If you're sick of General Tso's and crab rangoon, nudge your local Chinese joint to add these to the menu.
Beef Noodle Soup
Fresh knife-peeled or hand-pulled noodles swim in a rich beef broth in this Chinese-muslim comfort food staple. In Taiwan, entire cults of fussiness have sprung up around scouting the ideal bowl. Many restaurants do serve this, but not as the main event as it deserves to be. No, dude, you can't just use lo mein.
Via: blog.yam.com
Smoked Shanghainese Yellowfish
A simple Shanghainese dish that tastes much better than it looks. Freshwater yellowfish is first steamed in lotus leaf, then rubbed in oil and smoked in a high heat til the skin crisps.
Spicy Garlic Bacon
This Szechuanese appetizer is nowhere near as spicy as it looks. It's a simple dish of fatty steamed pork slices dressed in sesame, pureed garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil, simple ingredients that any restaurant could manage. For the more adventurous, try the version made with thin sliced pork ears.
Via: nipic.com
Taiwanese Salt & Pepper Fried Chicken
A simple but flawless staple of college fast-food nosh in Taiwan. Every culture has its ways of frying chicken, but the spiced yam flour coating lends chewiness to this dish's crunch, and the flash fried basil leaves give it a note of freshness.
Via: paramania.egloos.com
