Maybe it's my area of town with few good restaurants. I mean those big Chinese restaurants with many vegetable dishes and many meat dishes and cheap large plates of food. And where is all the street food at all hours? Maybe it's just my area. Up the street there are about 10 restaurants next to each other. Noodles, noodles and then some noodles.
@Dazzer: Wouldn't want to do that, just think it might be wise, in Kunming and elsewhere, to use things responsibly so that we don't all collectively screw ourselves - seems to me Life in Kunming might improve by doing so.
@Golide: Well, I dunno, maybe it's just your area. I'm not claiming that all restaurants are good - or big, but that's not same thing. Street food in my area can be found until 2Am or even later - late-night street food is not spread out so evenly as restaurants, but there are plenty of places where it can be found.
Once a couple years back for a time killing project I decided to walk around my area and count noodle restaurants. I live near a couple private colleges and some villages (which are vanishing rapidly). I only counted places that had the mi xian 米线 character displayed, or street stands. In no time I hit 50 such places and gave up out of boredom.
we were walking in the same area about a month back and saw a 'Thai" 泰国 restaurant. Had all the look and such so decided to try it. We must have forgotten where we live. It was hot pot and BBQ on a stick. We even asked if they at least had Tom Yum or coconut milk soup. Of course not. It is basically local hot pot and shao kao. And I hate hot pot, The whole hot pot ritual. And basically people here eat noodles everyday. if they had a couple extra RMB they do some gai fan and for impressing friends and family they do hot pot. It would be like living in the USA in area that one place after another for miles was 90% hamburger joints punctuated by an occasional hot dog stand. The you finally see a Chinese restaurant but after you go in it is just a Chinese style hamburger.
And speaking of hamburgers, I finally decided I would try a burger at Sal's. I had heard it was supposed to be good and now they have fries. I don't know if it was good or not. The price was 52 RMB just for a burger, no fries or drink. Almost ten bucks. I told another American about it and I got that cliche response, "well, that's what they charge for a good burger in America too". Yea, I know. A big American style burger made by people who know how, with a large order of good fries and a bottomless soft drink. I am not going to pay 10 bucks for a burger made in China. I just left.
I got on the bus and got a Whopper Set meal for 35 RMB. Hit the spot. The burger alone would have been a mere 22 RMB. Not the best burger I ever had in my life and maybe not as good as Sal's. But I will never know.
The term local food is food for local people. People with a certain mind set that can eat the same food three times a day for their entire lives. People here do not even like food from other areas of China. There is some gawd awful "Cantonese" place near NanPingJie. Just local style food with Cantonese names and high prices.
The food here is pretty boring and I eat because I am hungry not for pleasure. There are three places in my area of hundreds of places I eat at. Mostly I feel they are clean. I only get gaifan. Sure, I like it, but how much gaifan can one eat before he wants a break form the routine. And what are the options? Hot pot. Rice Noodles. $10 burgers. $8 bags of corn chips at Pauls.
Not a culinary center by any stretch but the local people are hypnotized by the food here. The greasier and spicier the better. No thanks.
I think 'local food' usually means food that is the norm in a local area. I suppose people could eat the same food 3 times a day, but I don't know anybody who does. I agree that western food at several western-run restaurants here, although often good, is a bit expensive. Don't know why you consider the alternatives among ordinary restaurants here as either gaifan, hot pot and mixian, although there are more of these places than interest me. As you know, mixian is generally neither greasy nor spicy, although a lot of local cuisine is a bit spicy, and it seems to be generally believed, locally, that 'foreigners', or anyway westerners, cannot handle spicy food (people who work in restaurants are always warning me about this dish or that).
Whoppers etc. vary less than mixian or gaifan dishes - basically, you're either talking about deep-fried chicken pieces or about hamburgers.
Yea, you're right. The idea that you can pour either beef or pork or chicken on top of a pile of rice opens up a world of endless possibilities. I disagree with you on the mixian. it is, in fact, generally greasy and spicy, the way local people eat it. If I do not want it that way I have to add the stuff myself or go to a place I go to regularly that knows how I like it. And yes, I do sometimes have rice noodles, but I am not a fan.
And local people in fact do eat the same food everyday. The variations are nominal. It is like having a hamburger 6 times a week then having a cheese burger for variation. Or having pepperoni pizza and then deciding to try a cheese pizza. It is still a pizza. They eat either a meal that is rice noodles (or mian tiao, big difference), gaifan or chaofan, huoguo (hot pot) or shao kao. That is what they eat every day of their lives unless they do something wild like go to KFC. Now they may ahve chicken shaogao today but yesterday had beef shaokao, but it is covered in the one topping here, red pepper and old oil. And one stand's food is exactly like its neighbor's. No variation in style. If one tries to be different they are out of business quickly.
The big break form the routine is one of those pricey places with the Lazy Suzanne in the center of the table and the private room. This is where you take people to wow them or are taken for the same purpose. And you get essentially the same food you get in the little dirty places outside only there is no rice. We took a friend to one near us and got a few veggie dishes and some doufu and it was 120 RMB! We were still hungry. we said bu la (not spicy) and two of the dishes were inedible even for my Chinese wife (she is from the east). She complained but the place didn't care. She was told "that is how local people like it!" Basically screw you Jiangsu Ren and your laowai friends. This si the only way to make food in the entire world!
I am talking about the people in my area that I see everyday. About local KM people I have known and talked to for years in some capacity. We had some guests once, Yunnan people from the northern Dali area, and under pressure I was to make a meal. I did not to want but my wife needed to socialize. So I made some Italian pasta, toasted bread with seasoning on top and fresh salad. My wife likes it and so I figured it would be some change for them. They hated it. The girl said the sauce tasted bad (it was okay) and she did not like Italian noodles. The guy sat there and said he was not hungry. My wife got up and whipped up some Chinese noodles a local fashion and you could not hear yourself think for all the slurping and smacking. For one meal they could not try something else. And they were very rude about it all. I never made another meal for guests after that.
