Will, the Imagethief, recently posted a terrific essay he wrote for That's Beijing about eating comfort food in China...trying to find the perfect place to go.
But since then, the gloss has started to wear off those comfort food joints. If Beijing in 2004 had plenty of Western food, Beijing in 2006 has a dazzling abundance that grows monthly. I’ve given up on the diners for lunches and dinners. There are simply too many better, more interesting places to eat. I’ll still go for an occasional breakfast, perhaps because I’m a sucker for pancakes and a bottomless cup of coffee, but that’s all.
GZ is quite different that BJ. Despite being an 'international' city, GZ is probably the furthest behind of the major 'international' cities of Chiner.
When we arrived in 1996, we had Kathleen's, a tiny little American style cafe tha that served the closest thing to American food, given the scant ingredients of the time. Other than that, it was hotel food. Slowly, more small diners opened up, but Kathleen had the perfect formula (motorcycle helmet lights were the best) of atmosphere, service, booze and some food too. One of Kathleen's employees spun off her own place (Gail's Place) and it is just like Kathleen's. The food is reliable and decent.
When we moved back in 2004, we discovered GZ had many more western restaurants...but none of them to the quality we would expect in HK or even at home. The recurring theme was an expat would work to open a restaurant. They would be in charge of the menu and many times they were the cook. Only to have them leave shortly after opening the place, and the food takes a serious dive for the worse.
Today, we find ourselves in much the same way Will does...we just don't go to Gail's anymore. We find ourselves frequenting the very good Italian place (Oggi's), or our favorite Russian place, or a great little Japanese place just around the corner from our office.
Lifestyles change...and ours is constantly on the lookout for new things.
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