Showing posts with label chinese food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chinese food. Show all posts

Mar 29, 2013

Where’s the Rice?

Friday, March 29, 2013
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I don’t know if the old lady that asked where’s the beef for Wendy’s is still around, but if so, she should come to China where McDonald’s (or 麦当劳 ; mai dang lao in Chinese transliteration) now offers a double-burger, double-sausage sandwich which I hereby dub “the McMeat Monster” or “Mc肉怪物(McRòu Guàiwù). This beefy behemoth consists of two beef patties, 2 sausages, topped with mustard and contained within a bun. Vegetarians beware – you won’t find a shred of anything green here – no lettuce, tomato, pickles or even (Buddha forbid) rice.


 I try not to eat at McDonald’s too often (although the breakfast McMuffins sometimes lure me in), but I found myself passing by one and for some inexplicable reason, had to give the McMeat Monster a try. As this Chinese commercial dares viewers: “Who can be more macho than I? See whose better in bravery and brawn”

I’m not sure how I fare in terms of bravery and brawn, but I’ve never been afraid of food. While one review in Beijing Cream raves about it, my opinion is a bit less enamored. First of all, its not quite as big as it looks from the advertisements although that’s probably a good thing. The 2 burgers were a bit smaller size than what I think you’d get in America. As far as taste, it was pretty good – nothing spectacular and I doubt I’ll order it again, but it was worth a try.

The McMeat Monster meal combo which, in addition the burger, includes fries and a drink costs 20 元 (about U.S. $3.20). Anyway, I should probably eat nothing but Chinese cabbage for the next 3 days to make up for this gluttonous indulgence.

Nov 23, 2011

Its All Greek to Me in China

Wednesday, November 23, 2011
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A few evenings ago I biked into downtown Jimei with another American professor to pick up some groceries. We decided to find a restaurant to have dinnner first and my friend wanted to try a small place purporting to be a Greek restaurant. At the least the sign had the word "Greek" prominently displayed as shown in the picure below. I was sceptical since there probably aren't any Greeks around here and local Chinese wouldn't be likely to know much about Greek food. Nevertheless, the place looked clean and decent so I was willing to give it a try.

Greek restaurant that serves only Chinese food
Of course, the menu was all in Chinese and there were no pictures of the dishes (as some restaruants here have) so we had to order based on my limited Chinese reading skills - I can read enough to determine what kind of food it is - meat (肉), fish (鱼), soup (汤), noodles (面), etc., but not too much more than that. Menus can be especially difficult because Chinese names for dishes can sometimes be very creative rather than descriptive of what the food actually is.

After talking with the waitress, who spoke no English, but did give me a simple explanation of the types of food they had, I became certain there was nothing remotely Greek on the menu of this allegedly Greek restaurant. As with many things in China, what you see is not always what you get and often has nothing whatsoever to do with what you get. Nevertheless, we ordered some Chinese food which, although not the slightest bit Greek, was pretty tasty.

Authentic Greek food in China


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