Fast Food Localization

[DianaB]

38 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Interesting.  I wonder what the crust is made of .....or maybe dredged in.....  It looks like panko crumbs all around the circumference.

 

Is it perhaps cheese round the edge and sesame seeds in the centre?  It might be a result of looking at the image on an iPad rather than a computer but the bits around the edge look longer than panko crumbs to me. 

[NadyaDuke]

When I lived in New Mexico in the early 90s, for 25 cents you could get a side of Bueno green chile for your hamburger. Green chile cheeseburgers are a thing in New Mexico, and Bueno is the standard store brand you could find in every freezer. 

[liuzhou]

On 12/02/2018 at 12:59 AM, DianaB said:

 

Is it perhaps cheese round the edge and sesame seeds in the centre?  It might be a result of looking at the image on an iPad rather than a computer but the bits around the edge look longer than panko crumbs to me. 

 

I'd say sesame seeds in the centre, but highly unlikely to be cheese around the crust. The locals don't do cheese much. I am guessing it's a panko-like stuff. Or as I call it, badly crumbed bread crumbs. But I don't know for sure. These "pizzas" are made hundreds of miles away and shipped here frozen then "baked".  If I meet anyone with very bad taste in the next few days, I'll ask them to buy one, taste it and report back.

[liuzhou]

Now that the Chinese New Year celebrations are over Pizza Hut has dropped the coin pizza above and launched this. It's odd.

 

 

What they are offering is special weekday lunch specials.

 

At 35元 you get a  " Colourful vegetable salad (small portion)" and a cup of lemon tea.

 

Splash out and for 45元 you are the lucky participant in  a "Pine nut chicken with basil pasta package". Including the same lemon tea.

Other choices along the bottom are:

 

Teriyaki chicken fried rice set meal
Ham and cheese Panini set
American Style Pizza Italian Meal (small)

 

Exactly the opposite of localisation and not something that will appeal to many people around here. Few people eat salads. One friend visited England and in a hospital cafeteria asked for a salad she saw and was outraged that they didn't cook it for her!

 

You can pop downstairs from here and there is a food mall selling more substantial Chinese meals for a fraction of the price.  It was lunchtime when I passed and Pizza Hut was empty; you couldn't move downstairs.

[liuzhou]

I can't believe it.

 

I had a meeting this afternoon with someone in an area of town that I don't know well, so we arranged for someone to come to meet me and lead me to where I should be. The most convenient place to meet and one that I did know was outside a branch of McDonald's. Not that I ever ventured inside.

 

Anyway,  I was 5 minutes early for the rendezvous and spent my wait scrutinising the promotional gunk on the windows. Which is when I saw this -

 

 

The idiots have only gone and tried to introduce their American Sichuan sauce to China!

 

The locals, by all reports, are deeply unimpressed. Where is the chilli and peppercorn! It tastes like Japanese teriyaki sauce!

 

Quote

Although the sauce is supposedly inspired by the spicy cuisine of the southwestern province that was formerly known as Szechuan, Chinese customers struggled to find anything recognisably Sichuanese about it – not least because it lacked the chillies that are a vital element of the local cuisine.

A Beijing-based reporter for the China news portal Inkstone concluded it had nothing to do with Sichuan cuisine, describing it as “very sweet, a little sour and saltier than other sauces”.

South China Morning Post

 

They also offer two other flavours, supposedly Sichuanese. Sweet and sour and Gongbao (Kungpo) flavor. Sweet and sour isn't a Sichuan flavour and Gongbao again needs chilli which is absent.

I'm told they also offer hamburgers in which taste is absent.

Edited April 1, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I was nearly tempted.

 

Pizza Hut here is offering this black truffle pizza for 79元 ($12.55 USD).

 

 

 

As you can probably see it also contains other fungi. And chicken.

 

It can also be served as half of a two in one alongside a half pepperoni pizza.

 

 

Luckily my brain kicked in and I realised

 

a) They will be Chinese black truffles. Tasteless and worthless.

 

b) It's Pizza Hut.

 

so I went downstairs for a bowl of noodles - 8元 ($1.27 USD)

Edited April 10, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I'm guessing your local KFC doesn't have these.

 

Salted Egg Yolk and Pork Rice Rolls

 

Large Rice Rolls - Hand Made | Made Each Day

[KennethT]

I'm guessing their larger size is what makes the second ones their "professional" series?  Is that what they mean by PRO?

[liuzhou]

12 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I'm guessing their larger size is what makes the second ones their "professional" series?  Is that what they mean by PRO?

 

I guess so.  In fact, both look the same to me.

But I ain't going in to find out.

 

Hand made daily is pretty meaningless, when you think about it. Could mean exactly what it says, but months ago and frozen. I am pretty sure they aren't hand crafted inside my local KFC every morning.

