EATING OUT IN CHINA

Eating out in China is a very difficult thing for a foreigner to do, mainly because unless you can read or speak Chinese, you can't be served. But then again, there are some places that simply will not serve just one or two people. There must be a goodly number.

This first photo is of a restaurant not far from the school. I haven't been in there. I just figured it was a good opening photo. In fact, there are not too many restaurants with nice facades that are visible from the main road.

Back Alley restaurant in WuChang Wuhan. Always at the foreigners service.

Most of them look like this. I went to dinner a few nights ago and chose one that served more than just noodles. It had two tables inside, despite the size of the room, and all cooking was done outside.

These two photographs were actually taken in Wuhan in June, the story of which can be read in Article Number Six.

I was on my way to HongShan park with Qin Yan and had intended to eat in a restaurant known to me, but found it had closed down.

This is a frequent problem for foreigners in China. Just when you find a good place to shop or eat, it disappears and is replaced by some other different type of store.

As we walked toward HongShan park, I saw this restaurant down a back alley and suggested we dine there. Qin Yan was a little hesitant and asked if I wouldn't prefer somewhere a little more modern. "What, you don't like eating in these traditional Chinese restaurants?" I asked.

I doubt the owners had ever had a WaiGuo eat there before, and welcomed me with open arms. We ordered too much food, and the whole lot including two large bottles of beer, came to 40 yuan.

Two tips: If you order beer, they won't serve rice until the end of the meal unless you request it; ask for ordinary convenient (Feng Bian Kuai) chopsticks rather than the decorative ones - they are easier to use.

These two photos were taken somewhere in Beijing. I don't know where exactly. I was in a party doing the Ming Tomb tour when we pulled in at this very large building for lunch. This exquisite restaurant was located toward the far end of the building, and to reach it we had to pass dozens of vendors selling the usual tourist knick knacks.

To my chagrin I passed some beautiful 'Chinese Dolls' selling for just 15 Yuan. They were exactly identical to the one that I had bought just that morning for a special price of only 80 yuan.

Special, because the gift shop that was selling them for 150 was closed, and I was forced to find another shop. You can imagine how I felt knowing that I could have paid just 15 yuan. (You really do need to check prices before you buy anything in China).

All restaurants I have encountered, no matter how beautiful or western looking, use very thin plastic covers over the table tops. This is because Chinese people spit out unwanted food, bones or whatever, directly onto the table (or the floor as the case may be).

All food of course is communal, and the overall cost is based on the price of each individual item ordered. While I can order some of my favourite foods myself, if there is any return question I am lost, so I don't usually go to a restaurant unaccompanied.

Celebratory dinner for my boys after their final examinations.

If you really want to know what dinner is likely to be like in a fancy restaurant, here it is.

The center dish is especially prepared Chicken for that strange foreigner who doesn't like chicken just hacked up by a meat cleaver (bones and all).

The dish contained only chicken meat and was relatively expensive but came with a beautiful sauce and was accompanied by an equally beautiful plate decoration of tomato and celery.

The bowl with the ladle contains soup made of egg and vegetable, again especially ordered by the foreigner who does not like soup made with meat or lotus. I refilled my bowl several times rather than do my usual polite taste test.

The plate left of center contains cold pickled lotus root, while the plate right contains a preparation of cucumber. The empty plate when it arrived was filled with especially ordered deep fried potato, while the dish to the right of it is pork and peppers.

All up it cost only 100RMB. There is no problem taking your own wine, as long as you bring your own wine knife.

You will notice a tea pot at the top. Although not apparently a custom in Hong Hu or Wuhan, in Beijing the first cup of tea that the staff serve, is used to wash your bowl and other implements. The tea is then removed and fresh tea for drinking is poured.

The usual sight in Hong Hu, whole blocks where every store is some type of restaurant.

In the 'lesser refined' establishments, one is left in no doubt as to 'how' the meal is prepared.

When they tell you that the meal is 'fresh', you know they are telling the truth, and though reassuring to foreigners, hygiene being what it is, you oft-times find it better not to watch.

This photo was taken one night while I was having dinner with Tobias. Though currently studying in Wuhan University, when I first met him he was running his own ladies clothing store in Hong Hu. His wife Eunice was working as an English teacher in a private school. Now she works in a private school in Wuhan.

Restaurant owner overseeing his chef's preparation of Chao Rou.

The gentleman in this photo is the uncle of Wang Xi, a former student (2nd semester 2002/2003- now in University).

Uncle, Father and Mother are lovely people who always invite me in to eat for free, but I only ever accept if Wang Xi is there, not the least reason for which is that no one speaks English.

If I take guests to dinner there, I have to fight to pay the bill. Then they give me a discount which I refuse. I have told them that if they don't charge me I will refuse to eat there. We always have lots of fun and games getting the bill settled.

As I have said, the meat is always fresh. If it is fish that you want, it will either be swimming around in the tank just inside the door, or floating 'belly up'. The vegetables while appearing a little wilted are usually fresh, having been purchased that morning in the markets, or as need requires, from one of the passing vendors.

Hong Hu has no KFC, MacDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, lamb, cow beef, wheat bread, butter, cheese, cream or any of those things we take for granted in the west. If you want THAT sort of food you have to go to Wuhan where for 60 RMB you can order a hamburger in the Qin Chuan Hotel. In ShenZhen from memory, the pizza in the Pizza Hut cost about 100 RMB.

Muslim Restaurant next to the QinChuan hotel. The lady with the veil is Assamani's sister.

My favourite place to eat in Wuhan is at the Muslim restaurant next to the Hotel.

Assamani and his sister run the place. While she appears much older (so much so that I thought she was his mother), he is only 18 years old. Being Muslims they serve lamb kebabs, and some of their soups are truly nice.

I watched him make 'spaghetti like noodles' by hand, and couldn't for the life of me work out how. As they are made to order, I had to wait awhile to get a closer look. I can't really describe it. He does it so quickly using his fingers to separate the dough while stretching and spinning it. It is fascinating.

There's nothing like freshly bought meat. Never mind the heat, the flies, the cigarette ash, the passing dogs, the coughing, the mud, or the wind driven dust.

The Qin Chuan Riverside Holiday Inn Han Yang Wuhan with one part of the Qin Chuan pavillion next door (top right).

Three shots of Assamani in his restaurant in HanYang Wuhan.

Not everyone who goes to a restaurant goes to eat, as I discovered when my friend Qin Yan invited me to meet his boss in a posh Wuhan Cafe.

Qin Yan at the bowling alley opposite ZhongShan park in Wuhan.

I had run away for the weekend to Wuhan to escape all those people who were making demands on my time at home. I knew his boss wanted to invite me out, and had tried to contact him the day I arrived, but his phone was switched off.

I was about to go and get lunch at midday the next day when I decided to try calling him once again. He answered. He told me to wait for him and that we would go to a restaurant to meet his boss.

When he arrived an hour later, we walked the 20 minute walk down to the main road and caught a bus. When we alighted from it, we had to walk another 20 minutes to the restaurant. Recognising some of the tall buildings toward which we were walking, I asked: 'By any chance are we going to Xin Hua Road?". "Yes!" he said, "How did you know?"

Informing him that I had recognised some of the buildings, I asked him why we had not taken the 522, 542, 519, 536 or the 803 bus directly to Xin Hua road? It turned out that he was unfamiliar with buses to this part of town and so we had been forced to travel the only route known to him.

This is not the first time that I could have either saved someone some time and energy, or have failed to convince them that I was more 'au fait' with the buses than they. I have had this experience so often that it amazes me that a foreigner knows better than the locals, how to get around Wuhan by bus. Tobias and Eunice will testify to the truth of what I have just said. "We should have listened to you!" they have said more than once.

