Of the 70 Chinese restaurants I visited in India. Just 1 was authentic. Its near Boat Club Road in Pune, called Shun May, run by a chinese family.
Mainland China should have been named as " Chinese Dhaba" or "China meets Rampur". Chinese food is strongly indianized using cumin, coriander seeds, chili powder and turmeric, which is rarely used in chinese cooking with a few regional exceptions.
I had been here with a chinese friend of mine and he was shocked to see most of the items on the menu are a mockery of what is served in china. Many items are traditionally not associated with any of the Chinese cuisine. He told me not a single item from Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang can be found on the menu. This means everything is customized just like the McAaloo Tikki Burger which comes from nowhere or the funny McChicken Sw burger served with coconut and chilli powder!
Items like Hot chilli, ginger, garlic and yoghurt are sparingly used in chinese cuisine unlike the indian version where they are abused. This makes Indian Chinese food similar in taste to many ethnic dishes in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia by indians who stay there, and at times even north west cuisine.
Non-staple dishes are by default served with generous helpings of gravy, although they can also be ordered "dry" or "without gravy". Culinary styles often seen in Indian Chinese fare include chili(implying hot and batter-fried), Manchurian(north Chinese cuisine customized into a salty gravy), and excess oil(never used in any kind of Chinese cooking), implying a smooth taste. These correspond loosely, if at all, with authentic Chinese food preparation. The aroma of Chinese cooking is hardly found here.
My friend was stunned to see some soups like Manchow soup and Sweet corn soup, again available in vegetarian form. The traditional starters were substituted by Paneer and Potatoes in many cases which was a bigger shock.
Manchurian Chicken was terribly spicy!
I was extremely shocked to see incorrectly spelled "Schezwan" instead of "Sichuan" in their menu. I have read "Shaazwan" "Shaywan" and even "Sherwan" in many indian restaurants claiming to be authentic chinese. Most of us dont know that there is no term as "Schezwan". It is an Indian pronounced-spelling on "Sichuan" which is the actual word.
Another disappointment was when my chinese friend got to know that they do not serve Brown Rice which is a must in any chinese restaurant. The food is completely indianized with flavors and aromas bending more towards Punjabi and Bengali cusine rather than Chinese. The fish wasnt fresh which further irritated my friend and he decided we rather have a soft drink and move on to McDonalds where at least 30% of the originality is retained.