Chongqing City Life (part 6) Restaurants

You have seen some images of restaurant menu options in China.  Now we'd like to let you know where we REALLY eat in Shapingba District, most of the time......

(Actually, Chris is far more adventurous, and will try nearly everything.  Paula, however, has a "block" against trying certain types of "foods"......... 

A Taste of Singapore

This is actually our favorite restaurant, located on the fifth floor of a shopping mall just across our busy street.  It is owned and operated by a young couple from Singapore, who therefore speak both English and Chinese fluently.  Vicki and Paul have become our friends here.  On Tuesday nights, they provide "Trivia Night", operated in English, and attended by English teachers from England, Ireland, Poland, India, America, and other places (I'm sure.)  My favorite thing on the menu is the (very British) fish-and-chips.  Chris always selects from the wide variety of spicy Asian foods. 

Fish-and Chips.......I usually bring half of it home, for the next day's lunch.

These little gals are always our servers.  Though tipping is uncommon and unexpected here, we plan to tip them each very well at some point......  Special gals, who speak not one word of English!

We rarely patronize Starbuck's.  The prices are American-high.

The signs do, however, remind us of your lives "back in the States."

The Chinese version of Starbuck's

This is our second favorite restaurant, but NOT for the pizza.  This is actually a wonderful BUFFET, with fresh lettuce and tomatoes and "Thousand Island" dressing!!  They have a soft-ice-cream machine, too, with ICE CREAM that tastes exactly like Betty Overholtzer's home-made ice cream of Chris's childhood!  (Just cannot go here very often, due to obesity issues.......)

 We hit McDonald's, especially for breakfast, once-in-awhile.  They play American songs, and do offer coffee refills.  (Other beverage re-fills are non-existent here.) 

Dairy Queen offers only Ice Cream.......... (and banana splits!)

Pizza Hut serves salads and cheesy mashed potatoes.  The problem here is that the portion sizes are teeny-tiny little dabs of food (like one piece of lettuce or a half-filled bowl of soup).  Always a disappointment.

I enjoy wearing my wool poncho from Mexico, on the really cold days.

KFC is very popular in China.  The students here think that Chris looks like "Colonel Sanders"!

Of course, all menus are modified to reflect Chinese preferences.

All these American restaurants do give us options, and keep us from having to eat local favorites, like Rabbit Head Stew.  (Chris couldn't even try this one......)