Eric's Beijing Diary

I' m having steak and eggs here in Jianguomen. Little place behind the old Friendship store in the Embassy district. This place is run by Paul, and used to be called "Paul's Steak House." The name has been changed to "Steak and Eggs," probably because their specialty is breakfast items like steak and eggs. Just a guess.

Every time I come here, I feel like I'm sitting in a small truck stop somewhere in New England. Maine is a long way from Beijing, but in this place, I could almost forget that except that the help here are all Chinese. He has trained them well, though. They all speak the necessary greetings and questions in English.

I don't come here very often. For one thing, it isn't exactly in the neighborhood. And it is a bit much to spend for a meal. Steak and eggs for 49 RMB, and another 14 for the coffee. That's pretty good by American standards--about eight dollars. This juicy steak is flown in from Brazil. But I can get an American breakfast of bacon and eggs at the coffee bar for about half that. And I don't need anything quite this hearty now. Steak and Eggs is the quintessential power breakfast if you are a truck driver (which I was for seven years). But it has been a number of years, now, since I had to go out and chain a load of steel after breakfast. If I ate like this now, I might get fat.

The waitress here saw that I was enjoying the steak and said, "I am Chinese people. We don't like that." Not sure why, because I have had beef in Chinese restaurants, but certainly not steak. To tell the truth, I didn't like steak either when I went to the United States as a 13 year old kid. I thought I was chewing on someone's old leather belt. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why anyone in their right mind would prefer steak to hamburger. A waitress in Fargo told me one time that steak is most tender if you order it medium-rare. Which brings up another thing about this place. They always cook the steak exactly the way you order it.