The Chinese in New York.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6706, 20 November 1889, Page 1

The Chinese in New York.

Mr Wong Chin Foo, an Americanised Chinaman,.and a well-known journalist of New York, contributes a very interesting article on " The Chinese in New York " to the August number of the Cosmopolitan. In speaking of the gastronomic habita of the Chinese, Mr Wong (the Chinese put the family name first) saya that in their restaurants these people do not generally pay by the dishes ordered, but by the tables or spreads, called gzuh. A first-class spread includes about forty courses, which it takes two-days to finish, and which costs 50dols; a second-class spread, with twentyeight courses, costs 40dols; a third-class spread, with eighteen courses, costs 25d013. The cheapest spread includes eight courses, and costa Bdols. This is the lowest price for which & man con order a formal dinner in a first-claBS Chinese restaurant (of which there are eight in New York City) ; but then the spread is made for any number of people within twelve. If a person simply wants to eat a chort meal for himself and a friend or two, he can get ready-made dishes of fish, chicken, ducks, pigs' feet, rice, tea, &c, cheaper than in any other restaurant. The foods are all chopped in small pieces, rendering knives and forts unnecessary. The Chinese table implements are chop3tickß of ebony or ivory, a tiny teacup, and a porcelain 6poon. A staple dish for the Chinese gourmand is eliow chop svey, a mixture of chickens' livers and gizzards, fungi, bamboo buds, pigs' tripe and bean sprouts strewed with spices. The gravy of thia is poured into the bowl of rice and makes a delicions seasoning for the favourite grain. The tea is made by pouring hot water over the fresh Oolong in a cup, and covering the latter with a smaller saucer to draw. Then, pushing back the saucer a little, the fluid is poured into a smaller cup, and more hot water is added to tho grounds. This may be repeated five or six times, and the last cup will be nearly as strong as the first. The Chinaman always taken spirits with his meals, pouring rice whiskey into a tiny cup from a pewter pot ; but ho always drinka moderately, and never apart from meals. When a party of Chinamen gib around a table, one dish of each kind oE food ia served, and all pick from tbe same dish with chopsticks. When there are several courses, the earlier diahe3 are never removed, and, by the time a good dinner has been served, the table is literally buried under disheß. The walla of tho restaurant are hung with long scrolls of Chinese writings — maxims from philosophers for the entertainment of those who eat — and from the ceiling bang large fantastically painted Chinese lanterns, and flower baskets that reaemble bird cages. To the rear is the kitchen, which is always i scrupulously clean. The stoves are curiosities. They are long ranges built of thin broad bricks. In the top there are great pits, into which are firmly set iron gridirons imported from China. Two of the ranges have open pits only, and there are places where whole hogs are occasionally hung upon iron bars and roasted. Coal is never used in these Chinese kitchens, but only hay or hickory wood. "At least five hundred Americans take their meals regularly in Chinese restaurants, in orthodox Chinese fashion, with chopsticks."