经常听人用“不正宗”来评价一个味道不咋地的海外中餐馆，但是对很多难吃的中餐馆来说，讨论正宗不正宗都太看得起他们了，因为他们根本就没有用心烹饪。比如美国很多中餐自助，根本就是把食材煮熟了倒入酸甜酱拌一拌就端出来，这样的“烹饪”何来正宗不正宗之说。
对我个人来说，一点也不在意正宗与否，只在乎味道好不好。首先，判断“正宗”与否是个学术活来着。新华字典对“正宗”给的解释是“传统的，主要的”。
那么先来看传统。问题来了，要往上追溯多少年才算传统？五百年还是一千年？现在中餐的很多食材都不是中国这块土地上原产的。八大菜系里最出名的川菜和湘菜用的辣椒，是明朝15世纪时才从南美由哥伦布带到欧洲，然后从丝绸之路进入中国。还有西红柿，土豆，红薯，玉米，茄子，黄瓜，菠菜，胡萝卜等等，还有非常重要的大蒜，都是从“外国”进口转自产的。往上一千年，现在所有的中餐都不正宗。
再看“主要的”，这就更有争议了。每个人心中都有一盘鱼香肉丝。关于西红柿炒蛋放糖放盐，粽子肉馅还是豆沙馅中国人自己尚且吵得不亦乐乎，哪里有“正宗”的正确答案呢。
“酸甜鸡”是最典型的美食中餐了，每家自助都有。鸡肉炸一炸，拌点酸甜酱。可是就这道菜我也吃过好吃的。那是一对台湾老夫妇在橡树岭开的小店，只有两三张桌子。他们只做酸甜鸡和橙皮鸡，非常美式中餐。但是因为他们只做那么两样，而且都是新鲜食材现炸，自己调的酸甜酱也算味道不错。就像国内路边摊现炸的小吃，很难做的难吃的。
维也纳有许多中餐馆，基本三个路口能看到一家。但是维也纳华人比例并不高，所以这些中餐馆主要客户是奥地利人。
一个奥地利朋友Ursula强烈推荐一个叫“四川饭店”的餐馆，有次我们和她一家人一起去尝试了。第一眼就把我惊艳了，多瑙河边上一个中式庭院，翠柳小湖，长廊楼阁，以个人之力把中式园林搬到了维也纳呀。
点餐的时候我注意到很多菜后面有中文补注说“正宗+ 1.5-3欧元”。于是我问服务员这普通和正宗有啥区别。本来我以为他会说调料有不同，比如正宗更辣之类的。结果他漫不经心地说“普通嘛就是随便炒一炒，反正奥地利人吃不出来。正宗嘛我们就做的认真一些”。我顿时目瞪口呆。往餐厅里扫一眼，入座的绝大多数都不是华人，原来他们都是因为不懂中餐才来支持你们生意的啊？
虽然心里不太舒服，我还是加钱点了个”正宗“，因为好奇他们怎么就这么自信他们做的就是正宗的。结果味道也就是那样，其他维也纳中餐馆完全也能做的一样或者更好。
我觉得最无语的是服务员明知道我和非华人朋友一起来的还在我面前这么回答。想也知道会一起去吃饭的不是家人就是朋友，他凭啥认为我会站在他那一边，就因为我们碰巧出生在同一个国家？后来Ursula的父亲问我服务员怎么和我说的，因为他知道我要问菜单的问题。我如实回答了，并且觉得挺尴尬的。Ursula家非常喜欢这个餐馆，经常全家来着吃饭，结果被说成随便炒炒也能忽悠的不懂中餐的奥地利人。说好的顾客是上帝呢。
还有一种可能是其实“普通”和“正宗”一点区别也没有，菜单这么写是为了忽悠华人为了正宗的名头多掏钱。总之他们不是忽悠华人，就是忽悠非华人。挺失望的。我倒是希望这只是这个服务员的短视。可是我无法解释为什么菜单要分正宗非正宗。我原以为一个能在维也纳大手笔建中国园林的老板，眼界应该不会这么窄呀。
还好维也纳还有很多好餐馆。事实上维也纳的自助中餐馆特别少，基本都是装饰的不错的小餐馆，味道可以的不在少数。最好吃的一家叫”东风餐馆Ostwind“，拿到北京去也是数一数二的。而且他们的菜单没有正宗非正宗的区别！本来就是，好味就是好味，哪有那么多花样。
另外我们还常去一家中国人开的泰国餐馆“Lemon Leaf”，居然比我在美国时去过的一家泰国人开的餐馆味道还好。正宗不正宗我不知道，但是厨师原来在泰国人开的餐馆做了十九年大厨，说得一口流利泰语。
另外我们楼下有一家刀削面馆名叫“Lamian”，因为“Daoxiaomian”德语不好记。那手艺和以前在物理所时最爱去的”一碗香“有的一拼，而且他们的摆盘简直是艺术品，看看都食欲大增。这家面馆也做寿司，是我去过的第二家中国人做寿司做的味道很棒的餐馆。第一家在三番。
充分证明了虽然起步晚，但是只要肯用心，中国人也能做好”外国“菜。如果不用心，中国人开的中餐馆也能难吃让人咋舌，或者态度傲慢的让人厌恶。
When complaining about the bad taste of some Chinese restaurants in the west, people usually refereed the reason to be "not authentic”. But I think whether the dish is “authentic” is not the most crucial thing for tasting. It is non-sense to discuss about "authentic" before the restaurants take cooking seriously.
