Wednesday, May 30, 2007
A good meal...an unfair price?
On this last day of our trip, we’re regretting that we didn’t learn about this restaurant much earlier.
Michael Koliska discovered this place a couple of days ago, and I ate there for the first time last night. It was so good—and much of our contingent agrees—that a group of us ate there again tonight. It sits smack in the middle of the Beijing Institute of Technology campus, amid a group of similar small eateries and stores. You could call it a Chinese Campustown.
Here is a bit of what we ordered:
Four entrees (a fifth arrived soon after) plus two Cokes, a bottle of water and a 600ml bottle of beer. Tea was complimentary, and Chinese custom discourages tipping. The tab: 43 yuan. At today’s exchange rate: $5.62. That’s $1.41 per person. It’s the most egregious example of a pattern: food prices in China are nowhere near US prices, except for the bars and restaurants in tourist areas. This is a story we did not cover. It’d be an interesting one to pursue.
The food was excellent, even though the menu is written only in Chinese and we limited our choices to the items that have pictures on the menu. We’d have never gone there without Michael’s snap decision because it’s a real hole in the wall. So real that the wall has a hole.
The name of our favorite greasy chopstick? Well, we don’t really know. Below is the name as written by the waitstaff. If you know Chinese, get us a Pinyin name and a translation!
Name that restaurant!
(5) Comments • Permalink • Email this to a friend
Fu Xing Shui (Dai) Wan
I think the waiter left something out in the character which would be read as ‘Dai’ but looking at the rest of the characters I think it is ‘Shui’ translated ‘abundant happiness leads to a ripe old age’
It was a pleasure meeting some of you during the visit to CCTV. Thank you for allowing me to tag along. Hope you were able to better understand some aspects of China and not just allow our Western views to override other different cultural norms/values. =0)
I think it should be Fu Xing Can Ting
“Can Ting” means restaurant. The third character “can” is not a standard Chinese character. It is a character in the second version of simplified Chinese, which has been abandoned since it caused lots of confusion.
That’s a fair price for that part of the city and from the entries pictures I can see you could have a cheaper restraunt if you went to smaller ones in the alleys where family run fast food open at noon and evening!
It is Fu Xing Can Ting.
Canting is one Chinese word and it means small restaurant. Fuxing means boom or prosper. The owner choose Fuxing as the name of his restaurant means that he wants the restaurant to make more and more money.
There are also some this kind of restaurants near my school, the Central university for Nationalities, which is near the Beijing Institute of Technology. They are run by people from different nationalities or identities, like Dai identity, Man identity, Miao identity and so on. They taste really good and they are very very special, even different from the food most Chinese people daily have. It is really interesting to try them sometimes.
Glad to know that you enjoy your Chinese trip,and it is also interesting to know how do you feel about China
Exellent article. More great Beijing information is available at My eBijing Guide
Comments: