Gary's Guide to 杂菜饭

Gary's Guide to 杂菜饭 (chap cai peng)

After years of eating 杂菜饭, and having gone through thick and thin with these meals, I thought it would be nice to write a guide on how to help people get the best experience out of those styrofoam boxes.

Basically, 杂菜饭 is best enjoyed with:

1) A Plastic Spoon
2) Styrofoam Lunch Box (Preferably not flaking)
3) Rice with decent texture and moisture (Elaborated in a later part of the guide)
4) Amount of rice you knowing is enough for the meal (not too much nor too little)
5) Three dishes (No, not 2, even if you're a girl)
6) An energetic person serving you with a smile
7) Price less than $2.80 (This is the max you should go)
8) For lunch
9) After many hours of factory/labourous work
10) On the move


Choosing your dishes

经过我无数次的试验后，选那三道菜时最重要的是 Balance.

There's a formula I unconsciously follow everytime:

1 Meat Dish that I (you) like +
1 Non-Meat, Non-Vegetable Dish that I (you) like +
1 Vegetable Dish that I (you) know is very healthy, but absolutely dislike.

This gives the meal a balanced amount of the required intake of protein, cabohydrates, calcium and fibre. The reason why this formula works, is that you get a decent variety, which means you don't get tired of the meal too easily, and the bad tasting vegetables (苦瓜，茄子，菜豆 etc.) has its tastes offset by the two dishes that you like.

Keep in mind that some things can't have their tastes go too wrong, and should always be a backup if you don't have anything else to order in mind. Most Non-meat, Non-vegetable dishes like 豆腐，马铃薯 (better known as kentang), 鸡蛋, 花生 are good examples.

午餐肉+马铃薯 cubes 炒茄汁 is one of my such favourites and some variety of it or another will always be available at 杂菜饭 stalls.

All-time Favourites

I will fill this section up in time with more input from other people. Meanwhile it'll house Haru's request to include Sambal Kangkong somewhere in this guide.

To quote him:

"Haru says:
sambal kang kong is the best!!!"

Personally, I have my Sambal Kangkong from 煮炒 stalls, so someone please go verify his statement.


Things NEVER to order

- Deep / stir fried fish slices because they have high possibilities to ruin the meal with pungent smells or stale tastes.

- Sweet and sour pork, because 90-100% of the 杂菜饭 stalls use crap portions of pork to cook this. Normally meat from the neck / unwanted areas of the pig because those cost really little and you can't tell since its fried and has sauces to mask up all bad taste.

- Things that make you feel sick and can weigh you down after the meal; most of the time deep-fried stuff.

- And anything that tastes bad,funny or inedible. Never feel obliged to eat stuff like that just because you spent a few dollars on it. (Applies to all other food)


Rice

Nothin much to really note here, except firstly, to never overeat just because you feel bad to have leftovers.

Never patronise stalls that leave their rice to dry up or half-cooked because it's really bad for digestion.