My student and I went out for lunch together again in the same region. We came across this "cart noodles" restaurant and decided to have lunch there. Having waited for 10 minutes for our seats, we saw a number of news reports about the restaurant posted on the window. We thought this lunch would be great but it turned out to be just a shameless rip-off.
The shrimp roe noodles were fine. The pig blood curds were ok. The pig intestines were a bit too soft. The dumplings were great but way too small. The water spinach with preserved bean curd tasted good and was done to a turn. The soup was a bit savory. The spicy sauce seemed to be chemical rather than natural. You could tell once you taste it. The taste of the curried squid was humble compared to its exaggerated acclaim. The drinks were healthy but they may not be best served with cart noodles.
The seats were too packed and we could not sit comfortably. We hurried our food to get out of the unwelcoming seats.
The food was over-priced. I mean REALLY exorbitant. Each of the food ingredient cost more than $10, while other restaurants would charge $7 or below for the same food ingredient. We thought it would be surprising but it was indeed mediocre.
A perfect example of exploited nostalgia. A demonstration of over-pricing.
No good restaurants would resort to news reports to appeal to customers. Real good restaurants would perfect the dishes to attract customers.
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