One of our goals (not necessarily at the top of the list as far as importance goes, but on the list nonetheless!) while here is to find a fun restaurant that our family can frequent regularly. So we've started trying out some different more "hole in the wall" type places. A little risky, yes. But lots of fun! So far we've made it to one place that ended up being Korean (and we realized we're not huge Korean food fans). And then tonight we walked into another that was more of a bar than a restaurant. They were excited to have us come up to the door, but we decided it probably wasn't the best place to bring all the kids to! So our next stop was across a major street near our apartment community, similar to Central Expressway, minus the lane markings and any form of law enforcement! (We've learned that all traffic laws here in China are more like traffic suggestions; optional in whether they are obeyed or not!) I tried to capture the street crossing on film, but the photo does not do it justice. We did manage to make it across the street without loosing any kids along the way, and then found a fun place to eat. They even had live birds out front--I'm assuming that you could pick them out to then have put on your plate a few minutes later? Not sure exactly what kinds of birds they were, but they were great pre-dinner entertainment for the kids!
And we're not sure that we've found our favorite family spot yet, but we did enjoy the meal for the most part. We're still not sure either what we ordered. We thought we'd gotten a chicken dish and some sort of sweet and sour pork, but the chicken was not like any I'd tasted before. I was concerned at first that it wasn't cooked; but after a second bite I felt okay giving it to the kids as I think it was just a lot more fatty than I was used to, rather than raw! And our only disappointment was in the childcare. Normally in Chinese restaurants, if you go in with an infant, the waitress will literally take the baby out of your arms after you order and walk around with them the rest of the meal! Last time we ate out, Noah had a blast getting to know the entire restaurant. This time, for whatever reason (maybe because he was a little fussy?), he stayed with us, making our chop stick attempts even more awkward than usual! Oh well, another day, another new cross-cultural experience.
