Golden Mum Chinese Restaurant serves up

the real deal.

Sweet and sour chicken may be a favorite Chinese food dish here in the United States, but it is nowhere to be found in China.

Henry and Amy Lin took over Golden Mum Chinese Restaurant in March 2007 and knew they wanted to change the menu.

“In my plan, I wanted to do the new menu by June or July last year,” Henry said.

Henry tried out a few custom dishes last year and received customer feedback. He got rid of dishes people did not like and kept the favorites for the new menu, which was officially introduced a couple of weeks ago.

“They said ‘Henry you keep that’ and I’d keep that,” Henry said.

The new Golden Mum menu features authentic Chinese dishes such as curry chicken and shredded pork. Henry said the old menu featured American Chinese food dishes and chop suey-style foods, none of which can be found in China.

“You cannot find chop suey in Hong Kong or China,” Henry said.

The Lins moved from China to the United States 19 years ago and previously owned a Chinese restaurant in Idaho.

The authentic Chinese dishes are even healthier than the Americanized Chinese foods. Henry does not use oils and little to no seasoning when cooking authentic Chinese foods.

A favorite authentic Chinese dish among Golden Mum patrons is the chicken lettuce wraps. Chicken lettuce wraps are made with minced chicken meats, water chestnuts and a special Golden Mum sauce. The dish is served with lettuce so people can wrap the chicken in a piece of lettuce before eating it.

“People really like the chicken lettuce wraps,” Henry said.

Henry said customers seem to enjoy the authentic Chinese food and can tell the difference between real Chinese food and American Chinese cuisine.

“In here the people enjoy the food, the real Chinese food,” Henry said. “They know what’s chop suey and what’s Chinese food.”

Henry said he kept about 30 percent of the chop suey and American Chinese cuisine on the Golden Mum menu.

“I still kept some old stuff on the new menu,” Henry said. “The people enjoy that.”

As for Henry’s favorite dish, he’s a seafood man.

“I like the fish,” he said with a smile.

Also new to the Golden Mum menu are fruity smoothies made with tapioca and bubble tea.

Aside from being a dine-in restaurant, Golden Mum has facilities available for large gatherings, complete with pool tables and dart boards, and can box up food for to-go orders.

“People can still order food until the bar closes,” Henry said.