As a skinny bloke, it seems to surprise people that I love food, I love to drink and I love combining the two. The eternal hedonist, I’ve always been great at eating and drinking beyond my means. Living in Suzhou is no exception however my motives are somewhat different so that when I eat out I’m looking to satisfy some deep seated and complex craving, usually for western food. But despite having a never ending plethora of interesting places to explore especially with the industry parks flooding the country side I so often come away disappointed. I started to give this some thought recently and here’s what I came up with.
Most of my gripes are about non-Chinese restaurants, because, unsurprisingly, in Suzhou the Chinese restaurants are fantastic, reasonably priced, varied… and hey, TIC.
Disproportionately high prices for western food
usually restaurateurs going into business with an overly simplistic business model that “if we cook western food the rich expats will pay for it and we’ll be rich! With the exception of The Blue Marlin, um..NO.
Overly mediocre food at exorbitant prices
One of the things about China that amused my cousin when he was here for a visit recently is how relatively cheap food is here then you order terrible coffee that costs twice as much as your main course. Often scarcity of ingredients and lack of culinary experience leads to crappy food and high prices. This is why, in Chinese kitchen I stick to Chinese food!
Terrible service
Derived from Communist complacency, a work force working for slave wages with no real stake in the customer satisfaction, working under the threat of having their wages docked for small mistakes and the unwillingness to admit mistakes for fear of losing ‘face’. Also the mentality here that every jiao counts regardless of the customer. Recently I was made to wait 20 minutes for the staff to run to the bank because I was 2 RMB short (in small notes) for my 62 RMB bill and they had no change for my 100 RMB note.
Restaurants seeking to cash in on the western dollar
..without really understanding western expectations of service, manners or protocol. Like the group of punters who order a steak, a hamburger chop it up and eat it like a communal Chinese meal. This pisses me off, sorry. I promise never to melt cheese on my sushi.
Failed attempts at modernizing Chinese food
Fusion is not OK simply for the sake of fusion. If its not broke don’t fix it. 5000 years of culture, people!
The above aside, I plan to share some little gems I’ve stumbled upon recently on the blog. Don’t hold your breath though, work has been going mental recently.
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