Lin’s Little China・Lunch Special

Lunch Special

In business for over 20 years, Lin’s Little China Restaurant Inc knows there’s nothing better than a great deal on great eats. Take a look at our dinner specials, www.linslittlechina.com which are available from 3.00pm till close.

In a recent discussion with Wey, at Lin’s, “Authenticity” is a loaded word that they like stay away from, because the very concept discriminates against food that has evolved over years and generations. It implies that food needs to conform to a set of standard dishes and flavors determined at an arbitrary time and place, even as new ingredients are introduced and as communities migrate throughout the world. There is an expectation that a dish should look and taste a specific way in order to be valid, and the onus often falls on the chef—not the critic—to be perfect ambassadors of their culture’s cuisine. It’s an unrealistic standard that’s destined to fail, because what is authentic to one person might be completely unfamiliar to another.

In the realm of Chinese cuisine, this type of gatekeeping has left many Chinese chefs and food writers bewildered and second-guessing the food that they grew up eating.

“When people talk about authenticity, it’s that question of nostalgia,” says many Chinese Chefs. “But it’s also people’s internalized prejudices, where they have certain expectations of things.” Despite the fact that Lin’s has been around for many years and is staffed and owned by people of Chinese descent, Wey says that they still get accusations of not being authentic enough. “People say because we don’t have dim sum carts, it’s not authentic,” says Wey, pointing out that even most dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong don’t use carts, and that the system encourages food waste and causes food to go cold.

Were just fine and as our clientele comes back for more and more, Lin’s believes they have something “Authentic.”