A foodie who flew from Canada to Britain to try a range of takeaway meals has given his verdict on Chinese food.
Yani MacuteThe 32-year-old spent a month in the city of Leeds in February, staying with his cousin.
He said one of his goals while exploring Britain was to buy British-Chinese takeaway food because he had seen people raving about it on TikTok.
Yani spent $44 on one meal, consisting of chicken balls, Cantonese-style sweet and sour chicken, sesame shrimp toast, chicken feed, fried rice, fries and curry sauce.
In a TikTok showing himself eating, Yani explains that he was most excited to try the shrimp toast since he didn’t see it in North America.
Yani Macute, 32, spent a month in the city of Leeds this February while staying with his cousin. He said one of his goals was to buy British-Chinese takeaway food
Yani spent $44 on a meal that included chicken balls, Cantonese-style sweet and sour chicken, sesame shrimp toast, chicken chow mein, fried rice, fries and curry sauce
He explains in a follow-up clip what the item contains, telling his followers: ‘There is minced shrimp in the fried toast with sesame on it. Dipped in curry sauce is so delicious.’
When trying the chicken chow mein, Yani describes the sauce as “thick” and “almost like honey.”
Many viewers commented on the curry sauce in Yani’s clip, finding it an unusual accompaniment.
However, in another TikTok post, he defends the sauce by telling his fans: ‘For all the curry sauce haters: it’s not an Indian curry, it’s a Katsu curry, a Japanese Katsu curry.
‘It’s a little sweet, but also curry-like, but it doesn’t taste like an Indian curry at all.’
After Yani had his first Chinese meal in the United Kingdom, he traveled to the Philippines. Once back in England he went through for the second round.
He muses on TikTok: ‘I’ve been travelling for a month, why is this the first thing I wanted to eat when I got back to the UK?’
In an attempt to balance things out a bit, he opted for a number of different items for the first time, with his meal consisting of prawn crackers, fries, chicken in orange sauce, crispy chili beef, shrimp toast, chicken chow mein, pork in sweet and chili sauce, fried rice and curry sauce.
The shrimp crackers in the United Kingdom are much larger than in Canada, Yani says
Many viewers commented on the curry sauce in Yani’s clip, finding it an unusual side dish
One of the differences he notices when he eats the meal is that the prawn crackers are ‘much bigger’ than he is used to.
He also says that in Canada the chicken and orange sauce are already mixed, but the meal he orders in the United Kingdom serves both ingredients in separate containers.
The colour of the sauce is another difference: in Britain it is ‘bright yellow’, while in a picture Yani shows of the dish in Canada it is more of a golden brown colour.
Tasting a piece of chicken soaked in the “citrusy” yellow sauce, Yani describes it as tasting like meat dipped in orange juice.
Meanwhile, he gives the crispy chili beef a thumbs up, noting that it’s still crispy despite being covered in a mixture of sauces.
Finally, he dips a triangular piece of shrimp toast into a bowl of curry sauce and bites into it with a satisfied look.
Yani says the British food is generally “quite similar” to Canadian Chinese takeaway, but the British Chinese food has a different flavor and comes with more freebies such as prawn crackers and fries.
The self-employed photographer, who is originally from the Philippines but now lives in Toronto, explains how he tackled his food challenge: ‘My mission when I arrived in the UK was to try a British Chinese takeaway.
‘When I arrived, it was immediately my mission to get one.
‘Before ordering, I did some research online about what I wanted to order. I wanted to get the full experience.
“I would definitely make it again, although I think the Canadian Chinese is better.”
Commenting on some of the biggest differences he noticed, he said, “I noticed that some dishes in Canada are called the same thing but presented differently.
‘A Canadian Chinese is usually saltier, the taste is very different.’
Yani said that while the Canadian Chinese takeaways were better than the British Chinese, there were two British dishes that he particularly liked.
He said: ‘I loved the sesame seed prawn toast and dipping it in the curry sauce.
‘I recently went back to Britain and tried crispy beef, which is definitely one of my favourites.’
