[roddy]

Ok, here are my choices. Feel free to add in your own recommendations

Currently enjoying:

1) Yoshinoya's bowls of beef rice - very expensive considering it's a bowl of rice with a few ounces of beef on top, but oh, what beef . . .The other advantage of Yoshinoya is that they often share premises with Dairy Queen for your ice-cream afters
2) Big Burger's Chili Burger - much better than McD's.
3) KFC's secret weapon - mashed potato with some kind of chicken gravy - ask for a 土豆泥 - potato mud, I think it translates as - great on a cold winters day. Actually, potato mud is one of the hidden treasures of Chinese cooking - first found it in Harbin, where we called 肉松土豆泥 (rousong tudouni) 'upside down shepherds pie' - great stuff. The KFC one is small, so buy three or four and get some ketchup to mix in if you are 7.

Roddy

[akdn]

I practically lived on Yoshinoya's beef rice when I lived in Tokyo. A habit acquired when there used to be a Yoshinoya outside Beijing's Xizhimen subway station a few years ago...

Yes, KFC potato mud is good stuff. I used to go to a restaurant in Harbin that did mash potato in particular style - two different kinds (one with bits of meat, and one with bits of veg), shaped into a giant ying-yang on a plate.

In Beijing, I can't resist Subway Sandwich's 'Italian sandwich' (with extra olives).

And where I live now, I'm quite partial to rotary sushi and roasted rice green tea.

[roddy]

I didn't include Subway sandwiches, as that's gourmet food, not fast food . . .

Roddy

[skylee]

I quite enjoy Yoshinoya in HK and Japan. I think it is cheap and tasty. But almost everyone I know avoid it like the plague (this only shows that I am quite indifferent to food according to HK standards).

Another fast food place popular in HK is Delifrance. As usual I find it quite OK. I also like KFC's Portugese egg tart.

Does fast food have to be cheap? If not, I also like the two sushi chains serving 迴轉壽司. They are called 元綠 and 元氣.

I can't live without roasted rice green tea (玄米茶) in winter.

[skylee]

I tell jokes badly but here is one -

A famous overseas singer (a singaporean I think) went to inland China to perform. It was hard for him, poor transportation, poor food, etc. When he arrived at a new city, the local leaders welcomed him warmly, and promised him a feast at a restaurant called 牡丹樓, which served chicken, beef, pork, etc. The singer was tired, but would really use some good food. So he boarded the car with the local leaders and after an hour's (or so) rugged journey, he saw the big yellow M.

[Quest]

IQ 题：

有一天，五个人并排在街上走，突然有一个店铺招牌在这五个人头上砸了下来，为什么其中有3个死了，另外2个什么事都没有？

[Ian_Lee]

Can anybody tell there is a basic difference between the food served in Yoshinoya of Hong Kong and Tokyo?

Admittedly HK's Yoshinoya has better setting -- they even serve free newspaper and it is more hygienic after SARS -- the salty red ginger is wrapped in sealed plastic bag.

However, somehow it tastes different.

The difference is the RICE they use in HK.

In Tokyo's Yoshinoya, the rice in gyuudon is completely composed of short-grained rice. Though it is not name brand like Akita's Konishiki, it is still short grain rice planted in Japan. (I don't know if they have blended it with imported American rice.)

But short-grained rice is expensive in HK. So Yoshinoya of HK is probably using the medium or even long grain price for the gyuudon.

But for gyuudon, the beef is best in mixing with the elastic short grain.

I don't know what grain rice is used in China's Yoshinoya.

[smithsgj]

I dunno Quest, did 2 of them land in the arches and three get spiked by the tines of the M?

(Love that word, gonna use it every day at least once)

[smithsgj]

Somewhere near Tiananmen Square there's a very popular breakfast place called Yonghe Doujiang. It's a Taiwanese franchise from a suburb of Taipei (actually a separate city, it's complicated, don't ask) called Yonghe, which is famous for its, er, doujiang. Anyone been?

Taiwan's funny like that. Go to Taichung which is basically two hours down the motorway and friends will say Oh you're going to Taichung, bring us back some Taiyang Bing; going to Yonghe on the tube, get us a doujiang. You'd think if there was a demand for these things outside their place of origin, someone would open up a shop. People just like to get stuff at source I suppose.

[ChouDoufu]

Quote

Somewhere near Tiananmen Square there's a very popular breakfast place called Yonghe Doujiang. It's a Taiwanese franchise from a suburb of Taipei (actually a separate city, it's complicated, don't ask) called Yonghe, which is famous for its, er, doujiang. Anyone been?

Is that the one that looks like a chinese colonel sanders? It's maybe called yonghe da wang. it's a nice place., I've only been there for breakfast. It's not as cheap as getting breakfast on the street but the quality's much better. They have a youtiao on the menu for 3 kuai. I almost gaged on my tongue when I saw the price. 3 kuai! it better be the biggest youtiao i've ever seen. it was.

