Today we met with Kwan at Lucky Lou’s Seafood and Dimsum for a nice evening to learn more about the different types of Chinese food and to try some ourselves. According to Kwan, he believes Lucky Lou’s has the most authentic Cantonese cuisine in the Indianapolis area. Tonight was the first time I had sampled any kind of authentic Chinese food from the Indianapolis area, but it is easy to see why it is his favorite. Besides getting to trying ten different dishes, and a complementary dessert, the experience in itself was new to me. For example, the center of the table was a large piece of glass that spun so that everyone was able to serve themselves in a buffet-type environment.
The first dish that was brought out was cucumber with garlic sauce. It reminded me of a dill pickle, but covered in garlic. It was an interesting combination, one that didn’t displease me nor satisfy me. Peking duck came next, which was served with a thick dough that resembled a miniature taco, shaved green onions, shaved cucumber, and a dark sauce that was a little sweet. Kwan taught us to open the dough, spread the sauce, add the duck meat, and then put on the green onion or the sliced cucumber, if you wished. It was my first time ever sampling duck, but I enjoyed it. I expected it might taste a bit gamy, but I found that this was not the case. The last dish we had before the seven entrees were served was a soup that I believe was also Peking duck. Kwan warned us before the soup came out that it is Chinese tradition to leave the bones in the soup to add additional flavor. Besides the bones, the soup also contained a broth of some sort, large spinach leaves, tofu, and other spices. Personally, I am not a fan of tofu, but the broth was very good. Then, slowly, the rest of the seven courses were brought out. They consisted of sliced pork Peking style, stir fry lamb with cumin, deep-fried shrimp with salt and pepper, spicy fish fillet, king mushroom with tofu, dry fried green beans, and pan-fried rice noodles with beef slices. Some of the dishes were quite spicy, such as the stir fry lamb and the fish fillet, but Kwan explained that this is typically part of the Chinese culture. Everything was delicious, but I particularly enjoyed the sliced pork Peking style and the green beans. After I ate so much that I was miserable, we were all served a fried sesame seed ball for dessert. It was unlike any dessert I had ever had, as the middle was filled with a red bean paste. However, it was still very good.
During and after dinner, Kwan taught us that the five major cuisines of China are Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Huaiyang, and Northeastern. The nine-minute video that he showed us explained that Sichuan cuisine is typically the spiciest, with Northeastern cuisine falling on the opposite end of the spectrum as the sweetest. I find it interesting how much the cuisine varies in China depending on what region of the country you are in. We kind of see this in the United States, such as pizza being a staple in New York and gumbo in New Orleans, but typically wherever you go you are able to order something that is familiar, such as chicken tenders and french fries. In China, Kwan also mentioned again that people in southern China grow and will eat rice almost every day, while those of northern China grow wheat and will therefore eat noodles almost daily. While I eat probably more corn on the cob than those living in the southern United States, I certainly don’t eat it every day.