Fake Chinese Food

Once upon a time, before I actually visited a mostly Chinese ethnic country, I thought I knew what Chinese food was, and it looks like this:

American Chinese food.

Imagine my surprise to not find egg rolls over there.  No one knew what an egg roll was, unless they’d been here.  There’s something similar called lumpia, but it’s not quite the same.

Chinese food in the US has been thoroughly Americanized, to make it more appealing to the local palate.  The Chinese food I ate in Singapore was a lot blander in most cases, with most of the flavor coming from dumping lots of chili sauce on everything.  That or eating green chilies along with each bite of food.  There’s also a lot of MSG used.  (Just a note, I’m basing this on the common Chinese food found in food stalls that a person would eat at on a daily basis, not expensive restaurants.)

Chinese food in Singapore.

Chinese food in Singapore.

[Update: It was very rudely brought to my attention by some piece of shit Singaporeans that I accidentally uploaded the wrong photo from my folder.  I’m quite aware that this is ramen, a Japanese dish, most likely from that Japanese food court in Tampines 1.  I can’t remember its name.]

That’s not to say that the food there, the ‘real’ Chinese food, was bad.  On the contrary, a lot of it was awesome, and thankfully I did read about a place in NYC where I can get chicken rice and pork rice.  The pictures looked similar to the dishes I grew to love in Singapore.  I’ll blog about it when I find it and try it out myself.

One other thing, the orange duck sauce that you can find at most Chinese restaurants in the US?  Ya, that’s nowhere to be found in Singapore that I saw.

19 thoughts on “Fake Chinese Food”

  1. Ya, I've learned to not get too worked up over this sort of nonsense. Trolls seem to be a given on the Internet, just like when you get on the road and there's always one jackass that drives like … well, a jackass!I'm going to keep telling it the way I see it. That's what a blog is for after all. I'm glad you can appreciate that, but are also ready to step in and say something if I have something factually wrong.

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  2. Ya, I've learned to not get too worked up over this sort of nonsense. Trolls seem to be a given on the Internet, just like when you get on the road and there's always one jackass that drives like … well, a jackass!I'm going to keep telling it the way I see it. That's what a blog is for after all. I'm glad you can appreciate that, but are also ready to step in and say something if I have something factually wrong.

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  3. lol the trolls are. =Dyou did great handling trolls. I agree with you about all countries have good points and bad points, and stating the obvious doesn't make you a hater. it's just that, there are really rude people and courteous ones regardless of country. i have been following your blog since you were in the philippines, and some of you post about it, has good points and bad points, but i respect your posts, because they are true as you see them. i will politely correct you if i find something not right about my country. but not bash you on like this trolls did. just ignore them brad.

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  4. I am currently obsessed with beef and broccoli but it has to be at this place in my neighbourhood.Can't wait to see more NY posts too!

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  5. I think you're a dumbass, trolling my post to get a rise. I have in fact made posts about the Philippines that were deprecating, as well as positive. No country is all good. I'm not going to sugarcoat my posts just to keep from hurting someone's feelings. If you don't like them, then get lost.And in case you forgot your own history, Singapore was part of Malaysia not that long ago, so I don't see what difference there is, really, except Malaysia is poorer. The same type of Internet culture exists in Malaysia as in Singapore, and there are just as many idiots from both countries that get online and spout stupidity into blog comment sections in a rude and crass manner, the way you have. And before you cry that I'm being particularly hateful towards Malaysia, the same can be said of most any country.Now, enjoy your IP ban.

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  6. Since you cannot tell the difference between Chinese & Japanese food, I'm not surprise if you cannot tell the difference between a Malaysian & Singaporean! But one thing I notice… you wouldn't dare say anything bad about anything Philipino. Perhaps out of respect to your wife. Honestly it's quite obvious you harbour some hatred towards them Sillyporean… ops I mean Singaporean! Your older blogs about were very telling!

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  7. The comment wasn't directed at Singaporeans in general, just that particular subset of Singaporeans that have no class or manners online, of which there seem to be quite a few. There's a lot to miss about Singapore, but I'll not get into that here.I'll be posting about NYC from here on out I suppose. I won't be doing too much more traveling other than for vacations. Besides, there's enough going on in NYC that you could never run out of blog material! You just have to be in the right place at the right time.They have Halloween decorations up for sale here too. The only one I saw set out, though, was on top of one of the buildings at LaGuardia that faces the highway. We noticed it while in the cab on the way to Manhattan. There was a giant air filled pumpkin tied to the roof. It was pretty neat. ^_^

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  8. From your comments regarding about Singaporeans, I feel sorry for you. I guess this country didn't bring you joy during your short stay. I've been here for 11 years. I don't like many things over here but I also like many things over here because I stayed long enough to know. Don't get too uptight with the replies in your blog. C'mon, tell us more of your adventures in States, because your writing makes me miss USA! Will you post more pics? It's Autumn now, yes? Oh yeah, take some pics of Halloween decors around your neighborhood. Will you also take pics on the Halloween items in supermarkets? Hope I'm not asking too much:) I saw some Halloween displays in NTUC today, and they look pretty miserable. I was looking for a big pumpkin but it's too expensive for carving. :(Have a great day. 🙂

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  9. The first pic reminds me of my school years in NY. Oh yes, that thick egg roll. I kinda miss American chinese food. Oooh, and Baken-ets spicy pork rinds.Yummy! 😉

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  10. I don't remember what that was. It had a good enough taste, but it just wasn't what I was used to from home.The egg rolls are a thicker type of wrapping and they're usually deep fried. They're really good as long as they aren't too terribly greasy.

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  11. I accidentally posted the wrong photo from my folder. I wrote this in a hurry last night while packing for a trip. I can in fact tell the difference but just wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing.Fuck you Singaporeans are rude bastards online, especially the jackass who commented before you.

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  12. You know what, you're right. That's ramen from that Japanese food court in Tampines 1. I mixed up the picture with another picture of soup I had in the folder.But guess what? Fuck you, you island monkey piece of shit. Have some common courtesy when commenting on someone's blog.

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  13. i remember seeing some where that American chines food was closer to chines food from the 1800s when lots of chines immigrated to the us

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