the hunt for good Chinese food

map and more explanations here

there are always pros and cons to where you live and once you do choose a place its how you deal with the cons that make life happier. this might be a very superficial con, but to me its a con nonetheless.

utah= no good Chinese food

 (or most ethnic food for that matter- even typical American chain food is not as good)

even when ry and i have gone out to eat at some chain restaurants the version i ate out-of-state was better. example= a pasta dish at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Cali tasted better than one in Murray, Utah

*although i have noticed the food closer to salt lake was a tad better. 

there have been select places where the food has been okay but never "wow" .  not trying to say that i am a food critic by any means- i just want the good food that i grew up with! 

my parents have happily fed my siblings and i  lots of Chinese food. my dad is obsessed. i am partial to the Cantonese style of  Chinese cooking (probably because my dad is too). when i was attending school in idaho i looked forward to every holiday or break so that i could go home to my parents and eat Chinese food.

its not only a type of food, its a memory that sends me back to my childhood.

luckily, this weekend my family and i had the opportunity to test out two Chinese restaurants- i was surprised!

01. Red Maple Chinese Restaurant- a Cantonese restaurant. my cousin-in-law picked this place out for his wedding rehearsal dinner. it was good! not as good as places in Cali, but definitely not bad. i would come back here again, most likely for dim sum. the sea bass was my fave.

02. Wa Me Chinese Restaurant- a Szechuan restaurant. no ambiance whatsoever (a-hole-in-the-wall). food came in a timely manner. service was okay. i recommend anything spicy- if you love spicy food you would love Szechuan style cooking. the rice cake and spicy beef were great. definitely coming back. another plus? its well priced.

okay so there are only two restaurants i can talk about right now, but im looking forward to tasting more Chinese/Asian restaurants and discovering new places.

any tasty Asian places in Utah you recommend?

*if you do visit Cali (or Vegas) head to Sam Woo my absolute favorite. they have locations peppered throughout Southern California and i believe one location in Nevada. it is Cantonese style cooking.

some favorite dishes of mine:
house special chow mein, shrimp with walnuts, fish mao soup, winter melon soup, duck with spring onion and buns, house special fried rice- and many others that i can't remember off the top of my head right now. maybe i will steal a menu next time :)