Nice catches. Brings back memories. In High School & some college, the original Wo Hop (downstairs) was our late night go to. For a couple of bucks, you could get congee or lo mein (greasy but good) and stay until 2 or 3 am. Then we “graduated” (parenthesis to note euphemism) next door, also downstairs, to Hong Ying, marginally more expensive & with great bowls of periwinkle snails and excellent eggplant. Hop Kee, only doors away, was only for when the lines at the other 2 were up the staircases and into the street, although those who regularly went there thought they were making the better choice.
eta: apropos of nothing, directly across the street from these 3 old line restaurants was the famous Chinatown Arcade, home of the Dancing Chicken. In retrospect, I shudder to think what made the chicken dance when you put in your quarter.
A while ago, I read a memoir called Takeaway by Angela Hui, who grew up working in her family’s Chinese takeaway in a small town in Wales. It was rather interesting; here’s an excerpt from the Guardian.
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BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
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How about great French food in San Antonio, Texas 24 years ago. The restaurant was called “Le Rêve” (“The Dream” in French), and really was a dream. Unfortunately now closed; the chef has other restaurants in the area, though.
The night before, a waitress at another restaurant there casually mentioned that their soup was finished with “a touch of Scotch Bonnet“, a big no-no for me who can’t digest chilies. The meal was unremarkable.
Trying local food in New Orleans was a bust. We wanted a typical N.O. dish. What the waitress called a “mild” New Orleans platter turned out to be too spicy hot for us. Emeril’s was perfect.
Fyi, kroepoek is the Dutch-influenced way to write (the more commonly seen) krupuk. Krupuk are certainly a staple at street food stalls and restaurants throughout much of Indonesia.
As for a lack of crab chips in the U.S., they’re a bit more of an acquired taste, plus some folks with certain religious beliefs wouldn’t eat them. I dig them, particularly with ketoprak or gado-gado (Indonesian dishes).
When I know enough of the local language, I research local dishes/ingredients to try.
Japan is good about this … if you know Japanese. Train stations often have food souvenirs from that city/region, and/or foods that became famous in that area (e.g. Kobe is known for French baked goods).
There have also been times when I was dating a woman from that country, and was consequently invited to try dishes from her home region. For instance, while living in Jakarta, Indonesia, I was going out with a Batak woman (the six Batak tribes are from around Lake Toba in Sumatra). She took me to a bus station to sample some of that food (and I think it was the spiciest sambal yet). For a recent video of that same here, please visit here.
As those two scenarios aren’t a guarantee, it’s a tough call. If I’m in a country where I know I’d like the food just about anywhere, e.g. Georgia or Türkiye, I stop by wherever. If I’m not as familiar with the food, I look up a few dishes, search for them in Google/Baidu, then eat wherever seems to have a good rating with hundreds of reviews.
I know that its origin is Indonesian, which makes it even stranger that Cantonese (and even many Viet) places in Germany would have them on the menu. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case in the Netherlands, but I’ve yet to have Chinese food there
As for acquired taste - I don’t find them to be particularly overwhelming in flavor. Shrimpy, oily, crispy goodness.
I’ve seen them spelled either way, btw, tho the “German” way is usually krupuk.
