ordering chinese / thai food for a group

[Anonymous]

Moo Goo Gai Pan sounds intimidating but it’s just chicken and vegetables in a mild sauce, nothing too exotic unless people don’t like mushrooms

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t ask each person but I would send your proposed menu to the group and see if anyone has any objections or recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:spring rolls or steamed dumplings
combination low mein or combination pad see ew (not both)
chicken fried rice
Kung pow chicken (no peanuts)
Panang curry tofu
Sichuan green beens (without pork if you have a vegetarian)
beef and broccoli or double fried pork

it's too much but who cares, have left overs.

Omg hilarious.

[Anonymous]

I always throw these questions to the restaurant: what dishes are most popular, which would you suggest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t ask each person but I would send your proposed menu to the group and see if anyone has any objections or recommendations.

I wouldn’t. Not giving people extra choices or cluttering their life with texts is a gift. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moo Goo Gai Pan sounds intimidating but it’s just chicken and vegetables in a mild sauce, nothing too exotic unless people don’t like mushrooms

You might need to reconsider your definition. Around here, exotic is putting garlic salt on mashed potatoes.

[Anonymous]

A chicken dish
A beef dish
A noodle dish
A rice dish
A veggie
An appetizer or soup

[Anonymous]

Depends very much on who is coming. If we have non-Asian friends over, then we pick very different things than if we have E/SE Asian friends over.

[Anonymous]

This is very odd. If it’s just five, you ask each person what they want if you’re doing entrees. If you are hosting a small dinner party then you make a main dish with sides. If you are dead set on not communicating with people you know and like well enough to invite inside your house, then make it a “dim sum dinner” and get a whole lot of dumplings and small appetizers with maybe a double or triple order of fried rice.

Nowadays people have a variety of food intolerances, allergies or whatever. 20 years ago you could have done this and I’d be happy to eat some of whatever you got because I could tolerate it. Nowadays, there’s almost nothing I could eat because of recently developed food intolerances, heartburn, or medication interactions, so if I go to an Asian restaurant I have to order very carefully. I’m not going to bore you as the host with all my intolerances, and if you cooked, I will push food around my plate, but if you’re bringing in takeout in those crappy black containers and I didn’t get to select my own I’m going to be pissed to sit there and drink some water and hopefully eat some plain rice and make up some BS line about how “oh I had a big lunch today and something upset my tummy so I’m fine with this, thanks.”

[Anonymous]

A lot of people don't eat pork or tofu.

Beef can be tough in some stir fries.

Go chicken.

Plus, I prefer sliced chicken at Chinese, like they use in Hunan Chicken dish. Rather than weird chicken ball or bits. Thai restaurants typically use sliced chicken for every dish.

Here's what I would order to go very safe

- Hunan Chicken

- Vegetable Lo Mein (no tofu)

- Chicken Fried Rice

- Green curry chicken - Thai

- Lots of thai spring rolls and chinese egg rolls

- Few extra white rice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moo Goo Gai Pan sounds intimidating but it’s just chicken and vegetables in a mild sauce, nothing too exotic unless people don’t like mushrooms

Where are you that anyplace even serves Moo Goo Gai Pan? That’s 70s era Cantonese for bland American palates food. If that’s the kind of restaurant you have access to, get lo mein, beef and broccoli, sweet and sour pork, and some kind of chicken dish because those are usually the least objectionable/most edible things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:spring rolls or steamed dumplings
combination low mein or combination pad see ew (not both)
chicken fried rice
Kung pow chicken (no peanuts)
Panang curry tofu
Sichuan green beens (without pork if you have a vegetarian)
beef and broccoli or double fried pork

it's too much but who cares, have left overs.

Omg hilarious.

You missed the "low" mein too LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You don’t have to cater to every single persons favorite dish but ask them for preferences.

To be honest, if it's only 5 people, I don't see why you wouldn't just text them and order exactly what each one of them requests, like you would if ordering lunch at work. Plus extra stuff for the group if OP wants leftovers.

Because if you ask each person then you have to serve it to that person not put everything out buffet style. Bob feels ownership over his honey walnut shrimp that he was expecting and is annoyed that he only got to eat 1/5 because everyone else took some of his. Even worse if someone took more than 1/5 and Bob didn’t really like the other options.

What? No. When we do Chinese or Thai each person can choose an item, but everyone shares. It works.

I would be careful to ask if anyone has a gluten sensitivity, though. Most soy sauce is not GF, so Chinese and even Thai (though usually there are a few dishes that are soy sauce free) can be a problem.

For the people who DGAF about people's allergies, don't host a dinner party if you don't care if your guests can eat! At a minimum, let them know ahead of time you DGAF if they can eat, so they can decide not to come or to eat beforehand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:spring rolls or steamed dumplings
combination low mein or combination pad see ew (not both)
chicken fried rice
Kung pow chicken (no peanuts)
Panang curry tofu
Sichuan green beens (without pork if you have a vegetarian)
beef and broccoli or double fried pork

it's too much but who cares, have left overs.

Omg hilarious.

NP. You will be ready to go if you are watching a Batman fight scene full of onomatopoeia. Kung POW!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is very odd. If it’s just five, you ask each person what they want if you’re doing entrees. If you are hosting a small dinner party then you make a main dish with sides. If you are dead set on not communicating with people you know and like well enough to invite inside your house, then make it a “dim sum dinner” and get a whole lot of dumplings and small appetizers with maybe a double or triple order of fried rice.

Nowadays people have a variety of food intolerances, allergies or whatever. 20 years ago you could have done this and I’d be happy to eat some of whatever you got because I could tolerate it. Nowadays, there’s almost nothing I could eat because of recently developed food intolerances, heartburn, or medication interactions, so if I go to an Asian restaurant I have to order very carefully. I’m not going to bore you as the host with all my intolerances, and if you cooked, I will push food around my plate, but if you’re bringing in takeout in those crappy black containers and I didn’t get to select my own I’m going to be pissed to sit there and drink some water and hopefully eat some plain rice and make up some BS line about how “oh I had a big lunch today and something upset my tummy so I’m fine with this, thanks.”

You’re the first person I’d cross off my list!

Such a bore.