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It’s so tasty a couple hunks went missing before the picture was snapped

There are no first class Chinese restaurants in Western New York.

I wish someone would prove that statement false. But for all my investigation, I’ve found no data to suggest it’s wrong. Yes, I’ve been across the bridge to Ming Teh. Sorry.

New York City and Toronto - both with a huge population of Chinese people - support hugely better Chinese restaurants. Not a surprise, really.

So Chinese food junkies in these parts have to make do.

Here at Buffalo Buffet, we’ll make it our business to celebrate what little victories of Chinese cuisine goodness we can find amid the clutter of takeout lameness. We’ll talk about a dish without necessarily endorsing the restaurant. If we could tell you about a restaurant that could make five dishes without delivering a clunker, we would be ecstatic. We would live there.

But that place doesn’t exist, as far as we can tell. Telling you about a few dishes here or there that stand out as decent, solid values - that’s our goal.

So here’s a start. There’s a little place called Gin Gin that has some interesting offerings (3244 Sheridan Dr., 836-2600, a plaza set far back from the road, the northeast quadrant of Sheridan and Bailey).

This place serves actual Chinese people, apparently Chinese folks from UB for the most part. The menu includes gobs of stuff you won’t find on your standard Western New York Chinese menu.

The proprietress makes chrysanthemum tea. There’s chicken feet and pig’s foot congee here, bitter melon and tripe (”beef stripe stomach”).

But one of my favorites here is the pork chop noodle soup. For $4.95, you get a couple thin seasoned pork chops fried and hacked into chunks, over a bowl full of chicken broth, noodles and bok choy.

It ain’t first-rank Chinese cuisine - but dang it’s tasty.

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Filed under pork, restaurants, soup