a taste of home. Food that I will bring friends who have no tasted that particular cuisine before and say "this is what I love to eat at home". Why bother with restaurants which arent?
Yes, of course, when you're looking for food from home, then one has a specific case. Like you, my Mum is revered as the best cook from her region, which is also known to have the best food in Lanka, so I can be equally picky.
I sat down in a popular Mexican restaurant in Zurich, then asked for chips and salsa. I got a basket of barbecue flavored tortilla chips and a bowl of marinara spaghetti sauce. Authenticity is indeed an issue with restaurants.
Or go for the low-cost high volume approach. Just had excellent ALL YOU CAN EAT Chinese buffet for 17.50 over the weekend at this restaurant in Aarau...it was pretty good! We stuffed ourselves for next to nothing:
Amogles you've hit the nail on the head. Real Chinese chop-chop take away is normally both cheap and tasty, that's the whole appeal - of some Chinese foods IMHO. For example this Michelin-star whole in the wall in Mong-kok HK
Is the chop-chopping labor cost of all the ingredients what drives the price up here in Switzerland? I realize it is much cheaper to hire labor in Asia, and even the US for that matter.