i was trying to explain to someone yesterday that there are very very many fast food outlets in china, especially shanghai, but she didnt seem too impressed, as she felt that japan has many fast food outlets too.
i suppose it is true that there’re lots of McDonalds in japan and even singapore, but believe me, it in no way can compare to the sheer number there are in shanghai.
as we walked around the city, it honestly seemed like there was a McDonalds wherever we went, to the extent that we couldnt help but notice and exclaim that hey, there’s another Macs here. and oh, there’s another Macs there. and the thing was, wherever there was a McDonalds, there would be a KFC as well. in fact, there’re slightly more KFCs than McDonalds in China in general, as far as we noticed, because there’s always a KFC where there’s a Macs, but quite often KFC might be the only fast food joint in that particular locality.
Starbucks features extremely prominently on the chinese landscape too. coffee is hard to find in china, and starbucks certainly is the biggest chain there. on the Nanjing pedestrianised shopping street in shanghai, there was 1 starbucks at each end of the street! and mind you, that was quite a short street too!
perhaps another reason why fast food outlets really stood out in china were because their signs were prominently displayed*? i didnt really notice whether the signs were any bigger than those in japan or singapore, but they must have been, in some way, more “in your face”, and i’m pretty sure sign size mattered.
by the way, china has Burger King! we were so happy when we found it, and it’s not expensive either! there arent any BK in my part of japan – tokyo is a different story – and oh man. BK is awesome. KFC tasted better in china too, cos it’s oilier and juicier! in fact, its taste reminded me of KFC back home when i was still young – back when it wasnt as dry as it has become…
anyhow, for those not in the know, the Starbucks in the forbidden city has closed. we wanted to buy a huge frapuccino each and take a picture to wave capitalism in the face of the other ‘C’, but unfortunately were denied the chance. the cost of starbucks is quite ridiculous though, considering a drink costs about 30RMB, compared to street food lunch that can be only about 6RMB for a plate of noodles! i recall our combined lunch for 2 costing less than 1 starbucks drink…
*: the one anomaly was, of all places, the McDonalds at the beijing airport. we had already eaten at KFC and Burger King and wanted to complete our collection of fast food chains, but couldnt find a Macs at the airport! it took the asking of two airport staff before we found it, literally hidden away at the far end of the arrival hall level (why arrival?) of Terminal 3. mind you, there were NO signs indicating its existence!
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