Trade Flows

The most often asked question on my fleeting return to the UK was, what’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten, followed (in the frequency stakes) by what do you miss the most?

Now assuming that that second question wasn’t, in most cases, simply fishing for compliments (you of course!), I can honestly say I was stumped.  You can’t get a good pie out here, but most other things are within easy enough reach, so the cravings weren’t exactly at fever pitch by the time I touched down at Heathrow.

Granted, on my first day back, walking through Carnaby Street I became acutely aware of the proximity of a Samuel Smiths pub.  But I was also aware of the pint of Sam Smiths Pale Ale I’d had not five days previously in Sanlitun.  Darn it!  Ruined by my own hand.

Coming back the other way, however, and things are certainly different.  There’s all manner of things that I’m looking forward to now I’m back.  As normal, they’re mostly food related. But if it’s true that you can pick up most western treats in most eastern cities, finding good baozi, jaozi or qiezi in London simply isn’t the case.  Mmmmmmm.