Since I’ve spent so much time complaining about Chinese food I don’t like, I thought I should devote some time to food I don’t hate.
1) Everything at the Japanese place on Huang Shan Lu. I love this place, I love the waitresses who try to understand my awful Chinese, I love the tempura sauce, I love the veggie tempura so much that I go there for takeout about once a week. Sometimes they have pumpkin or sweet potato tempura, I don’t know if I can finish posting this without going to go eat some.
2) Fried bananas at the Lying Hut Restaurant.
3) Dumplings at the Bad Service Diner. Most places bring your dishes in no particular order, sometimes with long waits between then, but the waitstaff here like to bring a sealed bottle of beer, then saunter back ten minutes later to open it, and then force us to ask several times for glasses, too. You have to shout for the waitress in most places, but here, she lets us know how much more important her conversation with the other waitresses was by bringing us the wrong food two or three times in succession. Once it finally arrives, though, the bao ze and perfect garlicky sauce are great.
5) Yantai Beer.
Baby, I’m so excited for our Roman holiday! I’ll try to find food for you in Rome that can compete with the fine Chinese cuisine you will miss.