KATRIN SCHMIDT goes in search of scandal after hearing that Dublin’s Chinese eateries charge more for English-speaking customers. But she soon learns an unexpected truth...
THE TIP-OFF I got would horrify English-speaking Chinese food-lovers all over Dublin. Apparently, many Chinese restaurants have been charging their western customers more than their Chinese clientele.
Such an allegation requires serious investigation, so with my Chinese friend Jing Zhang, I ventured to Parnell Street – an area fast becoming Dublin’s ‘Chinatown’ – to see for myself.
The first restaurant we visited had two menus, one in Chinese and one in English for western people, which is the norm for such eateries. But surprisingly, the same food on the Chinese menu was more expensive than on the English one. Jing and I both ordered the chicken with kung-po sauce which for me cost €7.20, but for her was only €7.80.
What was going on here? Jing attempted to explain: “Chinese people have a different eating style than European people. The food for Chinese people is more expensive because there are more ingredients in their food. Europeans don’t eat some ingredients which are typical in China.”
She continued: “While Europeans don’t eat bones, for instance, for most Chinese people they’re a delicacy. So the Chinese-style chicken is more expensive because it contains the bones.”
Another point is the number of steps that must be taken in preparing dishes for Chinese and western tastes respectively.
“Chinese people like to eat their food much more fried, but most European stomachs are just not used to food which is prepared with a lot of oil,” said Jing. “So it sometimes takes three steps to prepare chicken Chinese-style, while there are only two steps needed to prepare it in the European style.”
Indeed, our meals – though identical in name – looked different on the plate. While Jing’s chicken was fried and contained bones, my chicken was plain and boneless. Also, her meal was a lot spicier than mine.
Something else that caught my attention was my bowl of rice, which was free, while Jing’s rice had to be paid for as an extra. But again, there is a cultural explanation for this.
“In most European restaurants,” said Jing, “the rice is served on the plate with the rest of the food. But in China, one usually eats rice as a side menu. So because I ordered from the Chinese menu, my rice has to be a paid extra.”
However, while Jing certainly cleared up a lot of the confusion around these different pricings, it’s made her think differently about how she will eat in future: “Next time I’ll ask for the English menu.”
