Odd "Fusion" Foods

Below are links for a couple of discussions of Hong Kong-style western food:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/358698

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=76128&pid=1034975&mode=threaded&show=&st=&

Among the Hong Kong-style "western" foods noted are:

"French" toast -- two slices of Chinese white bread with peanut butter sandwiched with and deep fried; and

Ox-tongue spaghetti with red sauce.

Anyone want to add any other odd restaurant fusion foods?

Amusing tale from the second thread:

carswell Oct 17 2005, 07:40 PM Post #2

participating member
Posts: 1,523
Joined: 27-May 03
From: Montreal
Member No.: 8,756

While I have nothing of substance to add, this thread reminded me of a funny story.

A friend and I went to one of Montreal's Chinese restaurants, an honest Cantonese place that had bowed to popular pressure and added a few Szechuan-style dishes to their menu.

When we gave the waiter our order, we stressed that ours were not the typical Canadian palates and that we had a high tolerance for heat. The spiciest dish we ordered was a sizzling platter.

When the waiter brought our food, he set the platter on a serving table that was closer to other diners than to us. He caught our eyes, held up a vial, checked one last time by asking "really spicy?" and, on seeing our nods, dumped the entire contents onto the sizzling platter.

A veritable mushroom cloud of steam rose from the dish. Within seconds, the waiter was coughing violently. Then the four diners at the table nearest him started coughing. They were soon joined by the diners at the next table. Then the next. And the next. Before long, everyone seated at our end of the restaurant was coughing, blowing their noses and wiping tears from their eyes. Everyone except us, that is; our table was directly under an air-conditioner vent.

Still coughing, one of the men in a nearby party stood up, shot us a dirty look and announced "Let's get out of here before they serve something else!"

Moral of the story: Cantonese sizzling platter good; Szechuan sizzling platter bad.

How about Shanghai Jimmy's famous Chili Rice served around Texas for many years. It's chili con carne served over rice. Cheese, celery, and other stuff is optional. I think there was soy sauce in Jimmy's recipe, but thats only my speculation. Try a dash of soy sauce on a spoon of chili sometime. Oh, chili made with Italian sausage is fusion, I guess? And oh, I make enchiladas with Italian sausage, rolled in corn tortillas, toped with pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese = Italian Enchiladas.
Joe

From Time magazine
"Adieu, Ronald McDonald"
by Tony Karon
Americans may find it strange to see their "official sandwich" touted by a bellicose cartoon warrior with pigtails and a big moustache, but such adjustments are part and parcel of marketing across cultures. Indeed, if an Indian Mac tastes a little different, that's because it's a "lamb-burger" — eating beef offends Hindu tradition. Forget about ordering a cheeseburger at a kosher outlet in Israel (mixing milk and meat is a no-no), but you could always console yourself in Cairo with a "McFalafel," or in Bangkok with a "Samurai Pork Burger." Big Macs are hard to find on the menus of the 80 Mcdonald's outlets in Beijing, which include spicy chicken wings and red bean pie — the Big Mac is there, of course, it's just sporting a more grandiose moniker: "Lu Wu Ba" ("huge incomparable warlord").


Even better ... go to the Mcdonalds website and check out the links to Mcdonalds around the world ...

http://www.mcdonalds.com/

It is definitely worth checking out the Chinese site and the India site - at the India site, select the "West" district and then wait for the radio-spots flash player to load (there is no progress bar ... it takes a minute or so)

At the Chinese site, it does take a couple minutes to download the flash content but it is well worth waiting for!!!! .... very amusing Mcdonalds R&B/Rap music sung in Chinese ... I was lookin for that "Huge Incomparable Warlord" burger ... I'm sure it's there somewhere.

BK's like that, too. My father spent some time working in Singapore and said you could get a "Rendag" burger, which had satay sauce on it.

OMG LMAO. Thanks for the story, GeoNit!!!!@

quote:

Originally posted by GeoNit

Amusing tale from the second thread:

carswell Oct 17 2005, 07:40 PM Post #2

participating member
Posts: 1,523
Joined: 27-May 03
From: Montreal
Member No.: 8,756

While I have nothing of substance to add, this thread reminded me of a funny story.

A friend and I went to one of Montreal's Chinese restaurants, an honest Cantonese place that had bowed to popular pressure and added a few Szechuan-style dishes to their menu.

When we gave the waiter our order, we stressed that ours were not the typical Canadian palates and that we had a high tolerance for heat. The spiciest dish we ordered was a sizzling platter.

When the waiter brought our food, he set the platter on a serving table that was closer to other diners than to us. He caught our eyes, held up a vial, checked one last time by asking "really spicy?" and, on seeing our nods, dumped the entire contents onto the sizzling platter.

A veritable mushroom cloud of steam rose from the dish. Within seconds, the waiter was coughing violently. Then the four diners at the table nearest him started coughing. They were soon joined by the diners at the next table. Then the next. And the next. Before long, everyone seated at our end of the restaurant was coughing, blowing their noses and wiping tears from their eyes. Everyone except us, that is; our table was directly under an air-conditioner vent.

Still coughing, one of the men in a nearby party stood up, shot us a dirty look and announced "Let's get out of here before they serve something else!"

Moral of the story: Cantonese sizzling platter good; Szechuan sizzling platter bad.