Shanghaiist: Your plate isn't clean unless it's been wrapped in plastic

Andy Best

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:07:19 +0800

And ..by the way, that post is more for the benefit of general readers than you, yourself as I got the smilie use at the end :)

Andy Best

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:05:24 +0800

Hey Bumix The character can be read either way and it 'pans' out like this: It is supposed to be Panyu and is named after a city in Guangdong. That's right. However, almost everyone who is Shanghainese uses the 'fan' pronunciation in practice to the point where taxi drivers and locals mainly don't kno what you're talking about when you say 'Panyu Lu'. Eventually they click and go "ahhh! FANyu Lu". So if you lived here a while and follow the local ways on langauge and habits you eventually go with Fanyu. That's a longwinded way of saying that I didn't make an unintentional mistake. :) You can also find a similar post/analysis on the famous blog of Wang Jianshuo ...check it out.

yu888

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:11:07 +0800

Well, considering the package in te photo clearly shows the origin of this particular pack was in Shanghai (address on HuQingPing Highway) and lists a retail price of 1.5 yuan for teh package, anyone that gets charged more is getting ripped. The package also says something about the items within have been treated at 380˚and exposed to infared radiation to disinfect them. Oh well, who knows right?

Bumix

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:12:52 +0800

It's Pan Yu Lu not Fan Yu Lu!! :)

Dan Washburn

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:28:11 +0800

From Matt in Chongqing: i rarely see the plastic wrapping at all in the city. maybe only once or twice in two years. i've seen it the most in beijing and especially qingdao. but not in cq really. doesn't really go well with the hot pot i suppose...

michaeldmanning

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:42:43 +0800

When I visited Beiheide about 6 months ago all of the restaurants catering to tourists near the beaches used this plastic-covered setup. Being a tourist trap, I think they charged 2 or 3 kuai per set.

ChinaLawBlog

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:57:27 +0800

Why does this mean the plates, etc. are any cleaner? I'm guessing it's just like the "sanitized for your protection" thingies that used to be put on toilet seats in motels, which just meant someone had put one of those thingies on the seat, not that the seat had actually been cleaned. I have no connection to this blog, but I love it so much I have to plug it. It's called barfblog and it's on food safety and it is riviting. Check it out here: http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/

Andy Best

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:01:30 +0800

The wrap thing is in a bunch of hotpot restaurants aroudn the Dingxi Lu area.

elpollorico

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:43:20 +0800

Hotpot place on Fan Yu Rd. does this as well. Charged 2 kuai per set. Pissed me off because I just wanted regular plates and could have sanitized them myself by dumping them in the boiling hot pot. But I got them back by taking all the beer bottles I drank at the place and selling them myself.

calben99

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:26:42 +0800

I have seen this in Shenyang and every restaurant in Hainan has this. Some of these supposedly sanitized wrapped dishes in Sanya were actually much dirtier than the standard unwrapped dish, so buyer beware.

Bumix

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:24:40 +0800

I came across this in place in Guilin where we had horse dumplings.

liliac

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:43:10 +0800

It looks tacky and cheap ( thank goodness...shanghai meiyou!) Why not bust out with covered plastic chairs while at it :)

DKwan

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:09:58 +0800

I've seen this a couple times in Shanghai. Forget where tho. Hopefully they won't feel the need to serve the food like this as well.

ZL

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:09:14 +0800

Saw this in a pretty upscale Cantonese restaurant in Nanjing, but doesn't seem too common here.

China-Matt

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:17:11 +0800

This is everywhere now in Shenzhen (started last year). It always costs at least an extra 1 kuai per set. I'm really not sure how sanitary it is... I'll ask my friend who's starting a business with it in Xinjiang. Personally, I think it's just a waste.

adamjh

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:15:58 +0800

I also came across this near Dongchang Road.. I was with Chinese coworkers who asked for regular dishes (no charge), but I'd already opened mine. Their dishes looked identical :)

jd_in_bj

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:46:40 +0800

I know of one restaurant in Beijing that does this, a good, moderate-price place.

Pete Chorba

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:26:55 +0800

There's a hot pot restaurant near the Dongchang Road subway station that does the same thing.