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Why kong bao when there is so much more?

By Patrick Whiteley (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-06 09:03

My American buddy Buzz Peabody orders the same Chinese dish every time. "Wo yao kong bao jiding (I want kong bao chicken)," he tells the waiter.

Buzz's eating habit highlights how kong bao jiding is arguably the favorite Chinese dish of many foreigners. "Why are so many expats hooked on this chicken dish?" Chinese people ask.

Maybe because many of us expats are chicken about everything else on the menu!

Kong bao, a spicy sweet Sichuan chicken dish, is a very popular takeaway order in the United States and ranks the highest in popularity in many expat Internet chat rooms. Despite it's spicy kick, it's actually a sweet dish, which many foreigners tend to enjoy. Using the "if something works, don't fix it" guideline, many new arrivals like to stick to what they know and an experimental adventurer can pay the price for straying off the kong bao path.

One night I was hungry for beef, and pointed at the characters for "nui rou" (beef). The waitress nodded her head, and then said a bunch of other stuff I didn't understand. I stupidly nodded in agreement, and about 5 minutes later, to my horror, I was staring at steaming beef intestines. This is a nasty, evil dish with a rotten taste and putrid smell.

But this doesn't happen often and hitting these speed bumps on China's culinary highway, wobbling a bit, then moving forward, is all part of the Middle Kingdom experience, right?

Considering the 3,000-odd years of food experimentation, the Chinese have created some amazing food, and there are so many taste sensations out there in restaurant land. The only thing with four legs that isn't gobbled up is the restaurant table. There are so many dishes out there, but which are the good ones?

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