After a lap around the neighborhood, I headed to the restaurant I had picked out. There are lots of things I’d like to try, but since I’m in China, I wanted to prioritize China’s signature dishes and signature chains.

An event on the way

So they do this kind of thing in China too. The kids seemed to love it..

The Sam’s Club parking lot

It was very well set up.

The entrance

There were really a lot of people..

Majiyong Lanzhou Beef Noodles

In Chinese characters it’s 马记永, but in English it’s written as Majiyong. Thankfully, coming from a culture that uses Chinese characters, I can roughly tell what things mean.

The menu

There are beef noodles, side dishes, and skewers too. The basic dish is 26 yuan, which is about 5,000 won, so the prices are reasonable. It would also be nice to come with a group and order a bunch of different things.

A glass of water

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What makes a place like this better than a regular restaurant is that the ordering system is really well done, so you can do most things without any conversation. If you’re eating alone, this is the kind of place to go.

The kitchen

It was running incredibly busy.

Beef noodles

I expected it to be super spicy or something, but it was just at a pleasant, easy-to-eat level.

The noodles

Kind of like noodles in gomtang, Korean beef bone soup? But that actually makes it easy to eat. The taste is good and so is the price. Considering what gomtang costs in Korea, this is heaven..

The spoon

This spoon was so huge I had to take a picture of it.

A good meal, and the quality is great.. I think I’ll crave this now and then..

Restaurants

I’m not sure what this place is, but..

Nuts

The quality looks decent.

Yeren Xiansheng

It’s a gelato shop. If you look closely, it says they sell durian gelato. At 38 yuan, that’s close to 8,000 won, which isn’t cheap for China.. Besides durian, they have flavors like pistachio, rice, milk, matcha, and mango. But the menu comes and goes somewhat randomly. It differs by branch, and it also changes a little depending on the day of the week. So when the chance comes along, you have to grab it..

Durian gelato

This really had that rich, luxurious durian flavor. It was quite a success. The problem was that, just like durian, that funky smell kept clinging to the inside of my mouth, and I ended up in a situation where I couldn’t open it. Luckily I was wandering around alone, so it wasn’t a big problem.. It’s delicious, but try it when you’re alone or right before heading home.. that’s the lesson.. Also, I asked for durian, but my tones were off and they couldn’t understand me.. In Japan you can more or less get by communicating in English, but I realized that’s not the case in China.. I solved it by translating “durian” on my phone and showing it to them..

Restaurants on the 2nd floor

If the basement is fast food, the restaurants on the 2nd floor seemed to be mostly fancy places..

Looks like a fish restaurant..

The menu is quite elaborate.

Chikit Pot

There were quite a few people here too..

Apparently a teppanyaki place..

There’s a sushi place next door too.. Japanese food seems to hold the high-end position..

There’s a panda too..

A place like this too..

They’re butchering meat live.

Gyu-Kaku

Even the Japanese-style yakiniku place has a long line..

A rather fancy restaurant here too..

A restaurant focused on fresh vegetables

A restaurant

How can there be so many restaurants..

Baheli

Here they’re openly trimming meat.. I think it’s probably a beef hot pot place.

If you book now, this is when you can get in..

That seems to be what it means. It’s popular, in other words..

An Inner Mongolian-style lamb restaurant on another floor

The atmosphere here is something else, right from the entrance.

The menu..

Honestly, just on this one floor they sell foods I’ve never heard of or seen before.. I had no idea how many days it would take to see everything.. Hunting down only the best restaurants seems impossible.. The variety of Chinese food is beyond imagination. (If you think about what kinds of food you can eat near a supermarket in Korea, the difference is enormous..)

Sam’s Club in the evening

They light it up too.. Somehow it feels very Chinese.

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