Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

So what have you been doing since Chinese New Year?

I mean apart from being busy at work, I spent all of my spare time trying to go to the gym or going for workout to try to shed some of those holiday weight that I put on.

Oh, you tell me about it. I put on a few kilos during the holidays.

中文现在也说每逢佳节长三斤。I don't think it's just三斤, is it?

I actually did put on三斤.

Exactly？

Exactly.

I think I put on more than that. So, I thought why don't we talk about food? I mean, we can't eat any delicious food anymore, but at least we can talk about it.

Exactly.

That's the spirit.

Let's fantasize about some of the food that we can actually not eat right now.

But I thought, you know, we talked about British food and also British food was there to talk about really.

Oh, come on. British food is actually really really nice, but that's a completely other episode.

So I thought today, let's talk about food in the UK, but in particular Chinese food in the UK.

Oh. That's an interesting, that is actually a very interesting topic. I mean, everybody complains about British food, right? Including some British. But the fact is because of the multiculturalism, 因为英国是一个比较多文化这种移民国家, so especially in London, you can pretty much find food from all parts of the world.

Exactly. And in the UK even very, very small places, even some villages, it's quite common to find a Chinese restaurant.

I once heard a saying, I don't know if it's a saying or a joke, saying that they will always be at least three different types of restaurants on any given British street, Italian, Indian and Chinese. Is that true?

That's absolutely true. I would say probably more Indian and Chinese rather than Italian, but I would say, I've been to very small villages in the UK and they still have a Chinese takeaway.

Emm. So let's talk about Chinese food. I think for those of you who have never been to the UK, you will find that these Chinese food that we talk about, they're not really like the Chinese food we're used to at home.

Well, yeah. Let’s, we'll talk about the dishes a little bit later, but first of all, as you were saying before, going for a Chinese is incredibly popular in the UK.

So they, yeah, I've heard people say “fancy a Chinese”, which initially I found really offensive and creepy, and then I realized they were just talking about Chinese takeaway.

Yeah. They're not talking about Chinese people, they're saying if you go for a Chinese that means you're going to get a Chinese takeaway.

You call it “takeaway”.

Yes.

Instead of “takeout”?

Yeah. Takeout is American English.

But these two are exactly the same meaning.

Exactly the same meaning. So if you say takeaway or takeout, pretty much, people will understand what you're saying.

Emm, like when you lived in London, did you use to have like a Chinese take away that you will order from.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Remember that when I was growing up this is the days before deliveries and things like that. When you actually wanted to go for Chinese food, what you have to do is call them first of all, and then you go to the restaurant yourself to pick it up.

What's the point in that than just go to the restaurant?

Lots of them aren't actually restaurants. They just takeaway places, they're fast food takeaway places.

噢，就像现在那种盒饭店, 就是they don't really have seats.

No.

They just have like a window or a counter for you to take their... your order away.

Yeah. They just have a counter and they just have a few chairs for you to wait while they're cooking your food.

Emm.

Let's talk a little bit about the history, because lots of you probably wondering why are there so many Chinese restaurants in the UK, and Chinese restaurants have been in the UK since around the 1900s.

I bet the first ones opened in London.

Well. They did, and they mostly opened up in the port of London. So we had lots of Chinese sailors. And they were coming over to the UK and many of them were opening up Chinese restaurants, but it was only in the 1950s and the 1960s that Chinese restaurants became more mainstream.

It's like nowadays especially for Londoners, most people don't find Chinese food exotic anymore. 就没有人觉得是那种特别异域情调的. This is like a, very much like, the common choice.

I would say probably some of the more authentic Chinese food, people might still find quite exotic, like for example chicken's feet. It's very difficult to find somewhere in London that sells chicken’s feet.

Okay. I see, so the specific body parts perhaps not as well-accepted, as just say any like beef dish or chicken dish.

Exactly.

That's because Chinese food in the UK is completely different to Chinese food in China.

Yeah. But a little bit more the actual food later, I want to talk about these restaurants. I had this experience in London when I went to Chinatown, which a lot of the Chinese restaurants obviously are located.

Yeah.

I went to a place called Wang Kai, I think.

Oh, yes.

Apparently, it's a quite famous or notorious place.

Yeah. It's famous for being the rudest restaurant in London. I've been there and literally the waiters and waitresses, they don't smile. They don't say please or thank you. And at the end of the meal, they just say “where's my tip?”.

