Ryu2.mind

The first Burger King (汉堡王, hanbaowang)in Shanghai is opening on the 28th of this month, near Jing An Si, mypart of town. The whole place is plastered with banners on thestreetlights, with a pervasiveness that would have made any CCP propaganda director envious. If it's not the firstBK in China proper, it's definitely one of them -- certainly I've neverseen one here nor in Beijing, though I swear I came across one inShenzhen before...

I'm kind of divided whether to celebrate ormourn. As many others have observed already, this city and itsinhabitants are becoming more and more Western, synthetic, and unlikethe rest of the country by the minute, and BK was probably thelast major missing piece when it came to major international fast foodfranchises setting up shop here.

Still, in the US, I've alwaysliked BK's taste better than McD's. And in all honesty, on theinfrequent occassions I've eaten American fast food here in Shanghai,I've noticed that in general, the taste is slightly better thanwhat we get in the US at the same chains. I'm not sure if it's becausethe raw materials are better (less mass factory-type farming or use ofpesticides/hormones/drugs) or if it's because Western food is stillconsidered somewhat "upscale" in China so more effort is put intopreparation.

It'll be interesting to see their menu, and howmuch of it is the same as BK in the states, as well as the pricing --if they have a decent salad/veggie offering (admittedly unlikely), itmight just be a new daily stop in my commute for me to grab somethingalong the way...

In any case, I'm still waiting with bated breath for the day when an In-n-Out franchise lands here...