rice
What does it take to get a bowl of rice around here?
The custom in Hangzhou when one goes out to eat at a restaurant, is to have rice only at the end of the meal, if at all. The purpose of the rice is to fill you up if you didn't have enough cai.
We go out to eat every day, often two times a day (hence our pot bellies and tight pants). And we like to have rice with our meal because it soaks up excess sauce from the dishes and is quite tasty. Although we order rice and ask the waitresses to bring it early, we often have to remind them a few times before it arrives. I don't think they understand why we would want it early.
At lunch yesterday, Wei asked our waitress a number of times to bring the rice. They kept promising it but no rice arrived. And, since waitresses, in general, seem to hate Wei, we worried that the rice might not arrive at all. So Lisa stood up and, to avoid being ignored by the waitress, got in her way (with her arms spread wide) and asked for rice. Still no rice showed up.
Lisa was fed up so she decided to get the rice herself. She walked out the door to the serving table and came back with a giant tray covered in bowls of rice, followed by four frantic waitresses. She was declared our heroine. We had our rice!
We've had this rice problem nearly every time we go out to eat, although usually four or five requests are more than enough. On Sunday night, I went out to dinner with David, Aaron, Xi, Miranda and Phillip Candelas. We ended up at some fancy restaurant in a renovated part of town. Again our rice wouldn't come despite our frequent requests. David got fed up and yelled at our waiter. The rice then arrived immediately.
(Note: In China, like some other places such as Italy,one sometimes has to pitch a fit to get what they want. Its not considered rude to yell at someone when they're not taking care of you. This horrifies Americans but sometimes its the only way to get what you want (such as rice). Its especially amusing to witness Americans adapting and resorting to this tactic.)
The custom in Hangzhou when one goes out to eat at a restaurant, is to have rice only at the end of the meal, if at all. The purpose of the rice is to fill you up if you didn't have enough cai.
We go out to eat every day, often two times a day (hence our pot bellies and tight pants). And we like to have rice with our meal because it soaks up excess sauce from the dishes and is quite tasty. Although we order rice and ask the waitresses to bring it early, we often have to remind them a few times before it arrives. I don't think they understand why we would want it early.
At lunch yesterday, Wei asked our waitress a number of times to bring the rice. They kept promising it but no rice arrived. And, since waitresses, in general, seem to hate Wei, we worried that the rice might not arrive at all. So Lisa stood up and, to avoid being ignored by the waitress, got in her way (with her arms spread wide) and asked for rice. Still no rice showed up.
Lisa was fed up so she decided to get the rice herself. She walked out the door to the serving table and came back with a giant tray covered in bowls of rice, followed by four frantic waitresses. She was declared our heroine. We had our rice!
We've had this rice problem nearly every time we go out to eat, although usually four or five requests are more than enough. On Sunday night, I went out to dinner with David, Aaron, Xi, Miranda and Phillip Candelas. We ended up at some fancy restaurant in a renovated part of town. Again our rice wouldn't come despite our frequent requests. David got fed up and yelled at our waiter. The rice then arrived immediately.
(Note: In China, like some other places such as Italy,one sometimes has to pitch a fit to get what they want. Its not considered rude to yell at someone when they're not taking care of you. This horrifies Americans but sometimes its the only way to get what you want (such as rice). Its especially amusing to witness Americans adapting and resorting to this tactic.)
posted by Michelle at 10:36 p.m.
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