Legend has it that century eggs are made by soaking duck eggs in horse urine! The truth is that the eggs are preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw for several weeks to months. When cooked, the egg white has a gelatinous texture, looks dark brown and transparent, while the egg yolk is creamy and looks grayish-green. Century eggs have a pungent smell and are typically eaten with preserved ginger.

Salted Duck Eggs (’xian dan’ in Mandarin)

This is a Chinese preserved food. It is made by soaking whole raw ducks eggs in brine or wrapped in heavily salted clay for about a month. This results in a very liquid egg white and a bright orange-red, round and firm yolk. Typically eaten with congee, and also used as an ingredient in moon cakes and rice dumplings.

Half boiled egg

Room temperature eggs are placed into boiling hot water and left to cook for 4 minutes. The result? You get a soft and wet egg yolk and white, slippery enough to be slurped down in one breath! Usually served with a few drops of dark soy sauce and a dash of white pepper. A popular breakfast item in Singapore, eaten with toasted bread.
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Wu Long tea is also known as “oolong” or “wulong.” The different spellings result from the various ways the Chinese Language can be written using the English (or more properly the “Roman”) alphabet. The Chinese pronunciation of this tea sounds like “oo long.”

Wu Long tea was first produced in the 15th century in China’s Fujian province. It is a semi-oxidized tea, meaning that the tea leaves are allowed to partially oxidize after they are picked. Black tea is a fully oxidized tea and green tea is un-oxidized, so wu long tea has characteristics of both green and black tea. (more…)

Chinese use chopsticks and Westerners use knives and fork- for main dishes. That is the difference between the two cultures when it comes to eating. This inevitably means that large piece of meat like steak, fish and poultry are not possible at the Chinese table since using chopsticks to pick up massive amounts of food is not feasible. Most dishes are therefore made up of mouth sized pieces which are taken up by chopsticks and transferred to the mouth. For example, rice shaped like an oval small piece is easy to pick up with chopsticks. Chinese people were taught to use chopsticks long before spoons and forks were invented in Europe. Chopsticks were strongly advocated by the great Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC). Chinese food require greater delicacy when eaten with chopsticks, because the diner is forced to eat smaller portions at a time and also more slowly, therefore savoring the food more completely.

Also, unlike the spoon, fork, and knife, chopsticks convey the hand a sense of tactile rapport with the food. Therefore, it’s very true to say that Chinese dining experience involves all the senses! There are different styles of chopsticks. The Chinese variety is blunt on the eating end, while the Japanese prefer those with pointed tips. There are even short lengths for children for use. The most common chopsticks are made of wood or bamboo but there are chopsticks made from ivory, silver, plastic and even jade as well. For daily use, wood, bamboo, or ivory is best.
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Have you ever been curious about the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese cuisines? Where did orange chicken and Peking duck originate? How do Sichuan (Szechuan) dishes compare to against Hunanese or Shanghainese? After a while, these regional styles sound like a hodgepodge of chop suey ñ which, by the way, was invented in America, as was the revered fortune cookie. Many Chinese restaurants offer a number of regional cuisines on the same menu, so it is not that easy to distinguish the difference when all dishes are equally delicious. Here is a quick primer on the most prevalent Chinese cuisines found in America.

Canton Cuisine

Cantonese cuisine originated from the areas of Guangdong Province and Hong Kong in southern China. Canton is an old port city that today is referred to as Guangzhou. Dim sum meaning touch the heart, the Chinese meal of small tidbits of food presented on roving carts, began in this region. Freshness is supreme to the Cantonese. Live fish and seafood are held in tanks just before being dispatched immediately for cooking. Cantonese sauces are mild and subtle so as to not overpower the freshness of the ingredients. Popular Cantonese dishes include steamed whole fish, crispy-skinned chicken, shark’s fin soup, and roast suckling pig.

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“China Blue serves contemporary, modern Chinese food using authentic spices and herbs from the far east.
Popular for business lunches with a great value set menu, the service is almost café style where the food is brought to you with speed and thought.
In the evening however, there is a more relaxed and cosy feel, perfect for a romantic meal for two.
The menu features some Thai and Malaysian flavours with all the popular classics and if your feeling a little adventurous there are one or two exciting alternatives which the staff will happily help you choose!” - www.eatoutdevon.com

Fullam Chinese Restaurant is one of Barnstaple’s favourite oriental restaurants having been established since 1993.

Introduced in 2006, we invite you to indulge in our new menu. An exquisite variety of Asian cuisines carefully selected from regions ranging from Beijing to Canton, and Malaysia to Mongolia. We created the menu to incorporate your favourite traditional Cantonese cuisines plus additional dishes from across the Far East.

Our cuisine remains the only Chinese Restaurant in Barnstaple to win a North Devon Food & Drink award.

Sample Menu

Crab Meat & Sweetcorn Soup
Classic Won Ton Soup - Traditional Chinese Dumpling Soup

Aromatic Duck Salad
Chicken Satay Chinese
Peppery Baby Corn (v)
Peppery Mushrooms (v)
Chilli & Spicy Mushrooms

Mongolian Lamb
Aromatic Crispy Duck

Classic Beef in Black Bean Sauce - with green peppers
Pineapple Beef - stir fried with pickled ginger
Beef with Broccoli
Chilli & Spicy Beef (hot)
Beef with Three Style Mushroom

Reviews

“The Fulham serves food that was pretty good. Traditional Chinese food. The atmosphere was also great, and plenty of space for you to move around. The waiters were friendly compared to some other restaurants!” - John Kerry, Bideford

“Have visited the restuarant twice - different occassions and both were excellent, value for money, first class service, friendly and welcoming, superb choice of cuisine.” -Mrs M. Jones, Bideford

Please click HERE for contact details.

*from the Fulham Chinese Retaurant website.

Good, authentic - and healthy - Chinese food is prepared and cooked with poly-unsaturated oils and has no use for dairy ingredients such as cream, butter, or cheese. Meat is included in the recipes but is not of an abundant quantity. So lovers of authentic Chinese cooking are easily able to avoid the dangers associated with the intake of too much animal fat in their diet.

So in answer to the question: ‘Is Chinese food healthy?’ the answer is a very definite yes, but you must be sure that the Chinese meal that you are eating is an authentic Chinese meal prepared in the traditional manner and using only traditional and healthy ingredients. You can have your cake and eat it; just as long as you know that it is the right kind of cake you are eating.