I Finally Found an Authentic Chinese Restaurant
Where I live, I've been unable to find an authentic Chinese restaurant. There are a bunch of Chinese takeout places, more than I can count. I’m not saying their food is bad or that they’re super inauthentic. There’s one just a few minutes from where I live that I go to all the time. But finding truly authentic Chinese food, and that isn’t the same old, same old westernized takeout stuff has been surprisingly difficult.
I live in a very diverse area, despite being what I would consider to be the middle of nowhere. I live about forty-five minutes outside of Charleston, South Carolina, which has a ton of great food but is too far (and expensive) to go to normally. But I often don’t need to anyway. There are actual award-winning restaurants from just about all over the world within a twenty minute drive of me. I can get delicious and authentic Mexican, Brazilian, Korean, Vietnamese, Jamaican, Thai, Italian, Irish, and German with ease, which never ceases to amaze me considering my location. There used to be a great Greek place nearby too, but they closed and sadly there are no other Greek restaurants nearby. Perhaps most shocking was the Afghan restaurant a mere ten minute walk away, though they closed in only eight months. There’s even a Ukrainian cafe and grocery store if I don’t mind a half an hour drive.
Yet truly authentic Chinese has eluded me outside of Charleston.
Until now. My sister found a great Chinese place called Old Li’s (still sufficiently far enough away from me that I don’t mind sharing its name). This is a truly authentic Chinese restaurant, though they definitely play up the decor to a western sensibility. But the food is spot on, and more importantly so is the dining experience. Dishes are served on a big lazy Susan with a big pot of rice. Guests are encouraged to share their meal with the whole table, so it’s less about ordering one thing and just eating that and more about ordering a bunch of stuff between your party and grabbing a little of everything, just like how meals are typically eaten in China.
I’m not going to talk about the virtues of Chinese food or launch into a diatribe about how their food culture is better or anything like that. Nor is this a paid endorsement of the restaurant. I just wanted to say I am so happy I can finally get truly authentic Chinese food near me that isn’t stuff like Kung Pao Chicken or Shrimp Fried Rice. They have things like Numbing Chicken, served in a thick sauce with a lot of Sichuan peppercorns and served cold. Spicy wontons that are stuffed with meat and vegetables and smothered in a red, spicy sauce. Lychee pork, braised gai lan with oyster sauce. There are quite a few frog dishes, which fit right in here in South Carolina.
I’ve always loved Chinese food. I binge Chinese Cooking Demystified on YouTube every couple of months. But I love trying foods from around the world. There’s just something so magical about trying a different cuisine and experiencing a different way of doing things. As a kid, my mom made about seven or eight different dishes for years and years, all standard American stuff; burgers, spaghetti, hot dogs. It was not interesting in the slightest, and honestly even to this day I’m pretty bored by American food.
I guess that’s one benefit of living in America – our food sucks, but there are so many other cuisines readily available in restaurants and grocery stores, it doesn’t matter. And again, I don’t have a problem with American-style takeout Chinese food. There’s a good one a few minutes from where I live and I go there all the time. They’ve got great Sichuan chicken and spring rolls, and yes, Kung Pao chicken. But finally finding a truly authentic Chinese place, with food you can’t get at takeout, is such a great experience.
And I will say, the experience of sharing multiple dishes rather than everyone having their own thing is objectively better. So much for not launching into a diatribe. You get to experience a wider range of flavors, which is great for people like my parents who are more conservative in their tastes and got to try the more unique and “exotic” dishes my sister and I ordered. Plus it was a great conversation starter, really getting us talking as we ate instead of keeping our head downs and silently finishing individual dishes.
It was a great time all around, and we ended up speaking to the owner afterwards and he told us about his journey from China halfway across the globe to South Carolina. That’s something I’m coming to enjoy more and more out of restaurant these days – great experiences as much as great food.
