A new "Western Style" Chinese restaurant has opened in the Kyung Sung area. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but early reports from others sound good.

On the outside it says something like Authentic Hunan and Szechuan cuisine.

Directions: On the main road that runs between Pukyong University and Kyungsung university. From Kyung Sung, walk down toward Pukyong on the right of the road, keep going you will pass Paris Baguette, Dunkin Donuts and a Family Mart it's a little past Family Mart, on the corner above a cake shop/bakery on the second floor next to SukBong Toat (great bagels as an aside!) . Kind of difficult to miss as the outside is surrounded by Chinese red lanterns.

Will do a proper review when I get a chance to check it out. Unless someone gets there before me.

It's called Chen Chen by the way and add Mandarin to that list of cuisines.

Authentic Hunan and Szechuan are Western?

I went there last night. It's a branch of the King Yen restaurants and the King Yen guy (the one that owned a restaurant in San Francisco was there cooking last night).

This makes it the second time I've been to a King Yen restaurant and I still can't understand what the fuss is about. "American style' just seems to be to take something that looks fresh and healthy and delicious and then tip a bottle of oil over it.

I agree with you. I got it wrong anyhow, it says 'American Style' point still stands though.

I had a feeling it had something to do with King Yen, given the name. I always liked King Yen, so hope to try and compare this weekend.

Out of interest another new Chinese restaurant has just had it's 'Grand Open' in Haeundae. It's called Chen's Chinese Bistro ( maybe also part of King Yen chain?). It's in the new big blue glass building across from the aquarium. I'm unlikely to check it out anytime soon and have no idea if it's 'American style' or 'Korean style'.

There's a reasonably new Chinese restaurant across from the UN cemetery that is Korean style, but the food is excellent and the menus have English translations for everything which is always helpful.

One thing that Chen Chen did have going for it was that it was cheap compared to most Korean/Chinese restaurants. All the dishes were $5, $7 or $9 and the servings were very large

$5?!!! That's still quite upscale for Weikuboy. Talk about your budget busters.

IIRC correctly the up market chinese restaurant weikuboy was refering to didn't turn out to be king yen.

Really~!@!!!@! I am going for sure...

Out of interest. How would Americans define 'American Style' is it the Hunan, Sechuan, Mandarin styles or something different? In the UK the majority of Chinese cuisine is normally billed as Cantonese. I have no idea how this differs from any of the above. Typical dishes are:

Beef and green peppers in black been sauce
Chicken and cashew nuts (usually with oyster sauce)
Chow Mein
Pork Char Sui (sp?)
Chop Suey
Kung Pao Chicken
Hoisin chicken
Sweet and Sour

etc.

If I recall when eating in places like King Yen and Beijing Story, the dishes were always similar to the above but with different names.

American style Chinese food is most comparable with, well, American style. Much of the first immigrants from China to America and the rest of the world came from the coastal areas stretching from Guangzhou up to Shanghai, and of those the vast majority were from Guangdong (Canton) and Fujian provinces. So naturally American style Chinese food draws more from Cantonese cuisine than it does from, say, Szechuan cuisine.

American style didn't just emerge to match the tastes of ignorant Yankees. Early Chinese immigrants also had to adapt to local ingredients and conditions as well. Must remember that American style cuisine effectively emerged out of Western America when Chinese labour worked on railroad construction and in mines.

So most of the dishes you mentioned are effectively American food created by Chinese immigrants. Only seen interviews with her and never read the book myself, but I know Jennifer 8 Lee wrote on the subject in her book "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles".

Oscar wrote, "IIRC correctly the up market chinese restaurant weikuboy was refering to didn't turn out to be king yen."

That is true. To clarify, the nice-looking but pricey place I described in a sister thread last week is called Rak 'n Wok (락앤왁). I have not yet been to Chef Chen (reportedly related to King Yen) at PNU, but I hope to go there in the very near future.

Tyster wrote, "$5?!!! That's still quite upscale for Weikuboy. Talk about your budget busters."

You got me there, Ty. Give me a $5 bowl of 돼지국밥 (Korean spicy pork rice soup) and I'm a happy man. Beef with broccoli that costs $30 (channeling Travolta in Pulp Fiction) had better be some pretty freakin' good beef with broccoli.

Matt wrote, "Out of interest. How would Americans define 'American Style' is it the Hunan, Sechuan, Mandarin styles or something different? In the UK the majority of Chinese cuisine is normally billed as Cantonese."

Tomservo's answer is excellent. I would only add that newer jet-age immigrants from China and elsewhere have brought a much more authentic type of Asian cooking to North America. In my "hometown" for example there are traditional American-style Chinese places everywhere, and most are decent if a tad overpriced; but if one is willing to drive a half-hour or more, there is an area filled with more authentic restaurants, mostly Vietnamese but some Chinese, including dim sum. Also, I've been to several places in London's Chinatown, and the dishes there, for better or worse, were much like in the U.S.

Yes, in respects to all forms of cuisines (Chinese, Italian, Ethiopian, etc.) and their regional varieties, we in Western nations are increasingly being exposed to more authentic forms of such food, thanks both to newer immigrant arrivals as well as a greater understanding and desire to experience more authentic world cuisine. I've had better Ethiopian in Calgary than in either Vancouver or Toronto, and who could have imagined a place like Calgary even having Ethiopian food 15 years ago.

After all, if I was to rate the best authentic Chinese food I have ever eaten, would list a tie between the Qianmen Quanjude Restaurant where I ate in Beijing in 2005 (mmm, roast duck) alongside a very expensive and exclusive Chinese restaurant in San Francisco that a moneyed distant relative took me, my mom and my uncle to in 1995 (again, mmm, roast duck). And living in both Toronto and Vancouver, there are a whole host of restaurants and grocery stores that cater to the newer mainland arrivals. I lived for a time at Warden and Steeles in Toronto, which is right in the middle of a large population of new Chinese immigrants, and can attest to the authentic nature of the large Chinese grocery store across from my apartment.

As for American-style, I know that you can find it down under as well, and is probably the dominant form of Chinese food in every Western nation. Believe American style is even breaking into the Chinese market (though only in the major cities) as well.

In the end, from my perspective, doesn't really matter the style so long as the food tastes good (and the price is right ).

Thanks Tomservo and Weiku Boy. That's one of the best answers I've ever had to one of my questions! I'm actually intrigued now on the origins of British Chinese food. I always presumed the Hong Kong influence and connection, although Britain was trading with China long before we 'won' Hong Kong. Will look it up.

Came across this video and remembered this thread: http://stafford.squarespace.com/journal/20...food-linux.html

Who would have thought that Fortune Cookies are Japanese. Will have to look for them next time I'm in Kyoto.