Home - Asian Bistro (2024)

FAQs

What is the lowest sodium Chinese takeout? ›

Opt for steamed dishes like steamed vegetables, steamed fish, or steamed dumplings, as they typically have lower sodium content. Choose dishes with light sauces, such as garlic sauce or ginger sauce, and ask for them on the side to control the amount you use.

Chinese restaurants may be more likely than most to close on Mondays because they (esp. the smaller ones) are traditionally family owned and staffed businesses - the owner is also the manager and the family is the cook and waiters. There is only one “shift”. No one can work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day.

Steamed Fish and Vegetables

Takeout menus tend to offer a mild-tasting variety of protein-rich white fish, such as sole, and it's paired with mixed vegetables. The veggies add fiber, a key nutrient for digestion and heart health. If you have the chance to choose or add Chinese eggplant as a veggie, go for it.

The “house special” part means that the chef gets to pick what goes into the dish, so it's often a bit of everything. This could include char siu pork (that's the yummy Cantonese BBQ pork), king prawns, seafood, quail eggs, scallops, squid, beef, chicken, or tofu.

Stick with veggie-rich and stir fried shrimp and chicken dishes. Ask for extra broccoli, snow peas and other vegetables. Steer away from entrees that are basically deep-fried meat or chicken in sauce. Don't waste your calories on greasy noodles and fried rice.

Chinese restaurants are often run as family businesses. They would like a day off. Monday and Tuesday are often the nights when people don't go out.

Saturdays and Sundays are generally rest days in China.

Monday is xīngqīyī (星期一) in Chinese, meaning "day one of the week".

Look for dishes that are steamed or stir-fried or try pairing a couple small items - like steamed dumplings or egg foo yung - with a cup of soup. Watch out for fried dishes, like orange chicken and szechaun beef, which can hit over 600 calories per cup!

General Tso Chicken – According to Grubhub, this sweet fried chicken dish is the most popular Chinese food in America. It's also unhealthy, considering that it is deep-fried and the recipe demands tons of sugar.

How unhealthy is Chinese takeout? ›

If you pick unhealthy high fat, fried things and large amounts of rice or other simple carbs, of course it's harmful. But if you select nutritious foods with lots of steamed or stir-fried vegetables and no MSG you should be fine.

Fun are the Chinese or oriental flat rice noodles; noodles made from rice flour instead of wheat flour. They have a slightly different texture from your wheat noodles but are very good.

Worst: Lo Mein

The noodles are made from white flour, which raises your blood sugar faster than fiber-rich whole grains. Plus, they're cooked with oil and soy sauce, so you get extra fat and sodium. Can't pass it up? Order the vegetable version, and only have half the order.

The average 1 cup serving of lo mein has about 500 milligrams of sodium, according to fatsecret.com, a calorie counter app. Our version: 2 cups with 321 milligrams of sodium.