There are few tricks that one learns in order to improve his chances at faring a decent meal in China. First, the easiest food to find, especially when brand new to town, is to look for those famous golden arches. While McDonald's is not fine dining nor is it local or special, sometimes after a long day of Chinese obstacles, McDonald's is a wonderful comfort. Next, for those who have been in China for a while and learned some basic food-finding techniques but can't speak (or read) Chinese, a common place found in many cities are Muslim noodle shops. They sport pictures of their dishes on the wall so it is easy to pick something that looks appetizing. No matter where I've been in China so far, Muslim noodles all taste basically the same and they are extremely affordable. And finally, one of the best things about China is there is usually always "street food." No matter where you are, it's usually pretty easy to find fresh-cut pineapple and other fruits, "egg burritos", and fried batter made in iron skillets. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's readily available.
After a few days of familiar and easy, however, the taste buds start to crave some variety. Anyway, China does have amazing and diverse food that we always enjoy. It's just the difficult and often embarrassing task of communicating what it is we'd like to eat. We often walk into a restaurant and simply ask to see the menu first. If it written in Hanzi and has no pictures, we usually leave. Or, in recent weeks with an expanding vocabulary, we simply state the three dishes we know how to say and if they have it, we stay. We get enough stares as it is when we walk into an establishment, so it's a little embarrassing when we have to walk out because we can't read the menu or speak intelligibly.
During our current stay in Sanya Bay, Hainan Island, we have been grateful to find several foreign establishments (like a pub where we had great burgers, a REAL Italian restaurant where I had the most amazing lasagna I've ever tasted), the local McDonald's and Pizza Hut (very popular in China), and beachfront barbeque (where we can just "point" out your choices). Today, however, we decided to brave a restaurant, hoping to taste some unique local seafood. Walking along the busy street, the open restaurants all look the same, especially with the unreadable Hanzi signs that tell the restaurant name. Upon entering our random choice, we were so excited when the owner approached us and greeted us in English! This was a welcome surprise as we have found so few English speakers here. Even our apartment hotel service desk has no English skills. The owner invited me over to take a look at the fresh seafood tanks to choose our lunch. There were crabs, many different kinds of fish including ink fish (?), and shrimp. We chose shrimp and a large fish that I was hoping would have few (and large) bones. He continued his English dialogue and I was able to choose to have our fish and shrimp fried. Within a few short minutes (another great plus about Chinese restaurants) our shrimp was placed on the table. Fresh from the fryer and covered in spices, it looked beautiful - and was beyond tasty. Our large fish came soon after, glazed in sauce, fried, and topped with spicy peppers. Steven, a picky fish eater, indulged in our 1.7 kg fish, touting its flavor and large intact spine with no other bones obstructing the enjoyment of his dish.
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