Rhodes to China

By Paul Fulford on Jul 28, 08 04:12 PM

I'll be watching with interest Gary Rhodes's new series about authentic Chinese cookery starting on the UK Food channel tonight.

I don't altogether enjoy his style of presenting, but he's always struck me as a master craftsman with a genuine love of food and his books are excellent - crammed with well-presented, interesting recipes that are sometimes challenging but never over-difficult for the competent amateur cook.

His take on Chinese cuisine will be interesting, though I doubt many of us will tempt his recipe for snake soup.

For years we Brits have imagined Chinese food to be the MSG-loaded, headache-inducing, mouth-parching, gloopy stuff served in Cantonese takeaways up and down the country.

Which is stupid thing to believe since a land as vast and varied as China clearly must possess a miriad of styles.

Spikey-haired Gary's journey promises to be enlightening.

Meanwhile, any Brummies who fancy tasting north Chinese food (very different from Cantonese) could do worse than try Jacky's Kitchen or BBQ Village in Chinatown. They're cracking places.