ottawa foodies

I'm perhaps jumping into the discussion a bit late but I did want to clarify the technicalities regarding Chinese cuisine.

In the literal sense, the Cantonese have two main types of "noodles": consisting of the aforementioned "fen" and "mein". Mein (or mian) is usually considered a grain-based noodle whereas, fen are specifically noodles made from rice. The exception here is macaroni and spaghetti (as well as most pastas) - which the Chinese generally call "tong xin fen" and "yidali fen" respectively (meaning hollow fen and Italian fen).

Now, as for the differences between "chow mein" and "lo mien"; the word "chow" means stirfried and is pretty self-explanatory. However, many restaurants and households prefer to blanch their noodles prior to stirfrying them; for some mein this is necessary as they are coated in flour to maintain their integrity (ie. so the noodles don't stick together)and stirfrying them as-is would result in thick mess whereas for other mein, this is merely so that the noodles are easier to stirfry and better separated.

The word "lo" means mixed. In these dishes, the noodles are blanched and subsequently mixed with seasoning - they could mixed in a wok, but they are not literally stirfried.

Now the final point that you have to take into consideration is that these explanations are merely for Cantonese cuisine. Depending on the background of the person preparing your Chinese food, they may have different interpretations of "fen" and "mein". For example; while these explanations may be satisfactory for most Southern Chinese residents; many Northern Chinese residents may consider "mein" just a general term for noodles. Just remember, the simplicity or complexity of the Chinese cuisine represented at Chinese restaurants is directly related to the background of their chef; whether they are from the north or the south, Hong Kong or Mainland, Sichuan or Beijing or Shanghai, they will all interpret "Chinese" cuisine much differently.

LWB,
wondered where you were lurking 'bout lol
okay okay
let me rephrase
chow mein does not exist in a real Chinese kitchen

chow mein with soft fried noodles is very similiar to lo mein but the noodles are fried separately and added afterwards

lo mein, the harder veggies and aromatics are stirfried then the blanced noodles are added followed by the more tender veggies letting the flavours permeate the noodles

HK style lo mein the stirfried veggies are served atop a fried noodle cake but somewhere someone decided the puffy chrispy noodles were better (*shudders thinking of the frugal gourmet suggesting corn flakes as a sub for those noodles*)

and chow fun is very similiar to pad thai in all but seasonings

nice read though
hmm chimaican lo mein?...me needs to go digging through my mom's recipes

Chow Mein: en.wikipedia.org

I will grant you Obi, that Lo Mein, Chow fun and Chow Mein are three different items, and the Chow Mein is indeed a Canadian Chinese/American Chinese dish. However, given that every birthday my partner's mother orders Chow Mein from the Golden Palace, you cannot tell me that there is not such thing as Chow Mein.

this is not a comment on Winner House but rather what is preceived as Chinese food
there is no such thing as Chow Mein
there is Lo Mein and Chow fun
three totally different creatures

F&T, thank you for pointing out the resto was Chinese Canadian

sorry my back gets up everytime I read how good a chow mein is

Winner house has the best take out chinese food around, the portions are generous, the ingredients are always fresh and the delivery is always fast.

Our favorite dishes include:

The Cantonese Chow Mein, served on soft egg noodles....to die for :)
The Sweet and Sour Breaded Shrimp is excellent. The Won Ton Soup (my personal favorite).

My family and I give Winner house our highest recomendation.

"The Man" likes to order Canadian Chinese food from this Barrhaven institution. Located in a strip mall (One Tartan) it has forever sat plunk in the middle of the residential district known as "Old Barrhaven" and has many devoted customers who remember the days before the plethora of Big Box Stores, Shopping Malls, or even an Eat-In Restaurant.

This is a no-nonsense pick-up or delivery storefront that makes good chinese food.
Among our favourites:

Won Ton Soup with BBQ Sliced Pork
Hot & Sour Soup
Beef Fried Rice
Chicken Chow Mein
Almond Chicken Soo Guy

The Chicken Chow Mein is made in the traditional fashion with noodles, bean sprouts and veggies... and not what so often is passed off as Chow Mein just a bunch of bean sprouts sprinkled with those dried crispy noodles.