|
We ordered takeout from this authentic Chinese place near us the other night. I got "Pork Soup with Chinese Pickles" and Mr. Clod got "Pork with Preserved Vegetables." The lady on the phone was extremely dubious--first she said, "You are Chinese?" Mr. Clod laughed and said he was about as white as they come, and she said, "Oh, your wife is Chinese then." He assured her I was not, but that we liked to eat interesting food, and we weren't scared. She was unconvinced. When I went to pick up the order, she again questioned me on what sort of experience we had eating real Chinese food, and you could tell she really, really wanted to just take the food back and bring me a nice container of fried rice and sesame chicken instead.
Anyway, I finally made it out of there, by now extremely curious about what crazy thing we'd committed ourselves to eating. Turns out that in both cases, where the menu said "pork" they really meant "bacon." Mr. Clod's dish was basically half a package of bacon, laid on top of this unidentifiable stuff that looked like very sauteed onions--like French Onion Soup without the soup. It tasted awesome. And my soup was essentially a clear broth with gigantic pieces of cabbage, and the other half of the package of bacon. Also delicious. I really don't understand why the lady thought we wouldn't like them; it's not like the flavors were strange or inaccessible.
|