Western food you miss

[adrianlondon]

I'm mainly focussed on food I can get here in the UK, but all are welcome to this thread of course!

I plan on being in Beijing from September for 6 months. What food should I eat during the next two months to ensure I don't get homesick?

I already plan on eating many, many "full English" breakfasts, fish & chips and that british staple : (Indian) curry.

I'd add kebabs onto the list, but I had a lovely lamb kebab in Beijing when I was there last year, so I won't miss those.

What else?

[johnd]

Cream cakes and puddings! But don't get too fat before you come, because you'll find lots of new favourites once you get to China.

[yonitabonita]

My good cravings are so bad anyone would think I was pregnant. Off the top of my head:

1. gourmet sausages with rosemary etc.

2. fresh pesto. Any pesto.

3. real bread. With real grains and no sugar.

4. good pizza. Baked in a traditional oven, on a pizza base that's not got sugar.

5. gorgonzola, parmesan, brie, camembert, peccorino, goats cheese on crackers.

6. cheese cake, chocolate mud cake, creme brulee, chocolate eclaire

7. meat pie

8. chicken sandwich from the German stand on Portobello Rd. on Sunday

[dalaowai]

Strangely enough, I have to say that I miss Chinese-food from back home. The Chinese in China don't prepare chinese food the same way as they do in Canada.

[Prodigal Son]

1. In-N-Out

2. Chipotle

why did you have to bring this up

[imron]

Cheese, cheese and more cheese.

BTW, Yonitabonita, Annie's in Beijing has great pesto.

[roddy]

Man, I wasn't missing anything until yonitabonita gave me so many ideas. . .

[adrianlondon]

Sory for making you all feel bad

Asian cuisine is my favourite anyway, so I won't actually miss the food as I'll be too busy stuffing my face in Beijing. London's Chinatown isn't bad, and it's slowly getting more china-chinese as the HK staff move on to other stuff and people from the mainland take their place.

I'm wondering if I'd miss light food; such as salads, lightly cooked fish, a rare steak & chips etc. Of course, it's all replicable and no doubt Beijing will continue to open up new places.

[venture160]

I giant Italian sub over-loaded with veggies

12" super greasy Greek pizza

a good Chicken Parm

Grilling on my back porch

good fresh veggies

my moms Lasanga

I haven't been home in 13 months.

[adrianlondon]

Good fresh veg? You just don't know where to shop!

http://www.fototime.com/B0D18E73F786D7E/standard.jpg

[yonitabonita]

Imron, thanks for the pesto tip.

I was just thinking.. the sorts of food we miss depends a lot on what sort of salaries we're on. If I wasn't on a bummy student salary - ie, none, I wouldn't miss anything at all.

Flicking through the dining section of That's Beijing, I reckon I could have a lot of fun working my way through the listings (if a big fat bank was footing the bills).

[etcetera24]

I was just thinking.. the sorts of food we miss depends a lot on what sort of salaries we're on. If I wasn't on a bummy student salary - ie, none, I wouldn't miss anything at all.

I was just discussing that with a friend today - how different living in Beijing, in terms of food, living environment etc, might be if we had cushy expat incomes rather than pinching pennies (or rather fen'r) as students.

As for food I miss, it's definitely bagels and cream cheese!

Prodigal Son: I haven't had Chipotle burritos since leaving the US last year - and there aren't any chains in Toronto, let alone Beijing

[adrianlondon]

Although a decent amount of money would buy your way into posh hotel restaurants, it doesn't mean that toe cooking is authentic. It could just be western style to appeal to Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists.

I could pay a lot of money and have dimsum in Hakkasan or Yaoatcha (or however it's spelt) - it looks pretty and tastes ok that doesn't mean it's authentic.

What about a nice fresh salad with rocket, plum tomatoes and parmesan? Hmm. We all do seem to be focussing on Italy

Anyway, I'm going to eat crispy duck and dumplings for 6 months, and not miss a thing!

[yonitabonita]

Although a decent amount of money would buy your way into posh hotel restaurants, it doesn't mean that toe cooking is authentic. It could just be western style to appeal to Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists.

Decent amounts of money doesn't guarantee a great product, but the point still remains that little money guarantees no product at all. Much better chance of satisfying those cravings if you can get weekly home deliveries from Jenny Lou's, and make regular visits to ritzy restaurants.

You don't need to go anywhere near a hotel either. There's no shortage of restaurants that are run by expats, catering to expat tastes. No problems with finding authenticity here. In that way it's like many other big international cities.

Y

[roddy]

True. I think in smaller cities, and in Beijing in the past, a lot of the international eating was pretty poor quality and you almost had to pretend it was what it was meant to be if you wanted to enjoy it. Now a lot of places are genuinely good - nobody is going to claim Beijing has the world's best pizza or indian food or anything (are they?), but it's certainly good enough for me. It is also thankfully branching out from the 'Western food = pasta, pizza and white bread sandwiches' idea - how many of Beijing's cafes are serving up the same piss poor spag bog and tuna sandwiches? Give us a decent plate of fried noodles for heaven's sake! (sorry, pet hate).

It does cost of course, relative to the local alternatives, but I'd say it's still affordable. I'll quite happily spend money on a decent meal out, but I think only one time have I spent over 150Y per head, and that was down to multiple imported Kingfisher beers at the Taj Pavillion. Wouldn't do it every night, but as a treat it won't break the bank. Would love to do it every night of course, but would have to cut down on luxuries such as rent.

[Lu]

I missed bread. At home I eat bread for breakfast and for lunch. Chinese food is much tastier, but still I missed bread. There's a Xinjiang restaurant in Beiyu, I sometimes bought nang there, that helped.

[geraldc]

Re: bread, I used to go to the japanese bakeries, nothing quite like a croissant with a frankfurter inside it and topped with mayonaise and sweetcorn, or a donut filled with curry

The only thing I really missed was diet coke. I was forced to drink normal coke which I'm sure accounted for a good few pounds of my weight gain while in China.

You could always buy a bread maker in the west and ship it over, they're automatic and only cost about 20 pounds nowadays. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to source the flour etc, and then when you leave, one of your friends/language exchange partners will be stuck with a very curious present...

[Jamoldo]

there are actually decent prepackaged croissants available at Carrefour and other stores, some joint venture between a Spanish company and a chinese company, its not half bad. Combine with an orange juice (minute maid is surprisingly muchbetter in china than in the US) and you have a continental breakfast. Yonita, a lot of the things you mentioned are readily available at foreign supermarkets (forget the name but look it up in the Insider's Guide to Beijing), and probably aren't too expensive anymore. I think I'll miss my mom's food, grilling and certain restaurants close to my house more than Dunkin Donuts, or another fast food place. The Chinese food in China is so good that I usually don't miss food when I am over there, but I usually get together with some friends and do "foreign meal of the week" at a decent restaurant (mcdonalds and pizza hut are ok but don't count) to get my fix. I'm really going to miss thanksgiving though without my family and friends. I know some hotels have a great spread for like 300 RMB, but it just won't be the same thing...

[venture160]

I've spent my last 2 thanksgivings here in China, and this year I'll be spending my third. I have done the hotel thing in the past, and it just never cuts it, nothing is like sitting at home eating your mom's food. That being said, if you find an american family that lives here, it would be awesome to be invited to their home. Of course, you could always make your own dinner, but you would need an oven for that.

[adrianlondon]

Just substitute the the meat with a Beijing Kao Ya (roast duck)