American Chinese food

I don't spend a lot of time in malls, and wasn't familiar with Panda Express. But I thought it was interesting that they may branch out into China, and that there's already a chain in Korea that specializes in American-style Chinese food.

I don't rate their chances of success in mainland China. But stranger things have happened. There was a short-lived attempt to start an American-British-Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong - featuring both General Tso's chicken and dayglo sweet and sour pork.

I tried Panda Express twice. Once to see what it was about, and once more to give them a second chance, in case my first visit was on an off day. The food is served from a steam table. You tell them what you want and the server scoops it out. To give them credit for one thing, they cook in small batches and keep replacing food, so nothing has that soggy, been sitting around for hours taste. But it still is mass produced. The stir fried veggies obviously survive better than things that are supposed to be crispy.

As the story says, the most popular dish is "sweet, sticky plates of orange chicken." The flavors rather cater to the crowd that would otherwise be going to McDonald's. It was fast and easy and "not bad." The one closest to me is next to a supermarket, rather than in a mall, and they always seem to be doing a land office business with 20-somethings

It sounds from that interview that the company might indeed be planning to present themselves not a "Chines food" but as "another kind of American fast food." The founder is originally from China and that, Forbes says, will give the company and advantage in " tweaking their menu to appeal to Chinese taste. Panda, with its management know-how in Chinese cuisine, would have advantages of its own in the China market."

Panda Express does very unfortunate things to my stomach. I gave them 2 chances, and that was it. Every now and then when terribly hungover, the desire for crappy greasy chow mein comes over me, but I fight it.

I hope they make clear that Panda is just part of the name and not on the menu!

I hope they make clear that Panda is just part of the name and not on the menu

hee hee

I think I went to a Panda Express many, many years ago. Well, it was a chinese place in a mall, probably PE. I don't remember how it was.

I suspect that US versions of all introduced food directly reflects it changed in taste to suit their palates. I say this because of a post on here a while back about the Thai cusine, being not so spicy in the US, and during my extended stay in NY i also discovered the large amount of toppings Americans on their Pizza, the bland tatse of their frankfurters on hot-dogs, the bland taste of the patties thay use on their hamburgers and so on, it seems to me that the general public in the US is not into sort of different strong tastes, am i wrong here?

Some are, some aren't, strauss.

Korean-Americans generally like spicier food than Italian-Americans who generally like spicier food than Irish-Americans.

But there are so many exceptions (generally in the direction of spiciness -- more spiceloving Irish-Americans than bland-loving Korean-Americans) that it's almost silly to try to generalize.

Kenneth Clarke did say in 'Civilization' about generalizations by the very nature of the coment that it could not be proved, I would have thought it would be the exception in if you were talking about the general palate in the US, or anywhere in the world it could.

Well, you would need a standard of comparison, wouldn't you?

I would say that on average American food is spicier than British or other Northern European food. On average perhaps somewhere between French and Italian.

No, i don't set any standard at all, just suggesting that cuisenes that are not natural to country, are seen by different establised tastes..............................................No need to get angry there Vinny!

Not angry, strauss. I don't see what made you think I was. I thought I was answering your question to the extent it's answerable.

no standard at all

See, I don't see how you can answer a question like "it seems to me that the general public in the US is not into sort of different strong tastes. Am I wrong?" without some standard that you're comparing the general public in the US to. I think the first step in answering a question like that is to ask "Compared to what?" I think perhaps you're (maybe unconsciously) comparing US food to the food in other countries you've traveled in.

I think one of the problems here is that the most popular truly American food and that which gets to other countries is often served bland. McDonalds being a perfect example. So people get the idea that we eat mush. If you ate hamburgers at my house, you wouldn't find them so bland.