Which food you guys miss the most when you are in China?

[gingersoup]

Which food you guys miss the most when you are in mainland CHINA/Taiwan/ HK?

Do you just eat chinese food or cook western food by yourself? A lot of people told me that the taste of PIZZA HUT in China is kind of different than in America. And KFC tastes better in China. Do you think the same way?

[roddy]

Which food you guys miss the most when you are in mainland CHINA/Taiwan/ HK?

Good wholemeal bread. Bovril.

Got curry cravings yesterday and went to the Taj Pavilion at Guomao in Beijing - not cheap, but damned fine food.

Do you just eat chinese food or cook western food by yourself?

Chinese food mostly. Never cook for myself.

[liuzhou]

Cheese, cheese and cheese.

I tend to eat / cook Chinese 99% of the time. Much easier here.

[roddy]

and CHEESE! I forgot cheese.

In Beijing though, you can get most of these things.

Roddy

[rmontelatici]

Cheese, definitely ! Even harder for a frenchman (France deserves its name of "country of cheese" (le pays du fromage) !)

[skylee]

Bovril.

Interesting.

[gingersoup]

I tried a slice of cheesecake at one of the Starbucks in Beijing two years ago. The taste was not as I expected. =(

[wushijiao]

I think most Americans from the South West would agree: Mexican food. Tex-mex, big burritos and authentic real mexican food are all very hard to find in China.

[Bob Dylan Thomas]

i missed wholemeal bread a bit. and wholegrain rice, flour etc - i'm sure it's available but i never found it, cept in some veggie restaurants in Taiwan.

I'm vegan in UK but i'm not so strict in China, and contrary to popular belief it's not hard at all - almost all restaurants have a "素菜" section on the menu, provided you're not fussed about a bit of meat stock now and then. otherwise, if you're cooking for yourself, being vegan is the easiest thing ever in China. And in Taiwan it's a delight.

I enjoyed getting away from shitty British food when i was in china - although if someone insisted me on taking me out for "Western food" you could guarantee it would be fairly awful. As for our national dish, curry: i think there are some good, rip-off curry houses opening in Chinese cities now, but bollocks to that, just hunt out the spices (or bring your own) and DIY! (Chinese curry powder WON'T make a decent Bradford curry).

[liuzhou]

As for our national dish, curry

I'd just finished a homemade 'Bradford style' curry when I read that. Or at least a very close approximation. I have managed to track down real Indian curry paste! Tarted it up with a bit of this and that. Chilli, fresh coriander etc. Perfeck!

[mark1888]

Speaking of curries I came across a great indian while I was in Beijing. Real authentic Indian and they can really crank up the spice if you ask... just thinking about it now... oh well anyway the address is:

Chingari

鑫格裹餐厅

Xin ge guo can ting

27 Dongzhimenwai Dajie, 4/F

Its above a pizza hut... enjoy

[beirne]

I know the other ones posting here actually live in China, but when I was there for my two-week trip in 2001 I missed the Swenson's cheeseburger. Swenson's has the best hamburgers in Akron,OH, or in the world as some Akronites say.

I went on the trip as part of an REI tour where we did a lot of hiking and biking. It was a good trip but the food got real monotonous. They wanted to play it safe since we were Americans so every night we got the same type of food at whaterver hotel we stayed at. Beef with broccolli, a few other forgettable items, and the scary looking scrambled eggs with tomatoes (I hate tomatoes). A couple of days into the trip someone pointed out that we get more interesting Chinese food back home. I know this is true for me, since I'll eat things like chicken feet and hog maws at a Chinese restaurant in Cleveland.

While we were complaining about the bland Chinese food it doesn't mean that we didn't miss Western food. About a week into the trip we started eating at hotel restaurants that served corn bread. We ate that up and asked for more.

Finally one day we passed a McDonald's while riding our bikes into a new town. When it came time to eat we told Tony, our tour guide, that we wanted to go there for dinner. We explained that we were getting tired of the same food. He thought for a second then just waved his arm toward the hotel restaurant and ordered us in.

I did get a little bit of different Chinese food my first day in Beijing. A few of us that arrived early went out for hot pot and the next day we just picked a place. I had some really spicy-hot chicken stew and it was great.

[TSkillet]

Mexican food is right (although there's a couple of really good places in Hong Kong)

A really good $5/40 kuai hamburger. Not one from a fast food place, but not one from a restaurant either.

[PollyWaffle]

- KFC chips (the fat ones with heaps of chicken salt)

- Doner Kebabs

- Butter Chicken Curry

but these have been replaced with:

- 羊肉串

- 大饼鸡蛋

- 狗不理包子

so i spose it's not so bad....

ps: i eat a kilo of cheese a week at home, here i have cut down to about 100 grams... you can get really good cheese at good luck stores

[chengdude]

Barbecue: mesquite-, hickory-, or pecan-smoked, low and slow with a nice, thick smoke ring around the brisket...

Cajun/Creole: gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp po-boys...

and one more vote for Mexican/Tex-Mex: cochinita pibil, tacos al pastor, mole, tortas, guisada...

[hzrt8w]

As for our national dish, curry

Curry is a British national dish?

I thought Fish and Chips are.

[Ian_Lee]

Regarding cheese, you guys should be grateful that most Chinese don't like it.

The price of cheese has climbed up by 80% so far this year. Why? Because the Russian and Middle East consumers, who have been getting richer lately owing to the high oil price (of course at our expenses), have devoured more and more cheese.

If Chinese eat as much as cheese as Japanese do (Japan is the 2nd largest cheese importer), then a large pepperoni pizza may be as unafforable as a bowl of shark fin soup!

[Ian_Lee]

Bob:

Down in HK, there are many excellent Indian curry restaurants which are as good as those you can find in London.

Since there is a huge (and some are very rich) South Asian community in HK, you can find very high end Indian curry restaurants in Central and Wanchai. For the low end Indian curry restaurants, you can find plenty of them inside the Chungking Mansion if you dare go there.

Moreover, there are quite a few authentic Indian curry restaurants operated by former Chinese cooks in the British Army.

For Southeast Asian style Curry restaurants, there are also plenty in HK.

[marcopolo79]

As the son of Eastern European Jewish imigrants, I crave for pickled herring in cream with vinegar and onions. Also, matzo ball soup and Zabar's babka. And falafel. And Atomic Hot Wings. And, well, the list goes on.

[Pravit]

What? How could you miss Western food in China?

There is some great Chinese food to be had in the Chinese areas of Bangkok. The problem is that I live in the American Southwest. As a result, I am constantly homesick for Chinese and Thai food. But we do have some good Mexican food here(though I never miss it when I'm abroad ;) ). I haven't been to China yet but I can't wait to eat over there.