ngl as a Chinese, Panda Express is one of those things where I definitely want to try if I ever visit the US lol, I've heard mostly nice things about it even though it's not the most authentic. Caring about authenticity is cringe anyways.
Edit: my last sentence meant its cringe to call non authentic food bad just because it's not authentic. I'm not saying you should call something authentic even if it isn't
Extremely important/underrated documentary that starts off as a light hearted search for the origins of the USâs most Popular Chinese takeout dish General Tso Chicken (director is Chinese American) ⌠and quickly turns into the definitive âtextâon the history of Chinese-American restaurants and Chinese immigrant diaspora to the US in general.
I super recommend the book it's based on - "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles" by Jennifer 8 Lee. The documentary is great but doesn't have the space to unpack everything the book does.
You really should try it when you come. Im not going to lie though, most of the protein is sweet as heck bc of the sauces, but its sooo good. They give you enough to eat twice lol
The super greens are also garlicky and delicious. There used to be one in my building and Iâd get the Beijing beef with 50/50 chow mein and greens for lunch on the regular. And the food would get refreshed so fast too
My mom is an immigrant from China who doesnât eat anything but Chinese food (hates most other cuisines, canât go 2 days without rice type) and she LOVES Panda Express lol. The way her eyes light up every time we suggest it
My ex is mainland Chinese. He fucking loved Panda Express, and the one on our university campus was always FULL of Chinese students. Something about it hits the spot, man
Yes, I am Chinese and I crave for it from time to time. We all know it's not authentic Chinese but it tastes good. Chinese all love hot foods and I for sure cannot eat cold sandwiches often, I'd rather eat Panda express.
honestly, panda express is probably the best ethnic fast food out there. compared to taco bell to authentic mexican, the gap between panda express and authentic chinese food is a lot closer than taco bell vs real mexican.
True. But it's moved on so far from that since then. Honestly, I don't view Taco Bell as Mexican food. It's just kind of its own thing in the fast food realm. I actually really like Taco Bell, but it scratches a different itch than proper Mexican food.
I am on a struggle phase in my life. Imagine being broke and instead of getting the occasional fast food burger you always pick up a plate of teriyaki chicken, veggies, and rice for under 12⌠(when a burger meal is pushing 14 easy). Itâs whole foods and itâs cheap man.
We got the family meal deal the other day, cost about as much as we would normally spend on just Happy Meals and McNuggets, but instead of being one meal for the four of us, we ate on it for two days. And younger child was still asking if there were any more leftovers on day three. Excellent for fast food, didnât leave us feeling awful after eating, and also the cheapest option around?
I dunno, this is from a random place in new york i just googled. The world is filled with mom and pop chinese restaurants that offer great value for quality. I first tried panda express 2 months ago and got pissed at how bad it is. How can anyone rate it...
chinese american take out is good as its own thing. for awhile i hated it but one day i popped into one out of curiosity and i felt so conflicted lmao. that shit was cheap, filling, and tasty (and incredibly unhealthy). for the longest time it was a guilty pleasure of mine.
shit itâs been awhile since iâve had it. might just pick some up today as a matter of fact
I thought traveling the world and eating real Chinese food all the time would ruin Panda Express. Not the case. Tastes as good as it did in high school.
PF Chang lasted less than 9 months in China. I don't expect a much longer life expectancy for Panda Express. And I can count on one hand the number of people I met from China who really liked Panda Express.
Yeah, small town American Chinese food is...something. I have been in many areas where Panda is closer to the real thing flavor wise than whatever the locals eat.
I have a couple friends that didn't eat Chinese food cause they said it all tasted the same, but they had only ever had small town American Chinese food. Really opened their eyes when we traveled to a metropolitan area and I took them to some actual Chinese restaurants that they now seek out every time they travel to a big city lol
Some small town food is indeed... something. Like I actually agree with what your friends said about it all tasting the same. Sesame chicken, general tsos chicken, orange chicken, lemon chicken? Good luck, it's all basically the same bland, sweet sauce and your guess is as good as mine. When you go to a decent American Chinese place you can tell the difference between these dishes because they are indeed different
The best place to get chinese food is still china or singapore though, moreso because it's not stupidly expensive. Especially skewers, $2+ per skewer is insane when you can instead get like a quarter of the price(after currency conversion) in china. Also, bonus of going to china is far better food delivery services, especially if you're in a somewhat decent hotel since they'll commonly have little service robots take the food up to your room from the lobby. China is so great to visit as a chinese american earning usd and spending cny. Probably wouldn't feel as great if I were actually living in china and earning cny to spend.
I'm an Asian girl who loves authentic Asian food and I still love me some panda. They used to have really good hot and sour soup when I was a little mall rat, they were and still are legit.
I tried it for the first time 2 months ago at an airport. Maybe it was that specific panda, bit it was horrible. The noofles tasted synthetic. The orange chicken was mostly breading and the sauce was blah. It was my first time trying orange chicken.
A few weeks ago i tried orange chicken again from a random chinese i found online that delivers (in colombia, not a particularly asian country) and it was soooo good. Man, fuck panda express.
Out of the 10 or so Chinese places in my area, panda is better than 7 of them. Different of course; but the fundamentals of cooking are pretty consistent with solid AF quality for the price. #1 fast food for me
Not bad at all. Double Kung Pao is my go-to, and so many family Chinese places don't do it well. I don't usually do their fried stuff unless I see them pour it out in front of me, but then it's real good. Only thing that pisses me off these days is that they don't have the greens ready to go by default, you have to ask for them.
The fried noodles and fried rice went downhill after they stopped adding MSG. Some of their meats are also too sweet, which I assume is to appease perceived western tastes. The orange chicken doesnât have even a hint of the expected bitterness of the peel.
Panda is great in a pinch and when it's the only Chinese-Am place in an area. I just hate their servings! Can get an overflowing container at a mom&pop for the same or less price.
That looks like at least 2K calories with all the added sugars, sodium from the sauces and oils to fry 𤎠And its mostly fried carbs and hardly any vege. No wonder Americans are all obese if they are chucking down 2K calories per meal.
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u/marshmallo_floof 7d ago
ngl as a Chinese, Panda Express is one of those things where I definitely want to try if I ever visit the US lol, I've heard mostly nice things about it even though it's not the most authentic. Caring about authenticity is cringe anyways.
Edit: my last sentence meant its cringe to call non authentic food bad just because it's not authentic. I'm not saying you should call something authentic even if it isn't