[liuzhou]

I've eaten all sorts of pizzas over the years. Pepperoni, Supreme, Marguerita, and many more. Even Durian Pizza! But this is a new one on me! From the local Pizza Hut.

 

 

Air? Pizza Air? It makes no sense.

 

The Chinese doesn't help either. It reads:

 

Thin Crust - Deep Flavour

Thick topping.  Delicious long lasting

About 3mm thin crispy crust / super rich thick top / 4 flavor configuration / Extra- large satisfying size

 

I'd try one if  I could pay with air money!

[IowaDee]

Is that what they're calling SMOG now?  

[liuzhou]

Just in case anyone thought I was joking about durian pizza in my last post. Here's the evidence.

 

 

Their slogan is a blatant lie.

[liuzhou]

KFC Breakfast, China

 

Shrimp and Scallop Congee

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Just in case anyone thought I was joking about durian pizza in my last post. Here's the evidence.

 

 

Their slogan is a blatant lie.

 

You can't afford it?

 

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

You can't afford it?

 

 

I can afford it. My sense of dignity and my taste buds can't.

[Lisa Shock]

The congee, while not making any sense at all as a KFC item, appears to be a fairly decent bowl of real food.

 

The durian pizza people should be sentenced to doing KP duty in a Naples pizzeria for a decade or two.

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

The durian pizza people should be sentenced to doing KP duty in a Naples pizzeria for a decade or two.

 

I had to Google "KP duty", but yes!

 

I like durian, but not on pizzas.

[liuzhou]

Spotted this today

 

The Chinese indicates it is an "Avocado Spicy Chicken Taco, which sounds reasonable, but then they go and spoil it all by including the food from Hades - corn. The locals can't resist throwing it on everything from pizza to ice cream.

 

¥23 = $3.40 £2.60

 

Expensive in China.

[Shelby]

Every time I see corn on something, I think of you @liuzhou.

[liuzhou]

Probably not what comes to your mind when you think of McDonald's.

 

 

The two large characters, 粥王 zhōu wáng mean "Congee King". They offer three varieties. The large picture is Century egg and chicken congee with a potato fritter. At the bottom they  show:

Left - Pickled vegetable, crisp bamboo shoot and chicken,
Centre - The large picture repeated

Right - Salted egg yolk and chicken.

 

All three come with a potato fritter.

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Left - Pickled vegetable, crisp bamboo shoot and chicken,
Centre - The large picture repeated

Right - Salted egg yolk and chicken.

 Wow. I’ve always understood congee to be a deliberately bland food meant to comfort and/or cure those feeling somewhat under the weather. I thought it was a food suitable for the very young and very old and for those just looking for comfort.  I stand corrected. 

[KennethT]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Wow. I’ve always understood congee to be a deliberately bland food meant to comfort and/or cure those feeling somewhat under the weather. I thought it was a food suitable for the very young and very old and for those just looking for comfort.  I stand corrected. 

When I fly via EVA via Taiwan, they always have congee as the choice for the Chinese breakfast.  It's actually quite good - I think it's made with some stock, rather than just plain water (or maybe chicken powder?) and there is shredded ginger on top, and a package of fish floss to add as well.

[liuzhou]

While there is bland  plain congee (白粥 ～ white congee)  there are many varieties with other flavours. Here is the breakfast menu from a local small restaurant.

 

 

Translation:

Congee / Porridge:

Frog congee

Pig Offal Congee
Fish congee
Beef congee
Chicken congee
Preserved egg and lean pork congee
Lean pork and leaf mustard congee
Rice field eel congee

 

(Pickles and chilli are served on the side for the savoury congees.)

Sweet congees

Mung bean congee
Eight treasure congee
Peanut, silver ear fungus, jujube and mung bean congee

Edited January 11, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[chromedome]

Many years ago in Vancouver I had a restaurant's entire (small) staff gathered around my table, explaining to me quite earnestly that ordering the congee was a mistake because Westerners never like it.

In turn I explained to them about growing up eating porridge for breakfast, and how dried squid (shredded dried squid was the topping I'd attempted to order) was a common and much-loved snack in Newfoundland, where I'd lived as a teen. They grudgingly took my money, and were duly surprised when I scoffed the lot quite happily.

 

I'm sure such a scene would never transpire now, nearly four decades later, but at the time I think the quest for authenticity (as opposed to all-you-can-eat buffet, or takeout combos) was in its infancy.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

When I fly via EVA via Taiwan, they always have congee as the choice for the Chinese breakfast.  It's actually quite good - I think it's made with some stock, rather than just plain water (or maybe chicken powder?) and there is shredded ginger on top, and a package of fish floss to add as well.

I actually love Congee. I’m not knocking it but anytime I have had it in a restaurant or have made it, it has been quite bland.  Not tasteless by any means but not aggressively flavoured.