1. Are there many restaurants near your home/school/university/work?
Yes there are many different restaurants and other places to but cooked food. The great thing about my neighborhood is that you can eat almost any good you like because there’re so many different foods on offer. There’s a very popular Sichuan restaurant near my work that’s always crowded with people who enjoy hot and spicy food. That’s not really my thing, so I prefer to eat at a place that specializes in noodles. It’s always a challenge trying to eat a bowl of noodles without making a mess on my clothes, but after eating some I always feel happy. In fact, there are so many places to eat near my home that I haven’t been to them all yet. I’m looking forward to trying out all the different types of food they have.
2. What different types of restaurants are there in your hometown?
My hometown is in England, so obviously the types of restaurants they have there are very different from in China. Back in England a lot of restaurants are also pubs, where you can drink beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages as well as enjoy a meal. The food in places like this is called ‘pub food’ and it usually simple, tasty and filling. Of course there are also ‘proper’ restaurants that serve all sorts of food. There are many foreign restaurants that serve Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish food. England isn’t known for its delicious cooking, so we eat a lot of foreign dishes.
3. What are some of the factors that make a restaurant a good one?
When eating at a restaurant you should always feel relaxed and comfortable. The French believe that unless this is the case you will have bad digestion. Therefore it’s important for a restaurant to be a pleasant place to enjoy a meal. It helps to have a little music playing, but nothing too loud or fast-paced. Excellent service is a must in my opinion. If you have to wait for ages before your food arrives then it’s very annoying. The staff must be friendly and polite and have a good knowledge of the food on offer so they can make recommendations, and of course, the food itself should be tasty. Finally, it helps if the price is low, but if a restaurant is really good then they will of course charge a little more money.
4. Does the food in the restaurant you just talked about taste different to Western food?
Yes, very different. Even the food that you would expect to taste the same as western food, like bread, tastes strange to a westerner. Chinese bread is very sweet and floury whilst western bread is more coarse and heavy. In general Chinese food is a lot more oily and spicy too. This can be a surprise to someone who orders a dish and then discovers that it’s too hot to eat! In the west most spicy dishes are Indian curries and hot food is not that common. I think Chinese meat is absolutely delicious though because it’s cooked in small pieces you can pick up with chopsticks. This gives it a more tender flavor.
