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XiaoGe BBQ House Grand Opening!
XiaoGe Special Home Made BBQ
1,Special Beef Sticks
2,Chicken Wings
3,Squid Meat
4,Squid Balls

Time:July 4th 19:30
Adress:ECHO Books & CAFE (Jian Ye Road NO.81)
Telephone:84307899

Food price inflation has driven general CPI price rises for the past year. Things, especially food, are getting more expensive, and it is starting to be passed through.

Last year the city of Lanzhou in Gansu province encountered a popular and political backlash. Shops selling the local delicacy of Lanzhou Beef Noodles were accused of collusion and price fixing as an overnight hike of noodle prices, a response to rising wheat, oil, beef and seasoning costs, was met with suspicion. The city government mandated a large bowl must not exceed 2.5 Yuan and the difference between a large and small bowl must not exceed 0.2 Yuan. Noodle shops are not a high margin business, as prices were capped the amount of contents contents inevitably reduced in size.

Two weeks ago, after enjoying a bowl of 米线, Mi Xian or rice noodles (cooked in a chicken or pork broth with tofu skins, vegetables and slices of chicken breast) the shop owner regretfully apologised for the price rising 2 Yuan from 10. He explained the price rise was essential for him to remain in business. For more than 3 years he'd charged 10 kuai for a large bowl/pot.

Roddy noted the filling of his dumplings was going down, an alternative way for retailers to deal with the soaring cost of ingredients. The Zhongshan Hotel have a notice on each of their tables telling guests to add 10% to food costs because of recent ingredient price inflation. Even Kailong, the king of cheap beers, went up 25% in price to 2.5 Kuai several months ago.

This is important phychologically. Not only are prices in the market going up, food prices are being felt outside of home too. It isn't just food prices, power stations made losses in the first quarter of the year as coal prices soared yet higher electricity prices was mandated not to be passed on to consumers - a 1% rise in the cost of electricity directly causes a 0.089% increase in general CPI according to the China Daily. Inflation expectations cause inflation, expect a bunch more.

Pic: Typical Northern Chinese 包子, now with less filling.

Pic: CC lincence, attribution, sharealike.

Related: An introduction to 米线 and an explanation of why the dog ignores the dumplings, or 狗不理包子.

Dalian has some great seafood.  Having recently given up on supermarkets I've found some of the freshest stuff in local markets.  Winter is the best time for much of it, the sea and air being cold helping prevent bacteria growth, the cold seas also contribute to Dalian's seafood growing slower and therefore having more taste.  Plus it's dead cheap.

But I'm a bit stumped on the local names for many things; some varieties of clam, for example, seem to be local to Dalian.  Here are the ones I know:

Oysters (best raw and out of the summer period) 海蛎子 hǎi lì zi (or 蛎子 lì zi in Dalian Hua)

Crabs (with orange roe, or eggs, in the spring I think) 螃蟹 pángxiè (river crabs are 河蟹 héxiè  read more »

A few days ago, I ate one of the best meals I’ve had in Dalian.

I’ve eaten well here, to be sure: dumplings of all variety at DaQingHua, curry at Abashi, pizza at Noah’s. Add to that list Japanese barbecue at the pragmatically-named Barbecue Coals.

Consider the selection:  read more »

• Grilled chicken teriyaki with a hint of lemon, covered in melted cheese.
• Shitake mushrooms, cooked soft, subtle, and simple.
• Asparagus, something I haven’t had in China, roasted and served with a dollop of mayonnaise on the side, which I indulged in but felt guilty about (for masking the taste of the vegetable; I don’t so much worry about cholesterol at this kind of meal).
• Cherry tomatoes, wrapped in bacon, broiled.
• Hard-boiled quail eggs.

Christmas is as good excuse as any for a party!

Saturday 22nd, 7-9pm. Olive Garden Christmas Dinner (Roast Turkey, Pumpkin Soup, Mulled Wine, Salad, Mashed Potato and Seasonal Veg, Cake, Plus a large glass of Mulled Wine) - 80RMB.

Saturday 22nd, 7pm to late, Hopscotch with DJ Bob, DJ Manbow and DJ NoOnesHeardOfSki. Green Monster shooters (Vodka, Orange and Midori - not too heavy or sweet) at 5 kuai (if you've a better idea for shooters, please suggest in the comments, we could change it but they need notice to get stocks in). Want a better excuse than 5 kuai shooters?! That's 10 shooters for 50 kuai, 20 shooters for 100 kuai!  read more »

+graemetric- 發表相片：

Some men sit on the window ledges of an old Russian built building in Dalian city centre, as men have presumably been doing here for the last 100 years. These days entertainment is provided by a busker belting out ballads and refreshments can be found inside the building, which is now occupied by KFC.

Dalian, China, June 2007.

Western holidays are are always tough in China. And if you're outside of the more international cities in China, they're especially difficult.

Unfortunately turkey is hard to come by in China, as are ovens to cook them in.

So the big question is . . .

. . .how did you celebrate Thanksgiving in Dalian?  read more »

As a follow up to Chris's post on Extortionate Western Restaurant Prices here in Dalian, I thought I'd add a few thoughts of my own.

There are definitely a lot of restaurants in Dalian that severely overcharge, serving up the tiniest morsels of food only to leave you with little more than bus change in your pocket. Here are a few restaurants which (at the time of writing) will not rip you a new one in the name of profit.
NOTE: I'm not limiting myself to Western Restaurants here, but places where I think you can get the best value for your money.  read more »

shahemenkou posted a photo: