Chinese are footloose. You find them everywhere. Chinatown Chicago is busy with lots of people on the commercial streets which is essentially to L-shaped streets. The Chinese hang out on the sidewalks, squatting, sitting, smoking, chatting. It’s their social space. I think it is a habit carried over from China where the tenements in cities are too crowded so people spend a lot of time in the open. The facial features looked very different and the language (dailect) they spoke was very alien to me.
Dim Sum restaurants predominates. I was hunting for a noodle shop, the ones with the BBQ meat hanging on a window display and will have rice or noodles to go with it. The only shop which advertised noodles was a Vietnamese shop. After circling Chinatown (took only about 10 or 15 minutes), I picked one which offerred several kinds of noodles (but no BBQ).
I looked at the menu and chose a noodle with fish and thought I would also try their Chee Cheong Fun. I put the ticks on the order form, the waitress came over. I said (rather than asked), “the noodle is big, right?”. Yes, was all she said. But she did look a little sceptically at me. When the plate of noodle came, I got a huge shock. It was fit for a few kings. I think at least three or four people. I was a little cheesed. The waitress could have warned me! But the noodles was piping hot and the fish tasted good (not fishy).
A lady came over and started chatting so I showed off my Mandarin. She pointed to the dishes and she was wearing an apron, so I jumped to the conclusion she had something to do with the dishes. “You cooked this?”, I said in Mandarin. Yes, she said. They are very good, I complimented. This made her day. She also pointed to the thin wide noodles and the Chee Cheong Fun. “You made them?”, I guessed. Yes, in the basement, she said. Ah, first time a cook in Chinese Restaurant has bothered coming up to get customer feedback. But I said, “this is too much, I can’t finish this”. She said to take it home. But my home is Penang! As she left, she proudly told the waitress that the customer said “hoe seck” (delicious, in Cantonese). The waitress responded “when you are hungry, everything is good”. Typical Chinese retort.
How much did I eat? I finished the Chee Cheong Fun but there was more than half of the noodles left. The noodles was only about USD12.
So, be warned. This is super-sized country. BTW, I passed by McDonalds and saw they are using exactly the same polystyrene form containers for breakfast that they use in Malaysia. But their coffee is in paper cups.
Then I took the Red Line back to the Institute of Art and it took perhaps 15 minutes including some walking. The Institute has got a huge collection including Egyptian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and more. What I really appreciated most was the miniature sets of the interiors such as living rooms and kitchens of various periods of houses in America. This was about the only displays which I thought was “local” or shall we say contributed by people of Chicago. The rest are actually “stolen” from other cultures. OK, I am making a point here. I said this to Harold (not in those words) and he said, “Ya, many museums in Europe are now sending back the exhibits to their country of orgin”.
One thing about Americans is that eating out (especially dinner) is almost like a cultural experience. They check out restaurants, book way ahead and when it comes to ordering, the waiter (or person taking orders) have to be very well-informed about the menu. Some do it better than others. Last night Harold and family took me on a train ride for about 30 minutes to the outskirts of Chicago for sushi. The restaurant is only sushi. No noodles, no teriyaki. It was really good. And I learned from D Marie how to eat sashimi with sushi rice in a bowl. And I also learned that sashimi should not be pre-cut. It should be cut and served immediately.
I leave tonight. Hope the airlines don’t give me a hassled. Will still have time for the Field Museum (real dinosaur skeletons there) and perhaps contribute a little to the local economy.
Thank you, Chicago. Thank you Harold, D, Reuben … and Kiran and Shin Cheng. I am sure we will meet again. Not forgetting WEGE Foundation, SecondNature. Barbara, Shirley ..
Oh, I like the “Zip-Out Check-Out” offered by Palmer House. Just call and extension and leave a voice mail to say what time you are checking out. No need to queue up.
I thought this photo capture the Chinese spirit. As I turned the corner from the commercial street into the residential area, I saw vegetable plots. Further down there was a reconstructed apartment, gated, set-back, and instead of vegetables were flowers. So, the older generation probably need the vegetables while the younger are holding jobs in the office. The thing which thought was non-Chinese was the architecture.
As I turned another corner, I saw three or four ladies selling what must be harvests from their vegetable gardens. I thought it very cool. Support local people, local produce, bring life to the streets. Wonder if they have to play cat-and-mouse game with the city enforcement.
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