Asian Cuisine

The joy of eating Asian-style is the communal nature of the meal – this is particularly obvious in a Chinese meal but is part of Indian and Thai culture too. If you have been called upon to serve Asian cuisine then you must be prepared to not only serve the right food but also to serve it in the proper fashion. The meal will have been carefully planned and balanced to ensure that the aroma and appearance both contrast and complement each other. The wet dishes will be served in bowls while the dry dishes, the flatbreads, pickles and chutneys, will be placed on a thali, or large platter. Everyone helps themselves and then eats using cutlery or torn-off pieces of bread.

It’s similar for both Chinese and Thai meals. The dishes are all laid out at once and everyone helps themselves. On informal occasions serving spoons may be abandoned in favour of chopsticks, with everyone dipping in. Slurping, sucking and shoveling food are all acceptable in Asian culture. A round table is very useful for communal meals allowing everyone the same access to the food. Asian cuisine is a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds so choose your tableware to complement the food.

WingYip is a leading supplier of authentic Oriental products to the Chinese restaurant, take-away and domestic markets. It has four superstores located in Birmingham, Manchester, Croydon and Cricklewood, providing more than 2,500 different kinds of products including: oriental sauces, meats, fish, vegetables, rice, herbs, spices, frozen foods, cooking utensils and fast food packaging. Markets such as these are detrimental to caterers that attempt to serve authentic Asian food.

It's difficult to generalise about Southeast Asian Cuisine - every apparent rule has some sort of qualifier or contradiction. The region contains 11 countries divided into two subsections: mainland Southeast Asia and maritime Southeast Asia. Much of the continent is comprised of islands and the food varies not just by area, but by religious and ethnic traditions, as well as historic patterns of immigration, trade and colonisation. The result is a fascinatingly diverse mix of styles.

Salty flavours come not from salt but from fermented products such as fish sauces, shrimp pastes, and soy sauce. In general, Southeast Asians love sourness, taking it from ingredients such as tamarind, lemongrass, galingale, turmeric, bitter cucumbers or gourds, and sour fruits. The resulting tangy flavour in a savoury dish will often be balanced by sweet notes such as palm sugar and coconut.