RESTAURANT REVIEW SERIES 1: Fast Food in Beijing I know a few ex-pats, mostly Americans, who go a little crazy at the very thought of a Big Mac, French fries, and medium coke. Don't get me wrong: most Westerners love Chinese food, but after a certain number of months of subsisting on white rice and "gongbao jiding" -- that most popular of all dishes with the foreign community, spicy chicken with peanuts -- everyone starts craving some variety and a hit of home. Fortunately, fast food outlets, Western-style, have sprung up all over Beijing in the past few years, as they have done in most other large Chinese cities. The first thing you need to know about fast food in China is that it's an upscale event, a fashionable way to spend the evening, and depending where you go, a good deal more expensive than "real" restaurants -- quite different in this regard from fast food in America, where it was invented for the express purpose of being casual, convenient, and cheap. McDonald's is the oldest and most widely established Western fast-food franchise in China, and you will see Beijing families by the score eating exotic hamburgers and taking photographs of each other in front of that red-headed clown, Ronald. 1996 saw the demolition of the flagship two-story McDonald's outlet at the end of Wangfujing Avenue -- a Golden Arch franchise that was so popular, many Westerners called the entire avenue the "McDonald's Street." The demise of this landmark was a sad event for McDonald's addicts, but do not fear -- by the end of 1997, there will be 200 Golden Arches spread around Beijing, and you will never be far from your favorite Happy Meal. I had the Big Mac/medium fries/medium drink combo at the Wangfujing branch on the last weekend of its operation for 19.50 yuan (which is about the price of most of the other combo meals as well). My verdict: Almost like McDonald's back home, but perhaps not quite as good. The second most popular franchise in Beijing is KFC. The Colonel with his white goatee and spectacles can be found looking out upon Chinese streets in dozens of locations, and a chicken sandwich, a drink and fries will set you back 19.50 yuan. If you are hungry for the more traditional KFC fare -- fried chicken with mashed potatoes, cole slaw, a drink, and one of those astonishingly tasteless white bread rolls, this will cost from 20 to 28 yuan depending on how many pieces of chicken you get. All the Western-style fast food outlets in Beijing pride themselves on absolutely un-Chinese cleanliness, and it is generally impossible to walk up a flight of stairs without tripping over an employee with a mop. But in KFC, I have found, there is usually someone with a wet mop at the entrance, and many people take a moment to clean the bottom of their shoes on it. (Be careful of the slippery floor, by the way!) Pizza Hut has 7 locations in Beijing, and this is the most upscale of all the local fast food outlets -- it is far beyond the budget of most Chinese families. I found the pizza itself decidedly mediocre, but the salad bar is a real Western treat -- the same iceberg lettuce, canned peaches, unnaturally bright green peas, and plastic "sneeze-guard" that you will find in Any Small Town, America. But it's not cheap -- 21 yuan for a very small wooden bowl, and the waitress lets you know that this is one-serving only. My wife and I had a large cheese pizza, two salads, and two small drinks and the bill came to 110 yuan -- about $14, what you would expect to pay in the States, but for this price in Beijing you can buy a very gourmet meal indeed. Fast food outlets seem to be opening as quick as you can blink in Beijing. If you feel like listening to country music, you can have BBQ ribs and rotisserie chicken at one of the several Kenny Rogers about town. The side dishes are especially good here -- baked beans, macaroni salad, corn-on-the-cob, and many more. Dunkin' Donuts has four locations at the moment, but there are plans for several more. Or if you would rather have a mug of root beer, there is an A & W in the Haidian District (opposite People's University), with three more restaurants in the works. There are also two Subway franchises where you can have a 6 inch or 12 inch sub, on wheat or white, just like you would at home -- a Ham and Cheese sub, just to give you an idea, will set you back 12 yuan for the small, and 19 for the large. So no one need starve in Beijing. Personally I prefer the local Chinese food for my steady fare -- it is fresher, tastier, healthier, and vastly less expensive. But for those moments of culinary homesickness, it is nice to know that empty calories are so close at hand. From the Editor in Chief: If you have some travel or work experience in China to share with us, we will be very excited to hear from you! Send your feedback by e-mail or regular mail to ASM Overseas Corporation. Thank you! And if you liked this column, please check Expats In China (International Community in China) for more interesting and useful information on life in China as a foreigner, including calendar of events, entertainment, housing, employment, classifieds, personal, etc. |