And so you know, for the last four days I have had gaifan for lunch and some shaokao for snacks later. I can handle it. But I am burned out today, though most likely I will have more gainfan since I really have no choide except for mi xian or huoguo or maybe I can tell them "hold the rice". Just eat the vegetables and tiny meat pieces off the plate. Rice fills me up more than noodles so I prefer it. So I do not hate it. But I am not a local person and so I want some actual variation in my diet now and then.
But in my area I have no other options. Can you dig where I am coming from. I would have to take a bus to some other side of town just to maybe get some other style of gaifan or noodles, but it is not really another style. If we are going to debate over the difference between a hamburger and a cheese burger, or a pepporoni pizza and a cheese pizza then I am in a no win situation.
I recognize your situation, as well as the one you consider as typical for (apparently) most of the people of Kunming as possible, but I don't see either as typical.
Don't know whether your guests had run into Italian food before, too bad, but unsurprising, that they didn't immediately take to it in a single go. Note that Chinese generally are not big into salads. Have no idea why they were rude. Sounds like you've still got a big problem with noodleslurping or you wouldn't have bothered to mention it.
In Kunming, a definite disadvantage not to get to like spices, but you can get nonspicy dishes.
The bowls of mixian I frequently have at a simple place nearby (9-10 kwai for a big bowl) are neither greasy nor spicy, though I add spices & other stuff.
Obviously there are a great number of better restaurants to eat in in Kunming than the local hotpot or gaifan or mixian or miantao (which I like better) places, which will have quite a variety of dishes - sorry you haven't been able to find them.
yes I am aware that Chinese people do not take to salads, since it is not part of their food regimen they consume day to day. I think part of my issue is that the food near where I live is all villager style. I am trying not to sound rude in saying that, but it is a reality. Not all people in China eat the same types of food or lack curiosity about new things. I agree. I jsut live in one of these zhaungcun 庄村 (I believe that is correct) areas and it is not palatable to me. My wife is from Jiangsu and she, as a Chinese person, struggles with the food around here as well so i do not think I have to feel too bad. She also is a strict vegetarian (not vegan) and that is an issue here for her. I eat burgers so I am obviously not a veggie.
I know there are decent places to eat but I do not want to take a bus somewhere and then back home just to eat. I have known some foreigners who have down just that. I will settle for something near me. Earlier I went out and had egg fried rice. wasn't tons of other choices. For example, if I had wanted a sandwich. Or Italian pasta. Or Cantonese food or Thai food. Or even dongbei style jiaozi. It is not an option here. There was some place had pizza for a while. No sauce on it. It was already 40 RMB fro a 9 inch pizza, but for a squirt of sauce it was 10 more.
I have to say I often encounter rudeness at dinners with Chinese people. I would never say to a person who cooked a meal for me "this tastes bad" even if it does. I went through a long period of been almost shell shocked as to what to do or not to do at a dinner table as to avoid hearing the "we don't do that in China" remark. I ignore it now. I was at dinner once and some guy spit on the floor at least half a dozen times during the meal. Revolting. No Chinese person said anything. But when some food slipped off the thick plastic chop sticks and feel back into the serving dish what did I hear from his girl friend: We don't do that in China. Like she must have been watching me like a hawk. Waiting patiently.
And I guess you could say the guest were not rude in the super aggressive rude style. It is more this passing, thoughtless rudeness. Someone prepares a meal and you just look at it like "WTF is this!". Its rude. And I get my feelings hurt by that stuff. I don't know how to make hot pot.
The point is that I am not miserable. But I do not see the choices here. In the end one can argue that place B makes better mi xian than place A and I would have to agree. I know a place that makes a great huotui gaifan (smoked bacon). Better than the other place I get huotai gaifan at usually but the other place is closer. But neither place place can make a sandwich or bowl of chowder. And after long periods of time I desire something like that now and then.
My wife order Betty Crocker pancake mix and Log Cabin syrup from online. I tell you Mr. Alien, though I risk sounding shallow, I was in heaven for a week or two. I still have a lot of pancake mix but my wife says the syrup is too sweet and bad for my health and I have to wait a while 'cos I ate it up too fast. And I have been in China long enough to learn some patience now. I will wait and have some more in a month or two.
I am beginning to think now that maybe it is simply the type of neighborhood I live in. Shrinking village with about three private schools, full of junk food eating students on a tight budget who swamp the snack streets. Got me thinking now. Maybe I need to figure out how to get somewhere with more options once or twice a week.
Good point, Campo: Life in Kunming is different for different folks, including different foreigners...hmm, kind of obvious, huh?
zhudan, how far out do you live?
Perhaps the biggest factor in determining if a person is happy or unhappy here in Kunming is whether that person still longs/misses/yearns for things from back home (wherever that may be).
- Miss FOOD from back home.
- Miss entertainment from back home (bars, TV, activities).
The other problem is determining Wants and Needs. I need to eat at Arbys, TGIF, Applebees, Fudruckers. People with these types of needs will of course be unhappy here.
For me, I live in China because I want to get away from the west (USA). There is nothing there that I miss - food, people or activities.
My wife and I have the freedom to move and live anywhere in China, so we choose Kunming because of the year round temperate climate. Another plus for us is the proximity to so many other SE Asian countries.
I realize some people live in Kunming because their spouse is from here and they are unwilling to move. Others are here because of their work, but I guess one can find work just about anywhere. I guess this can make some people feel trapped or stuck (unhappy) here.
