Eating steak in China

[abcdefg]

Tonight while visiting Changsha, Hunan I walked into a modern cafe in an upscale shopping center and had the advertised special of the day, which turned out to be steak. I usually order Chinese food and particularly like to savor regional specialties, but this was a weak moment that I cannot fully explain. Hasn't happened before ever, which means in almost 5 years.

Turned out I was totally unprepared for the process of procuring that kind of food. The waitress asked how I wanted my steak cooked and I just stammered. Then there was the selection of a sauce. She helped me along and it worked out well, but I thought I'd ask if anyone knows the appropriate vocabulary. Tasted good and I might get a hankering for some again another day.

[aristotle1990]

Rare/medium/well-done

生，半熟／中等熟／很熟，全熟

To get really specific, you can put a number from 1-10 in front of "分熟" to indicate how well you want the meat cooked:

一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十分熟

[abcdefg]

Thanks. That's exactly what I was hoping to learn.

She kept pressing me for a number. I finally said 一般的 and she asked if 五 would be OK. I agreed to that and the show was on the road. She mentioned several possible sauces and I recognized a black pepper sauce by sound that I once enjoyed on chicken in Hong Kong. Settled on that combination.

Their steak usually cost 45 Yuan but tonight it was only 19 Yuan, 9 Jiao.

[hbuchtel]

People always seem to order “七成熟”, which in my experience means no red at all. I agree that the black pepper sauce is the best choice.

If you're looking for good Western food try 酷极时尚西餐厅. For some good 湘菜 the main 火宫殿 branch on 婆子街 would probably fit the bill.

Welcome to Changsha!

[skylee]

This video (there are 3 parts I guess) might help with vocab when ordering steak (e.g. types of sauce, steaks etc) (in English and Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles).

http://www.vdonext.com/index.php?fuseaction=Features.Archive&channel_id=575603&program_id=1332423

[abcdefg]

Welcome to Changsha!

Thank you @hbuchtel.

The place I went is on the south side of 五一大道 in the basement of 新世界百货。I’m staying across the street at 大成酒店。This area is all torn up because of 修地铁 construction and prices have been reduced.

The little underground café has a special every day, and I walked in on Friday night.

In Kunming we now also have the 修地铁 blues and traffic is badly disrupted.