The sounds of a Quick Stir Fry Restaurant

I recently found a new Chinese Takeaway that makes excellent Special Fried Rice. The restaurant is very small with the counter taking up about a third of the available space, leaving only enough room for three small tables. However because it is so small you can’t help hearing everything that is going on in the kitchen. It reminds me of a type of restaurant in Taiwan called a “kuai chao can ting” or “Quick Stir Fry Restaurant”.

You order your meal, which is then yelled to the nearby kitchen. Before long the first ingredients are dumped into a hot wok making a loud “Swooooooooosh” sound while at the same time filling the restaurant with the smell of Stir Fry. Almost immediately the contents of the wok are stirred with a load “Clang Clang Clang”. Then more ingredients go in and are stirred while you sit there next to the kitchen tortured by the smell of it all and listening to the “Swooosh, Clang Clang Clang, Swoosh, Clang Clang Clang.