[889]

The Yonghe 永和 shops -- the ones with the Colonel Sanders rip-off face -- have spread throughout China in recent years and are now widely ripped off themselves. Unless you look pretty closely, you're likely to be having your 甜豆浆 and 葱油饼 congyou bing at a look-alike competitor.

Hint for distinguishing the real thing: prices are higher.

[pazu]

Quote

I tell jokes badly but here is one -

A famous overseas singer (a singaporean I think) went to inland China to perform. It was hard for him, poor transportation, poor food, etc. When he arrived at a new city, the local leaders welcomed him warmly, and promised him a feast at a restaurant called 牡丹樓, which served chicken, beef, pork, etc. The singer was tired, but would really use some good food. So he boarded the car with the local leaders and after an hour's (or so) rugged journey, he saw the big yellow M.

Ha, so funny! I'm going to tell my friends this joke too~

麥當勞 ......... 牡丹樓 .

Thanks for sharing this joke!

[pazu]

Have you ever tried the DICOS? Oh, it's totally shit.

Distorted shape of hamburger for 21 yuans!

[website]

Here's an interesting article on KFC in Zhongguo:

http://news.yahoo.co...bi_ge/kfc_china

[Gary Soup]

Quote

Here's an interesting article on KFC in Zhongguo:

http://news.yahoo.co...bi_ge/kfc_china
_________________
As you think, so shall you become.

KFC has been 2:1 to McD's in outlets in China since they first touched foot and in the future the gap will probably widen. Chinese know and love chicken, and the quality of chicken in China greatly exceeds that of chicken in the US flavor-wise. The quality of the beef in China is, well ..... not a priority.

It's interesting to see that mashed potatoes with gravy is catching on in the North. When I first went to a KFC in China in Shanghai in 1992, the sides were an exact duplicate of those in the US (mashed potatoes, cole slaw, corn muffin) but were quickly ditched when they didn't register.

Just so long as they don't get rid of those taro pies!

[wushijiao]

I also think KFC has been better at adapting to Chinese tastes, with their Beijing wrap, the new Korean wrap, the new huge burger with the 麻辣　sauce, the salads, corn,and in Shanghai, they even have 罗宋汤.

Although, the marketing for both McDonald's and KFC is amazing. You'd think it were a patriotic Chinese duty to eat at these places.

[skylee]

Chinese-style fast food restaurants are plentiful in Hong Kong (IMHO they are just a variant of the HK-style cafe aka 茶餐廳). There are 大家樂, 大快活, and the unavoidable giant 美心. I think they serve ridiculously big meals at very reasonable prices. Have you guys tried them before? I wonder if they have branches in the mainland.

[marcopolo79]

I think the indigenous fast food in China is the best, 馬蘭麵 (I think that's what it's called, can't remember exactly) has, 顧名思義, fantastic noodles and sides. I have to admit that I'm partial to 加州牛肉麵大王 and the legion of imitators that it's spawned. Has anyone ever been to Do & Me Chicken? I think it's mainly in the South, aside from the only in Asia name, they have swing seats and the food is so greasy you get a pair of disposable plastic gloves with every order of fried chicken. I agree that the heart-shaped taro nuggets at KFC are delicious to the point of sin (I was crushed when I found out that they don't offer them in Taiwan).

I don't know why, but the pizza in China is generally bereft of sauce, nor is it worth the price (I can't believe Pizza Hut is marketed, perceived, and priced as fine dining).

Whatever you do, don't be tempted by the KFC 石鍋泡菜保, it's too disgusting for words.

For real Chinese fast food, nothing beats oily 鍋貼 or curbside 羊肉串 from a Uigher who speaks crappier Chinese than you do.

[Gary Soup]

加州牛肉麵大王, aka California Beef Noodle King USA, was actually started by a Chinese-American from California. I was amazed to discover that CBNK had so many outlets in China; It seemed like you could count them on the fingers of one hand in Shanghai a couple of years ago.

Here's the rundown on fast food outlets in China as of September 2004. The Xinya Dabao's must be mostly in Shanghai: I'd swear I saw 20 of them there.

====================================
====================================
SUMMARY – FAST FOOD OUTLETS IN CHINA
====================================

1,100+ Yum Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC)
1,000+ KFC
580+ McDonalds
400 Malan Noodles
142 Pizza Hut
100 Xiao Shaoxing
100+ California Beef Noodle King
83 Yonghe King
49 Yoshinoya
38 Starbucks
20+ (unk) Café de Coral
20+ (unk) New Asia Dabao
17 (in 1999) Mos Burger

[skylee]

I have heard that 永和大王 and 永和豆漿 are not the same.