Yeah. But one thing that I found really bizarre. So I walked in and then the waiters or waitresses I forgot, and they just guided me to my seat. And then I realized they put me right opposite of some people like face to face with some people, some other diners there I didn't know, and it was like “okay, why, why are we sharing a table?” They're trying to tell me that this is the Chinese way of eating. It's like communal table. I'm like “no, in China we only sit at the same table with...”

People we actually know. Yeah.

It is that a thing?

Well, basically lots of people go to Wang Kai’s simply because of the experience, it's almost like being a bit masochistic, so they enjoy being shouted at, they enjoy being treated really rudely.

So Wang Kai is actually famous for people that really want to go along just to see how rude the service is.

Yeah.

The food is not that great.

The food is just really average, but I wanna make a disclaimer here. We're not saying all Chinese restaurants in England or in London offer bad service, ig’s just that particular restaurant. It's just that particular restaurant.

It's just that particular restaurant. So there's lots of really really nice Chinese restaurants.

Really nice Chinese restaurants.

And particularly if you go out of Chinatown, that's when you start going and finding the slightly more authentic Chinese restaurants.

Yeah. Okay. So speaking of authentic, let us talk about food, because we have been talking about... saying Chinese food in the UK is completely different to Chinese food in China.

First I noticed a lot of them are just cantonese dishes其实很多都是什么广东菜, 就是粤菜, 潮汕菜那种which I understand because the first immigrants were probably from that part.

Yeah. The first Chinese immigrants were mostly from Guangdong and all from the area. And you have to think that British people probably knew that area more as well. So the food is generally adapted from cantonese food, but it's adapted to British tastes.

嗯，这个全世界的这种外来饮食其实都是一样的.

When you're trying to localize the flavor of an exotic food or exotic dishes, they were trying to cater to the local taste, the same with you know Western food in China.

Oh yeah. I can't think of many Italian restaurants that would have Durian Pizza.

对，安澜，安澜怎么说，在中国很流行的，这个榴莲披萨。他说绝对能把意大利人给气到吐血。

Yeah, I think that would probably give some Italian people a heart attack.

But the same thing goes with the Chinese food in the UK or outside of China. For example, British people in general can't really handle spicy things.

Traditionally, no.

Emm, and you have such a sweet tooth.

Yeah, so lots of the dishes are very sweet, quite oily as well.

Emm. You guys love sweet and sour就是糖醋什么Sweet and sour ribs, sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour everything.

Sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour chicken. Pretty much half the dishes in the Chinese takeaway, come with sweet and sour sauce.

Yeah, and it's when we talk about sweet and sour sauce, it's literally like the food is smothered.

Yes.

With the overly sweet, sickeningly sweet sauce.

That is absolutely true. And also another big favor is Chao Mian.

炒面吗？

Yes.

What's so special about that? Don't you guys have, like I mean you have pasta, I mean it's Italian, but...

That is just one of those foods that's really really popular. And pretty much any Chinese restaurant or any Chinese takeaway would always have Chao Mian in its menu.

The other thing I noticed you guys always have spring rolls.

Yes.

But the thing that I was actually quite surprised about when I first came to China is that spring rolls in China are quite small. The ones in the UK are massive.

Isn't that just a burrito?

It is pretty much like a Chinese burrito. You're talking about something that is about the size of your hand.

Your hand?

Yeah.

Like超大型春卷.

Very, very big.

So when I actually came to China and someone said “do you want some spring rolls?” I went really, really excited and when they gave me like really tiny little ones, I was wondering “what are these?”

They're cunning.

Exactly.

Emm. But what about non-cantonese food like I remember eating Beijing duck, 就是北京烤鸭我也吃到过.

Yes. Beijing duck is really really popular, but because you don't really kind of get the whole duck. What they normally do is they give you crispy duck pancakes.

Oh. It's just like one person portion of it.

It's a one person portion of it.

例份的片皮鸭那种。

And sometimes what they do is they deep fry the pancakes.

What?

Yeah, that's why it's called crispy duck pancakes.

Oh. That sounds disgusting. The whole point is the duck is really greasy. So you use like a plain pancake.

No, no. If you like greasy food, what you need to do is make it even greasy and that makes it even tastier.

Emm.