Three Signs That Indicate That You’re In An Authentic Chinese Restaurant

Eva Jones
2 min readSep 10, 2018
Chinese Restaurant Flushing

There is the spectrum of quality for Chinese restaurants throughout the world. When at the higher end, you may be served some of the best Chinese cuisines that you have ever tasted in a restaurant, at the lower end, you may experience the filthy, fast food failures where you have to eat some unhealthy noodles. However, if you put a little effort, you can have the opportunity to taste intense, unique flavors of the freshest meats and vegetables of Chinese cuisines. As a matter of fact is that if you want quality, then you need to look for authenticity. Therefore, before going to a Chinese restaurant in Flushing, you should follow some signs that will help you to find an excellent Chinese restaurant.

The restaurant is located in the right neighborhood

When you are looking for an authentic Chinese restaurant, location is a crucial consideration. Of course, if you find the Chinese restaurant in the mid of your city’s Turkish neighborhood, you may not get enough confidence in its authenticity. However, the restaurant should be located in the heart of the Chinese community where the owners and staff have some kind of connection of that community.

The restaurant should be regional

Although it may sound weird, a Chinese restaurant is not authentic enough if it doesn’t serve the regional Chinese food. In fact, China itself consists of eight culinary regions including Cantonese, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui, Fujian, and Shandong. Among them, Hunan is known for its spicy and sour recipes, whereas Cantonese, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu are known for their light, sweet dishes. Sichuan provides spicy food better than anyone else does; Anhui and Fujian mostly use different mountain ingredients in their dishes; Shandong is best known for its specialty in seafood. Now, you should inquire about the regional labels about the restaurant you are planning to choose. It is better to avoid a Chinese restaurant in Flushing that throws all its food under a common “Chinese” umbrella.

The restaurant has a Chinese-language menu

Any authentic Chinese restaurant tends to take special care to serve its Chinese clientele. It means that there is bound to be a Chinese-language menu along with the standard English menu. Whether you are handed the menu card or browse its online menu, make sure that it must have a Chinese language menu available there.

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