How time flies, it only seemed like yesterday when we first tried ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ on Jalan Selaseh. It was opened in 1990 by a husband-and-wife couple, Chef Ng Kok Hua and Jamie Pang, whoโd just returned to Singapore after working for nearly a decade in various restaurants in New York Chinatown. We scarcely could believe that a restaurant had opened in our quiet neighbourhood barely 5 minutesโ drive away from our house, so we promptly turned up there for a family dinner.
Singapore was a very different place back then where dining out was concerned. Pre-internet days, we knew so little about a restaurant except what they told us, and we were quite curious about โAmerican-Chinese foodโ. ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ had seemed a very exotic place for us at the time.
Well, we returned there again this evening, and the restaurant has that charming old-world feel which Iโd been hoping would still be there.
๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ-๐ด๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ - this is restaurantโs claim-to-fame, and done very well. Aromatic slices of duck, served with a hoi sin dip. One of the best-tasting versions around.
๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ด๐ฐโ๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ - the restaurant was the first in Singapore to offer this Chinese-American staple back in 1990. Itโs still almost impossible to find in Singapore today, where Chinese-American dishes were seen as oddities, instead of another regional Chinese cooking style, albeit one which evolved outside China.
๐๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ & ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ - a common dish, but no one else in Singapore did it as well as here: perfectly crunchy-crisp string beans, generous minced pork, and a perfect balance of savoury-spicy flavours.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต โ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏโ ๐ท๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด - this was a vegetarian version, and tasted rather bland. Shouldโve gotten the non-vegetarian version as the pork-shrimp-flavoured gravy is what elevates this dish to the next level.
Itโs very interesting how Chinese cuisine changes to become something different and a new cuisine wherever it is. Before I would have assumed ( wrongly) that Chinese American food wouldnโt be exported back to Asia. But I know they have Chinese American restaurants in China as well as Singapore.
In a similar vein I have had chicken tikka masala in a restaurant in India but never in a UK Indian restaurant.
General Tsoโs chicken is uncommon in The UK , it is a Chinese American dish,rather than Chinese British after all.
They have recently opened a PF Changs in Chinatown in London but even they donโt have it. I was trying to understand what there thing was. Chinese American British Chinese? Not really important but seems a bit odd opening what with all the good regional Chinese restaurants in Chinatown these days.
British-Chinese cuisine has its own signature dish: the crispy aromatic duck - the first time I tried it was back in the 1980s: every other major London Chinatown restaurant served it: Lee Ho Fook, New Mayflower, Fung Shing, etc.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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I donโt think Iโve ever seen General Tsoโs Chicken on a menu in the UK, Chris. Not that I see a reason why I would with it being an American dish. Maybe worth a nosy at any Taiwanese places, if such exist here - with Americaโs links with them, it may have been exported to there and, subsequently, to the UK?
Iโve only had Chinese food in America once, over our several trips, so have never tasted it.
