Cultural Background:

For many North Americans, dining in a Chinese restaurant could be considered as one of their favourite pass times as they look forward to be mesmerized by the rich flavors, aromas, and colours that made Chinese cuisines world renowned. Unfortunately, there are too many "water down" Chinese restaurants in North America that does not uphold the high standard of quality pertain in traditional Chinese cuisine as they serve many patrons with plain common dishes like the fried rice, ‘sweet & sour pork’, egg foo young, and spring rolls. In my honest opinion, such dishes deprive many westerners the true flavour and overall dinning experience offered by genuine authentic Chinese dishes. As a popular saying goes, “Do not dine in a Chinese restaurant if you cannot find a single Chinese patron in it."

To many asian families, dinning out in general represents an important bonding time where family members could gather and build relationship with one another. This is especially evident in a Chinese restaurant where every meal served, positively facilitates family relationship as foods are shared rather than consumed individually. As the family dine on a particular dish, it is common for individual family member to share his or her personal opinions on a particular food item which may include taste, texture, fragrance, and overall presentation.. In response, other family members would also in turn share their own opinions about the food on the table, hence there are no lack of discussion topics as food is one of many subjects that could be discussed.

In general, a nine-course meal is usually served in a dinner banquet as dishes may include shark fin soup, lobsters, abalone, Ying Yang rice, rock cod, and various other exotic dishes. In general, a nine-course meal can range from $300 to as high as $700 (CAD) per table. Traditionally in the Chinese culture, only one of the family members pays the entire bill including the tips. Although one may speculate that many family members would hesitate to pay the cost of an expensive dinner, however in most cases though family members would even squabble amongst each other for the right to pay the entire bill as such gesture represents generosity toward the family in general.

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