For instance, almost all the Chinese buffets I have tried in USA do not have a serious chief. They only cook the ingredients to be eatable and then mix in some sweet-sour sauce. Sweet-sour Chicken, sweet-sour pork, sweet-sour beef, etc... Every dish tastes sweet-sour, how possiblely can they taste good? The problem is their attitude of cooking, rather than that the receipt has been revised after Chinese food entered into USA.
However, I have found a tasty sweet-sour chicken dish in a tiny restaurant which only has 2-3 tables near the highschool in Oak Ridge. It was managed by a Taiwanese couple since Tim was in the highschool. They only make two dishes: "Sweat and sour chicken” and “Orange chicken”, both are American-Chinese food, which I have not heard at all before I moved to USA. But because they only focus on two dishes, you won’t feel that every dish tastes same like in the big buffet. The reason I like their “sweat and sour chicken” is because the it is very freshly fried. It might not be the most healthy food, but freshly-fry does make a lot of difference on the taste. When I need to buy some take-away food, I rather go to such a small shop rather than those buffet-type restaurant who wants to do everything but could not make anything tasty.
Honestly I do not care about whether a dish is "authentic", as far as it tastes good. First of all, deciding if a dish is “authentic” is a very academic question. From the Oxford dictionary, “authentic” means “of undisputed origin”. Then the question comes: How old can be called origin? Many of the ingredients and spices we used for the Chinese dishes now are not “original” in China. The most popular styles of Chinese food-川菜 (Shichuan Food) and 湘菜 (Hunan Food), both are famous for the spicy hot flavor. However, chili was only imported into China in Ming Dynasty around 15th century, all the way from South America to Europe by Columbus, and then to China through the Silk Road. Besides, tomato, potato, sweet potato, corn, eggplant, cucumbers, spinach, carrot, and garlic (one most important seasoning for current Chinese dishes) were all imported from outside the land of China. Not many of the current Chinese dishes can be called "authentic" back to 1000 years ago.
OK, if we don’t struggle too much with the origin, but considered the “authentic” dish is the one recognized by the majority Chinese, then it is also super ambiguous. China is large, even Chinese people from different regions argued loudly about what flavor is “authentic” for a same dish: shall we put salt or sugar in tomato fried egg? Shall “zhongzi” has meat or red bean paste for stuffing? There is no answer at all.
However, a Chinese restaurant in Vienna claims that they make "authentic" Chinese dishes.
An Austrian friend Ursula recommended us this restaurant named “Shichuan Restaurant”, which her family love and went frequently. One day we went to there with her family together. I was very impressed about the looking of the restaurant, which has a big garden with a pond, several willows, and magnificent Chinese-style architectures.
When we ordered food, I noticed that there are some dishes with extra notes in Chinese words saying (Authentic with extra €1.5-3). I was very curious so I asked one waiter what is the difference between the “normal” and the “authentic”.
Menu: Authentic with extra €1.5-3
I was expecting something like different spices, for instance more spicy for "authentic". However, his answer shocked me, he said: "The “normal” dishes are just casually stir-fried, since the Austrian people would not realize anyway. But for “authentic” dishes we cook more carefully.”
I did not know what to say in a while. I found it too crazy. Even Chinese people argue so hard for which receipt is more "authentic" for a same dish, you just be more careful on cooking then your food become "authentic"? With doubt I ordered an “authentic” dish by paying for the extra, as I wanted to see how wonderful their “authentic" food can be. It turn out it was not that amazing, not better than other Chinese restaurants I have been to in Vienna.
