Why kong bao when there is so much more?

My American buddy Buzz Peabody orders the same Chinese dish every time. "Wo yao kong bao jiding (I want kong bao chicken)," he tells the waiter.

Buzz's eating habit highlights how kong bao jiding is arguably the favorite Chinese dish of many foreigners. "Why are so many expats hooked on this chicken dish?" Chinese people ask.

Maybe because many of us expats are chicken about everything else on the menu!

Kong bao, a spicy sweet Sichuan chicken dish, is a very popular takeaway order in the United States and ranks the highest in popularity in many expat Internet chat rooms. Despite it's spicy kick, it's actually a sweet dish, which many foreigners tend to enjoy. Using the "if something works, don't fix it" guideline, many new arrivals like to stick to what they know and an experimental adventurer can pay the price for straying off the kong bao path.

One night I was hungry for beef, and pointed at the characters for "nui rou" (beef). The waitress nodded her head, and then said a bunch of other stuff I didn't understand. I stupidly nodded in agreement, and about 5 minutes later, to my horror, I was staring at steaming beef intestines. This is a nasty, evil dish with a rotten taste and putrid smell.

But this doesn't happen often and hitting these speed bumps on China's culinary highway, wobbling a bit, then moving forward, is all part of the Middle Kingdom experience, right?

Considering the 3,000-odd years of food experimentation, the Chinese have created some amazing food, and there are so many taste sensations out there in restaurant land. The only thing with four legs that isn't gobbled up is the restaurant table. There are so many dishes out there, but which are the good ones?

There is a real art in ordering food in a Chinese restaurant and one of my colleagues is a master. When 20 or so colleagues hit the restaurant, the menu is passed to Chen Liang who nails it every time.

He first counts the number of people then puts himself in their shoes. If they are from southern China, he chooses light dishes. If they are from Sichuan he chooses very spicy, colorful dishes. There also has to be a balance between meat, vegetables, soup, cold and hot dishes. Cold dishes are good starters, as you wait for the hot stuff, and soup is good for digestion, especially after dumplings.

And there is so much more than kong bao. Wuhan people have their "coming back fish" and tangy dried noodles, the Uygurs from Xijiang are the barbeque kings, and there is the delicious roasted suckling pig from southern China.

My favorite is Hainan ji fan (Hainan chicken rice). The chicken is boiled first and then the rice is boiled in chicken broth. Chicken is served cold, rice is hot, and there is cucumbers, chili paste, ginger, and another special sauce on the side.

The best bet is asking the waiter for the chef's selection. Each restaurant has its own specialty dish, and a good restaurant has many.

But you may see something familiar served up.

Waiter: "The foreigner wants to try our specialty dish."

Chef: "Ah. I know what those foreigners like. Tell him kong bao chicken is coming right up."

(China Daily 07/06/2009 page10)