Coffee Language is not a new language developed for coffee geeks – although maybe Starbucks should consider a dictionary in their shops. It is the name of a chain of coffee restaurants in China. (A coffee restaurant is what I call a restaurant that serves Western style food and different coffees and teas. They are becoming very popular.)
Last night the DH and I went to the local Coffee Language to check out the food and ambience, part of our ongoing Grand Tour of Linyi. The Coffee Language is located right off of the People’s Square, which is pretty much the heart of Linyi.
When we walked in we were greeted in the usual fashion, “Good Morning!!” (No, really it is Chinese for welcome and is more like Guan Ying.) Then we sat down in the restaurant area where there were four groupings of tables and sofas. After ordering we realized that everyone that entered was going right past the ground floor tables and up to the third floor, where a huge dining room is located. (Remember that for next time.)
We orderd a “company sandwhich,” fried rice with beef and some spaghetti. Everything turned out to be quite delicious. I am often weary of sandwhiches in China because the kind of bread they use is normally sweet, adding an element to the sandwhich I just don’t like. But the company sandwhich – well this is a sandwhich I could eat everyday. It’s basically a club sandwhich with tomatoes, pickles, ham, egg and bacon. And surprise, surprise, the meat didn’t taste sweet, either. (Chinese ham is often sweet.) The spaghetti was good with a thick tomato sauce studded with carrots and beef. The fried rice tasted fresh and faintly nutty.
To end the meal the DH ordered espresso and I ordered hot ginger cola. What is that, you ask? Heat up a can of coke, throw in some shredded ginger root, let it steep and there you go. It tastes sweet and slightly peppery and is excellent for your stomach. I first tried it in a Tibetan restaurant in Southwest China and I have been craving it ever since.
After dinner we walked across People’s Square to observe the huge groups of hundreds of people dancing together. Some were line dancing, some were doing traditional Chinese style dancing and others were ballroom dancing. We are talking crowds of hundreds of people, in a park, at night, in the cold, dancing. I cannot in a million years imagine that happening in America.
P.S. American T, if you are reading this, we were thinking of you at the restaurant because they kept playing “Tennessee Waltz” on the sound sytstem all night.
On the Fringe 