From the waiter's answer, I think the restaurent either fools Chinese customers or fools non-Chinese customers. Looking around the room, most of the people look Western (probably mostly Austrian), certainly not many Chinese. The waiter said “Austrian people do not know Chinese food”, so that is why so many Austrian people come to this restaurant?? Shouldn't you respeat the customers who bring you money? Another possibility is that the “normal” dish and the “authentic” dish actually do not have any difference, they just fool Chinese people to pay for the extra. In either case it is nasty.
Another amusing thing was that he said this in front of me, even if he knew that I came with non-Chinese friends. It seemed he did not realize that he is only a stranger to me, but the people I would go to a restaurant with are either my relatives or friends. So why would he think I will stand in his side, just because we happened to be born in a same country?
Ursula’ father asked me what did the waiter answered for my question, as he knew I was going to ask about the menu. I told them what I heard and felt sorry for them and other Austrians who supported this restaurant but were considered “do not know Chinese food”. I would rather hope it was just the stupidness of the waiter, but then I can not explain why the menu has those extra Chinese words for the “authentic” options. I thought a boss who dare to investigate such a big Chinese garden in Vienna would be more farseeing than that.
Luckily there are many other good Chinese restaurants in Vienna. The density of Chinese restaurants is surpringly high, almost every 3 blocks we can see one. But the population of Chinese people in Vienna could not compare with the population of Chinese in New York or San Francisco or even Oak Ridge. In the University of Vienna, I hardly met any Chinese in both Geology and Physics Departments. So most of the customers in the Chinese restaurants here are local people (mainly Austrian), which might make you think that their Chinese food are more edited towards Austrian way. However, the average quality of them is much better than that of the city Knoxville in USA, especially there are not many cheap Chinese buffets here. Well it is a bit unfair to compare Knoxville with Vienna, as Vienna is a capital.
On my list of Chinese restaurants, the bottom level is for those which do not respect cooking, such as the every-dish-taste-same restaurants, and those with arrogant attitude like the "Shichuan Restaurant" I just mentioned. For them once is enough, no second entrance.
There are some good ones Tim and I went often. The restaurents I put in third level have these features: they cook tasty food, but still sometimes you can find same source from dish to dish, and the dishes usually do not look too pretty. We occasionally went to there because their food are still better than what I can do at home.
Meister xiao, close with our home
No.27
For the second level on my list, there are two restaurents. Their food is so good so we would miss them if we have not went for a while.
One is called "Lemon Leaf Thai Restaurant", which is not Chinese but Thai. But the family who managed this Thai restaurant are Chinese, so I put it into this list. The husband learned cooking Thai food and worked with Tai people for ~19years before they started their own shop. Their Thai food tastes even better than the Thai food cooked by Thai I tried in USA. One secret is that they use very fresh seasoning from Thai by air-transport twice one week. From them I got the idea to use lemon and lime instead of vinegar, bringing me more possibility on cooking.
Lemon Leaf Thai Restaurant
Another one is called "Lamian", but their best homemade noodle is actually "knife-flied noodle". They use "Lamian" as this name is easier to remember. I love their homemade knife-flied noodle, taste as good as my favorite noodlehouse near my PhD institute when I was in Beijing. They also make Sushi. I don't usually think high of Sushi in Chinese restaurents until once I tried a really good Sushi-house in San Fransisco, surprising to me which was managed by Chinese people. This "Lamian" shop also make very good sushi.
Another thing I really love on this restaurant is that they arrange the food like an art, very beautifully. This makes a wonderful appetite!
Lamian, Währingerstaße
The exsitance of good Sushi-house and Thai-restraurents managed by Chinese is very cheerful to me, because it proves that it is entitlely possible for Chinese people to do good jobs on dishes from other countries. It makes sense though, Japanese do not make Sushi when they were born. Indeed for Chinese to learn Thai or Janpanse food, it would take more effort as they are probably not as familiar as the local people. It will require more effort with sincere attitude. Human being can learn, that is the most wonderful thing.
On the top of my list is "Ostwind" restaurant, defenitely the best in Vienna. Even moving it to Beijing it will be one of the top. Every dish tastes wonderful on its own style, no need to worry about the similar flavor from dish to dish, not at all. It is obsolutely enjoying to taste their food. The only pity is it is quite far from our place, and they do not open in Sunday. They even take the entire Feburary off this year, probably went back to China for vacation. I used to joke with Tim that if we can not find a restaurent opening in a Federal holiday, then try the Chinese ones which always work. But for "Ostwind", they are pround enough to be open whenever they like, and people still love to go. Oh BTW, they do not have the stupid different manu requiring extra Euros for "authentic". Good food is good food!
Ostwind
Not “authentic” is not the excuse for not treating cooking seriously. Good food is good food.
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