Chowmeinery is a dated, informal American term for a Chinese restaurant, coined in the early twentieth century when chow mein was one of the most familiar Chinese-American dishes in the United States. The word has a fond, slightly comedic quality, evoking a simpler time when the chow mein was the whole menu. Today it reads as anachronistic, but food writers and historians occasionally dust it off when discussing the history of Chinese-American cuisine.
The neighbourhood still had a chowmeinery on every block back when Grandpa grew up there.
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(US, dated, rare) A Chinese restaurant.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.