I didn't know what Burger King uses. But Burger King doesn't claim to be healthy. Subway is glorified fast food. And it tastes pretty good. Who doesn't like a sandwich, even if the bread is a bit plastick-y?

@Dudeson, you're describing the hole in the wall places, but there are plenty of more upscale Chinese restaurants. You haven't noticed? I'm guessing that you expect to have a nice clean restaurant where you pay less than 10 RMB for a meal? Do you have clean restaurants where the food costs 1.5 Euro back home?

You wrote: "Show me any local dish that has the same high [or high-ish] nutrition values, as a sandwich for less RMB." You can go to an outdoor BBQ chuanr place and get some chicken wings and some grilled veggies.

Subway also doesn't claim to be healthy. Remember their slogan, 'Eat Fresh'. Their claim is they use fresh ingredients like their bread baked everyday and fresh vegetables.

A very health conscious person would be choosing the salad anyway, so no bread.

@one-hit-wonder
No, I don't expect good food to be cheap. That's why I like subway...lol
The problem in Kunming is that bad food is expensive.

But I can't, for every lunch-break -reserve a table at Gare de Sud, right?

If you go to any upscale place, price goes up.

Btw. I love the places, where the upscale restaurant doesn't have en-suite toilets, and they go to the public ones taking a dump, smoking and then by highest standard of hygiene, walk out of the stall, -look at the people around, wipe their hands off their aprons and leave. Even though there is soap and water available.

And actually as a matter of fact, I bought a quarter slice of pizza [family pizza] in Vienna, a few years back for 1.70 Euro, my friend had to finish it for me, it was just too much.
Not exactly a traditional Austrian dish, but cheaper and more nutritious than stupid, mixian. [And it was amazing]

About value and nutrition, I don't think chicken wings and sewer water cleaned vegetables, could compare with subway. Although, I sometimes like the adventure of predicting, have or having no diarrhea the next morning after Chinese BBQ, in terms of health, subway is still better.

Why can't you admit the obvious, subway is healthier, more nutritious and cheaper [in comparison] than any local Chinese quick[fast] food?

@goldie

Done a lot of reading on marketing in my days and that there is the limit of expertise on the subject, however, the word "Fresh" is not used by accident. It is meant to invoke the idea of healthiness because consumers equate fresh with healthy, much like the low fat, zero sugar labels; such tactics are meant to skirt truth-in-advertising laws while still being able to send the *false* message to the consumer.

The pharmaceutical companies use similar tactics when naming their drugs. Viagra invokes image of vitality while Claritin invokes image of clarity.

Eat Fresh - Not Necessarily Healthy, but not as bad as Mixian! (China Subway slogan)

goldie, i hope it's not personal to ask, but what is your gluten tolerance level?

Does anyone know the characters for 'Nan Pin Jie' or the name of the mall? I can't find it on baidu maps with just the pinyin.

Quite a personal question but as far as I know, my body is not sensitive to gluten.

if you're not concerned about your weight (wait) eat as much of that white bread, cheese, sauce and red meat as you like. It tastes goooood. If you are concerned, there's nothing there you can't buy yourself and stick in a box for lunch.

@1flux I think it's 南屏街. And it's "ping" not "pin". The shop is in the basement floor. I went and had a try and it was very tasty. I went at around 3.30 and there was a very small queue. They were efficient too. Enjoy!

"About value and nutrition, I don't think chicken wings and sewer water cleaned vegetables, could compare with subway."

I'm not just trying to argue for the sake of argument, but I'll take the outdoor BBQ chicken wings over subway if health and nutrition is the only issue.

First of all, too many people have gluten intolerance for bread to be considered much of a health food. Some people tolerate it better than others, though. But personally, bread is my worst enemy as I will be a big fat blob in no time if I don't watch my bread intake.

But then the bread is highly processed with chemicals. And.... cold cuts are not all created equal. If you go to Metro, you will see that some french hams etc.... cost an arm and a leg. Like 80 kuai a package. Those are high quality cold cuts. But I'm sure that Subway uses the lowest-quality cheap ass cold cuts to maximize profits.

And therefore the chicken wings win the contest from a nutrition standpoint.

But taste-wise, yeah a sandwich has more varied flavors and texture. Sweet, mixed with vinegar, mustard, etc... and that's one reason sandwiches have endured as a favorite food for a million years.

But they're over-priced. Back home, Chinese buffets (ie fast food) —- all you can eat —- are still under 12 dollars for lunch.

And you can get a pretty good Chinese meal for 36 RMB. Never been to Gare du Sud. I'm guessing it's much more. But if you can't find decent restaurants with decent dishes for 40 RMB, I think maybe you haven't explored too many restaurants. Or maybe you're just one of these expats that will never assimilate and like the local food. And if that's the case, then don't force yourself. If you don't like it, you don't like it. I met someone who doesn't like and never eats Indian food. I thought 'wow! really?'

I eat Chinese maximum once a week apart from stuff like chicken wings, which isn't really that Chinese-y anyway. Eat mostly my own grub, and fast food once a week. I will not elevate Subway above McDonald's. They're both fast food which I try to limit to once a week.

Sorry, but I am immune to Subway's deceptive marketing tactics.