Chinese food in Wales

As I wrote in a previous post about the tradition of Chinese takeaway food in the UK, I realise that not everyone would find the picture above appealing. For me, however, it is truly mouthwatering. I can still taste and crave each dish from the crispy skinned chicken with the thick, bright red sauce, nestled on a bed of soft beansprouts, delicately flavoured with soy sauce and wine, to the toothsome, meaty fried noodles. My first night visiting with my parents brought forth this feast, which was repeated under unforeseen circumstances a week later after we  had tried to find somewhere to eat a meal on a Monday night.

After a very quiet restaurant that we thought was a little dead, (we being the only customers in the vast dining room), 2 closed establishments and two restaurants that had a limited menu due to busy weekends, we all decided to go home and order takeaway yet again. My dad and I chose many dishes from the menu and gave a piece of paper to Neil, who walked up to the takeaway and promptly gave it to the owner, no words required. He came back 20 minutes later, 28 pounds lighter with a vast array of dishes which were spread out onto the table for everyone to help themselves.

We had the crispy chicken with beansprouts again, beef chow mein, pork curry, spare ribs, sweet and sour chicken, king prawns with bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, crispy beef, special fried rice and chips, always chips with the British takeaway experience.

The table groaned under the weight of such a smorgasbord. We all groaned with bloated stomachs after such a nosh-up, although full at the time and oddly hungry for more after 30 minutes. Some say the MSG laden food is designed to satisfy for the moment and then create more hunger pangs later.

For me, eating this type of food is not just about how wonderful it tastes, the flavours ranging from spicy, sweet, tangy and savoury, but also the memories of childhood. Far be it for me to get nostalgic and sentimental about food, but it does evoke stirrings of some kind. Usually these involve coming home from the pub starving hungry, using my last 6 quid to buy fried rice, chips and beef curry or that luminous red sauce known as barbecue. Something about this food has so imprinted itself onto the British psyche, I believe the Chinese takeaway is one of our most beloved and cherished institutions.

Of course, we have Chinese restaurants also. Some very good, cutting edge and fine dining. Neil cut his teeth on Chinese food in such a place in Wales, my parents taking us there after my graduation. The first time Neil had used chopsticks, he carefully studied the server demonstrating how to take a delicate pancake, spread some hoisin sauce upon it, before deftly picking up a few strands of cucumber, scallion and crispy skinned duck to layer on top and then roll up, still using those awkward sticks. Neil was hooked, refusing to use a fork at all for the rest of the evening and clearly savouring every mouthful of his first Chinese restaurant experience. The restaurant has a stream running through it, filled with Koi carp of various colours and shapes and a little bridge to walk over. It also has a lot of illegal immigrant workers and regularly gets shut down despite it's fame.

When I learned to cook Chinese food myself, I realised that the secret to those glossy, thick, (some would say gloopy) sauces lies in the use of cornstarch (cornflour). Quite often the meat is also coated in a mix of egg white and cornflour prior to cooking which helps crisp the outside surface and thicken the dish. Sugar, too, is used with a liberal hand and these meals are not to be consumed on too regular a basis. MSG, of course, is a matter of much controversy, but definitely accounts for much of the allure.

Prawn crackers. Crispy, fluffy, delicately prawn flavoured and the perfect vehicle for a spoonful of any rice, sauce or noodle. You get a pack free at our local with a purchase of the main menu items and I have memories of eating them at nearly every party at school, thanks to the daughter of the Chinese takeaway owner who was in my class. I loved them, I still do, although these days I crisp them in the microwave for a minute rather than deep fry them. Chinese takeaways will always be popular in Britain, thanks to our love of strong, sweet flavours, but much more than that, they provide a meal for worn out workers, mothers and hungry teenagers, not just at dinner time, but also at lunchtimes, school kids flooding in to buy the pancake rolls, full of sweet char Sui pork and beansprouts or the lunchtime special of fried rice with chips and curry or barbecue sauce. Comfort food of the highest order.