'chinese' food?

In past entries I have mentioned the increasing desire for a good meal, for a bowl of something other than rice and oily sauce, for a sandwich, a salad with some nice blue cheese and a refreshing vinaigrette, a thin-crust pizza, anything that won’t make me consider my proximity to a bathroom over the next ten hours before digging in, chowing…excuse me…”chopsticking” down. In fact, one of the most popular points of conversation amongst this home-cookin’-sick crew is of our favorite restaurants back home, where we would go after shows, the best margaritas, the best pizza, thai food, wine bars, happy hours; just talking of familiar food and drink helps make us feel less and less far-flung from home.

Yet these last few weeks have provided a peculiar onslaught of fabulous restaurants here in China. And few have boasted Chinese food. Perhaps we have all gained a heartier constitution, allowing us to be a little bolder in our food choices, and perhaps we have all become a little pickier in where we decide to eat, how much, and when, but the fact that we have seen and taken advantage of the options at hand is quite unexpected.

In every city we have seen there have been at least a few “Western” restaurants, offering everything from overpriced and undercooked flank steaks to reasonably priced and wonderfully prepared salads and sandwiches, but aside from local restauranteers attempting to simulate “western” food, some of the tastiest and best experiences have come from “foreign food” restaurants. In Nanjing, we went to a Hibachi/Tepenyachi restaurant twice and paid about $18 U.S. for an all-you-can-eat-&-drink dinner “theatre” event (with the cooks making everything for the table right AT the table). Also, along the “catering” street by the hotel I tried Indian food (run by three very welcoming Indian men), two Thai restaurants, an Italian place, Vietnamese…still mostly run by Chinese locals, but with some fabulous menus and dishes.

And then here in Ningbo, a smaller city than Nanjing but apparently a “port” town, I was utterly shocked to discover even more peculiar finds. I had the best Italian meal in a LONG time (including at home) at Ciao Italia, a restaurant run by three older Italian men (imported direct from Italy, as my tour book says, haha), and went to the Indian Kitchen where we kept on ordering more and more because we couldn’t get enough of the amazing curry and breads made by the Indian chefs and owner. There’s a Brazilian BBQ, a “western fusion” place with some awesome fondue, and perhaps the most shocking (and exciting) find, Casa Maya, a Mexican restaurant run by Angie, a beautiful and generous tri-lingual woman from Mexico. At least ten people from our cast have frequented her place for food and marga-hoohas (as I like to call them) just about every night, giving her more business than she probably knows what to do with.

Many of the restaurants we find ourselves inclined to eat at have a smattering of other Westerners, yet that cannot be the only business they receive. I wonder what locals think of “Italian food” here in China, what makes good Mexican food to them, or if those tastes and options even hold a candle to the dishes they are used to. Hot Pots, noodle houses, dumpling shacks, “Banana Leaf Curry” and other Chinese chain restaurants…what do people here consider to be ‘exotic food’ when we deem anything other than a sandwich to be ‘foreign?’