Susanne K.
Yelp
Since relocating to the Mid-West FPO and I have encountered several gastronomical challenges in our culinary adventures. One of the main ones being we can't find good, authentic Chinese food. Well, maybe that's not entirely fair. I doubt anywhere in this country has "authentic" Chinese food because everywhere you go, the food is going to be influenced by the region. Chinese food in Hawaii is very different from Chinese food on the West Coast, the East Coast, and it's verrry different from Chinese food in the Mid-West.
Panda Express is Americanized, fast food Chinese and it looks like it might be the closest to what we're used to. But, as we learned the other day, even Panda's is different. I'm sure their recipes must be the same because they're either corporate stores or franchises but I think because their sources are different, even with this we found it's different. I ordered a plate with the noodles, teriyaki chicken, and honey walnut shrimp. Everything tasted different. The noodles were more bland and more oily. The chicken was probably the best thing on the plate. It reminded me more of teri chicken in Hawaii. The shrimp was smaller and had a fishy taste to it. At first I was worried I would get food poisoning but after a few hours and I was still fine, I decided it must just be the restaurants here are getting their ingredients from a different source.
I can't say I really enjoyed this first Panda experience but I learned from it. Next time I'll go with either the greens or the fried rice and avoid the shrimp entirely. There will be a next time ... eventually. This really is the closest thing I've found so far to the Chinese food in Hawaii. I must be getting homesick.