It helps if you speak the language. I'm not saying you don't speak the language, just for those following along at home.
You have to have some rough idea of what you want. If you want stir fried vegetables, you'll say something like "I want stir fried vegetables. What's good today?" Or "I want a seafood noodle soup. How do the mussels look? Any suggestions?"
Time location is important. Instead of just saying "What's good?" ask "I like rice plates. Anything good come in today?"
Finally, it's not always like this. I know I've squashed down at some street vendors and ordered a bowl of noodles without this conversation. This doesn't happen at every meal.
Asian restaurants in Asia tend to specialize. You want curry, go to the curry place, if you want noodles, go to the noodle place.
Asian restaurants in the states (Thai and Chinese especially) have huge menus with no clear recommendations in the name. For instance, what are you getting when you go to Morton's steak house?
The name gives you the cue. Just like if you're heading into a restaurant called "Shanghai Dumpling House" you're probably getting dumplings.
"Golden Dragon" or "Wok Shop" gives you no information to work with, so you have to extract what is good from the waiter instead of the menu.
"Just like if you're heading into a restaurant called "Shanghai Dumpling House" you're probably getting dumplings."
Be careful with this. At least in the US, the English name often has very little to do with the Chinese name, and it's the latter which is meaningful. As an example there's a place in Boston's Chinatown called the "Dumpling House" (or something along those lines) but the Chinese name is something like "tastes of north and south". Go figure, you see a lot of Westerners complaining about the dumplings here.
Basically, if you show up at an ethnic place and order what the other ethnic people are getting, it's hard to go wrong.
That's why it's maybe more of a thing in the states where you interrogate the waiter. In Asia, each restaurant does one thing, because the competition is so intense.
In the states, you expect to get broccoli beef in every Chinese restaurant, so they sort of have to offer it. Once you talk to the waiter, everything will be made clear.
Yep, that's the one. It's not that their dumplings are bad or anything like that, it's just not as much a forte of theirs as the English name would lead you to believe.
By the way, in Cupertino there is a restaurant called "Shanghai Dumpling". They serve some of the best soup dumplings I have had. The soup is not too salty and does not leave an oily mouth feeling. The service is poor, but food fast and delicious.
