Chinese Takeout Beijing Style
In the elevator in my apartment building I realized the student holding hot food had just had it delivered. She gave me the menu. The restaurant, I learned, is called Kyoto. it serves mainly Korean and Japanese food. Free delivery. The surprising part: There’s no address. And it never closes, even on holidays.
An example of the general truth that there are many more kinds of restaurants (food-serving businesses) in Beijing than in America. Today I bought sugar-coated banana on a stick from a street vendor.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:31 am
So the question is why? Overly harsh food standards laws?
December 27th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Not food standards law. There is much more diversity of many non-food products, too.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Maybe because there are many more people in Beijing. Same reason you find more kinds of restaurants in NY city than in Podunk, TX.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Yeah, density of people is surely part of the answer. But I think New York and lots of other cities have lots of areas just as dense as my area of Beijing yet I have never come across this form of food business. In Berkeley there is a new sushi place that is delivery only but they have a webpage, an address, and an obvious physical presence.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Seth,
You might enjoy this article on business and bureaucracy in China:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122960061127017921.html