We arrived at this beautiful cafe with private booths and lots of trees and greenery, and waited for the boss to arrive. I had been expecting a man, because Qin Yan kept referring to 'him', but this is normal in Chinglish. The boss turned out to be this lovely lady in the next photo.  Her name is Huang Jinsong.

Tea for Three the traditional Chinese way, but be warned, each cup is stronger than the last.That thing to the left in the bottom right photo is an ordinary cigarette lighter. It gives you some idea of the size of the cups.

We spent several hours in the cafe drinking tea in the traditional manner, but as I have already implied, I had had no lunch and was very hungry. I did drop hints, but as the Boss was paying, I couldn't very well order a meal.

Malatang the usual way. A communal pot - help yourself - pay only for the number of items you eat

Finally we headed off to a very special dinner in the shopping center over the road from ZhongShan Park. In an ultra modern 'eatery', we sat in a 'Diner' eating malatang. As a foreigner I find malatang good for a cheap snack, but it certainly wasn't going to fill my empty stomach, nor was it cheap.

The eatery provides individual cooking pots set into the counter, and your food is provided you fresh on two plates. I had slivers of lamb, and assorted vegetables.This new modern hygienic way of presenting malatang cost about 18 Yuan per person.

In my best Chinese I asked for 'convenient chopsticks' (little round wooden ones) only to discover that the boss of the Diner was from Singapore and spoke perfect English.

After dinner we went upstairs to play Ten Pin Bowls. It had been decades since I had played but I still beat everyone. My first game I scored 85; my second, 95; and my third 126. I don't ever remember playing so badly. From there we went for a stroll and presently her niece (who had joined us for dinner), decided that it was time to call it a night. Qin Yan and I stayed to watch an open air singing event in the plaza.

Presently we headed over the road to ZhongShan park for a walk, at which time Qin Yan realised that his mobile phone and house keys were in Huang Jinsong's handbag. He called her from a public phone, but her phone was turned off. Inviting him to sleep in the other bed in my hotel room, he spent the night with me and left early next morning for work.

No need to go to the take away shop - it comes to you at lunch and dinner times.

China is a mix of old ways and modern ways, and the tourist has a variety of options in their choice of eating establishments, but the ones I prefer most, are the 'mobile' fast food wagons which arrive at the school before lunch and supper. Meals are cheap and quick and made to order.

The only problem, just like in all other establishments (even in big cities) is communication.

I heard a story today from a foreign English teacher from Ruwanda, about his first few days in Beijing, when he and his friends went to a restaurant for breakfast. They ended up eating the free bread and tea, and spent 30 minutes trying to get some sugar for the tea.

Eating out in China is, at the very least, an interesting pastime.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Patrons of the outdoor restaurant in Ai Guo Lu (love street) Xin Di Hong Hu. Add a 'W' to the street name and it becomes 'Foreigner street'.

One of the one stop meat, spice and vegetable market in Hong Hu.

Row after row of meat vendors. "How much?" 7.5 yuan - go the next one "How much?" 7 yuan - go to the next one "How much?" 6.5 yuan and so on till they all start giving the same price.

Foyer and bar in the Qin Chuan Hotel

Chinese Wedding Breakfast at the Qin Chuan Riverside Inn HanYang Wuhan

Young Chef approximately 15 years of age (if that) and Tobias in Wang Xi's uncle's restaurant. Do you like the flying table cloth.

Top shot is of the cooking area (inside an enclosed grill on the building exterior) at Uncle's restaurant and bottom shot is taken from the outside looking in.

Reception and wait staff in a nice (but hidden) restaurant at the top end of town.

R.P.Bendedek

Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

Note: This file was amended August 2007.
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R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www.kingscalendar.com), and he is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China. Other Stories can be found at:  http://www.kingscalendar.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=128

"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible, (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.