Give it a go
Yesterday I thought I was very brave to go to a restaurant RB had recommended across the road. I went in and found no english on the menu but a picture of each dish. There were loads of dishes that were just slabs of meat, but I had a craving for fried rice and there were 3 kinds on the menu. I chose one for 20 yuan (<$4) and it was okay though a little bland. I always like my lunch outings though, watching the bustle of the restaurant, drinking jasmine tea and reading my paper. Pretty much how I like to spend my lunch time at home, having a bit of quiet time.
Last night RB and I went for a walk to the malls that sell computer bits and pieces. He wanted to price check some things and I wanted to buy a mouse. As we walked there we had to cross a massive intersection about 8 lanes wide. I find it amazing that these new intersections can be built but there is no allowance for pedestrians to cross the road. RB led me across 2 lanes to a line marking area separating the exit of an underpass lane from the ones we just crossed. I wasn't sure it was a good place to stand since I'd watched a cab drive straight over the 1 metre lane separator. Sure enough as we stood on it and waited to cross the next 4 lanes, a car came out of the underpass and headed up his lane then decided to drive directly at us. I couldn't believe he could somehow look straight through us to see the lane he wanted to make a beeline for. Luckily he stopped in time before hitting us, but not before I'd tried to pull RB back out of the path and let out a scream. Way too close a call! Very scary.
Most other big intersections in busier parts of town will have a pedestrian overpass or walk signs for pedestrians and even traffic officers with whistles too. Even when you get a walk light you still have to look for cars, trucks and especially bikes that ignore the lights.
We found all the malls we wanted shut by about 7.30pm, so we searched for some dinner. RB suggested we try a nice looking cheap little eatery. After seeing that all the menu was written in Chinese with no pictures, we vetoed the idea and went outside to discuss the next option. While outside a young man ran out and said he spoke some english and he'd help us order. The eatery had a sign outside with some pictures of about 9 dishes, so after talking to this young man we chose 2 from the picture board. We felt good about trying a place that locals would eat at and the people in the restaurant were excited about us eating there.
Our meals arrived and the duck dish RB picked had everything in it including the duckie's bill and feet. The duck had been chopped up into pieces about 1.5-2 cm squared. The dish was a bit of a challenge for me because it was chock full of bones and veiny looking bits. I'm hard pressed eating a piece of chicken from KFC with bones, I so studiously always avoid boney cuts of meat (besides chops and t-bones!). I had a crack at it and enjoyed the flavour of the meat and chilli hotness when I could separate it from the teeny tiny bones. I don't have the practised way of the Chinese of rolling it around in my mouth to get the good stuff then just spitting out the bones onto my side plate.
The pork dish was pork strips with more chilli and some weird vege. It was ok but swimming in a sea of oil. I was largely onto eating mostly rice by this stage and drinking my tea and Shenzhen Kingway beer. We ordered the bill and then got a shock! It was way more than we expected from a place where most dishes on the menu in front of us were 10 or 15 yuan. Somehow our 2 dishes totalled 68 yuan. Over 30 per dish! When we eat in our Chinese restaurant in the hotel (very very nice!) paying 30 yuan means it is aVERY special dish! Unlike that fine dining restaurant, the eatery had only plastic cups for the tea, wooden disposable chopsticks, no chopstick rests, no napkins (not even a paper one). It was very basic and we'd just been stung! Moral of the story.... if you can't read the menu and you still order, check the price of the dishes before placing the order so that you don't get any surprises. We didn't have the Cantonese skills to argue, so we just paid up, and walked out feeling a little bad. RB said he knew he was being overcharged when they read the price to us and other people in the eatery started laughing! EEP.
Live and learn. We'd just had our first rip-off moment. I think I'm going back to the wannabe-western restaurant for my lunch today. The nasi goreng is very tasty, and menu has some pics and english and I know what it costs! HAHA. Or do I want to make myself a sandwich for lunch instead? There's other Chinese places round here to try, so I'll keep soldiering on, but today will eat something I can a) identify and b) don't have to spit out onto the plate :D
Last night RB and I went for a walk to the malls that sell computer bits and pieces. He wanted to price check some things and I wanted to buy a mouse. As we walked there we had to cross a massive intersection about 8 lanes wide. I find it amazing that these new intersections can be built but there is no allowance for pedestrians to cross the road. RB led me across 2 lanes to a line marking area separating the exit of an underpass lane from the ones we just crossed. I wasn't sure it was a good place to stand since I'd watched a cab drive straight over the 1 metre lane separator. Sure enough as we stood on it and waited to cross the next 4 lanes, a car came out of the underpass and headed up his lane then decided to drive directly at us. I couldn't believe he could somehow look straight through us to see the lane he wanted to make a beeline for. Luckily he stopped in time before hitting us, but not before I'd tried to pull RB back out of the path and let out a scream. Way too close a call! Very scary.
Most other big intersections in busier parts of town will have a pedestrian overpass or walk signs for pedestrians and even traffic officers with whistles too. Even when you get a walk light you still have to look for cars, trucks and especially bikes that ignore the lights.
We found all the malls we wanted shut by about 7.30pm, so we searched for some dinner. RB suggested we try a nice looking cheap little eatery. After seeing that all the menu was written in Chinese with no pictures, we vetoed the idea and went outside to discuss the next option. While outside a young man ran out and said he spoke some english and he'd help us order. The eatery had a sign outside with some pictures of about 9 dishes, so after talking to this young man we chose 2 from the picture board. We felt good about trying a place that locals would eat at and the people in the restaurant were excited about us eating there.
Our meals arrived and the duck dish RB picked had everything in it including the duckie's bill and feet. The duck had been chopped up into pieces about 1.5-2 cm squared. The dish was a bit of a challenge for me because it was chock full of bones and veiny looking bits. I'm hard pressed eating a piece of chicken from KFC with bones, I so studiously always avoid boney cuts of meat (besides chops and t-bones!). I had a crack at it and enjoyed the flavour of the meat and chilli hotness when I could separate it from the teeny tiny bones. I don't have the practised way of the Chinese of rolling it around in my mouth to get the good stuff then just spitting out the bones onto my side plate.
The pork dish was pork strips with more chilli and some weird vege. It was ok but swimming in a sea of oil. I was largely onto eating mostly rice by this stage and drinking my tea and Shenzhen Kingway beer. We ordered the bill and then got a shock! It was way more than we expected from a place where most dishes on the menu in front of us were 10 or 15 yuan. Somehow our 2 dishes totalled 68 yuan. Over 30 per dish! When we eat in our Chinese restaurant in the hotel (very very nice!) paying 30 yuan means it is aVERY special dish! Unlike that fine dining restaurant, the eatery had only plastic cups for the tea, wooden disposable chopsticks, no chopstick rests, no napkins (not even a paper one). It was very basic and we'd just been stung! Moral of the story.... if you can't read the menu and you still order, check the price of the dishes before placing the order so that you don't get any surprises. We didn't have the Cantonese skills to argue, so we just paid up, and walked out feeling a little bad. RB said he knew he was being overcharged when they read the price to us and other people in the eatery started laughing! EEP.
Live and learn. We'd just had our first rip-off moment. I think I'm going back to the wannabe-western restaurant for my lunch today. The nasi goreng is very tasty, and menu has some pics and english and I know what it costs! HAHA. Or do I want to make myself a sandwich for lunch instead? There's other Chinese places round here to try, so I'll keep soldiering on, but today will eat something I can a) identify and b) don't have to spit out onto the plate :D
posted by Polecat at 7:29 PM
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