Third day in Nanjing

Today (Friday 15th August in Nanjing) - I report on our first serious eating experience in this great city. How did we fare? Read on...its was a verrry interesting experience!

Firstly the heat of temperatures and the heat of preparation has really kicked in here. Whereas we travelers had to put up with rain and storms on the first two days here finally what we had read about concerning previous steamy August Eastern Chinese weather patterns kicked in.

Today it was hot and muggy - temperature 31 Celsius. Me, I can take or leave the steamy conditions here - but my thoughts are turning to the young performers who might in the next few weeks be outdoors and doing their best with youthful enthusiasm only to find they are conking out short of their maximum effort! We shall see!

Today was a further day of study and preparation for the hard grind of travel and commentary which lies ahead. (Yes it IS hard work - at times!) This event is going to be a test for us inasmuch as all the lovely kids have little or no 'printed records of achievements' to work with. They are so young! So we broadcasters are scrabbling around for crumbs off the table to talk about, as it were.

Talking about food let me take you back to last night and our first dining experience in this massive city. It was a memorable night.

A gang of us; seven broadcasters we were, all male, a brotherhood of broadcasters far from home, stepped out into the night. We strolled into what looked like a popular walking and shopping street. Some of the locals stopped and looked at us. Did we look kinda funny?

The street was dotted with restaurants and we were hungry. Like all journalists we were of course looking for a feed and a beer or three as well. But being strangers in town, and having read all the tour guide warnings, I guess we were, at the same time, wary and cautious hungry journo's.

Soon enough we found a likely place. It had the international commonsense to have its menu on a stand, outside on the footpath, with bright pictures of their dishes and just an ID number beside each dish. You know the sort of thing, it's common in restaurants in countries where the language gap can be difficult.

So in we trooped - and 90 minutes later we tumbled back out into the street, and incredibly, all of us were totally sated and satisfied.

'We'll be going back there!' was the universal cry from us all.

I would like to tell you what each dish was but I can't for several reasons. One is because, with page after page of choices on offer, and seven blokes all poking their fingers at the pictures of various personal favourites, we finally designated one man to more of less make the choices for the rest of us. That task went to Mark Doran of Melbourne, with (uninvited?) assistance from that very keen food man Glen 'Dalai' Larmer.

Glen, from Auckland, is famous among sports broadcasters for once ordering a chicken dish in Beijing and just to emphasize to the staff how keen he was for that particular dish he tapped the menu for emphasis. Soon no less that nine nicely cooked and spiced chickens arrived - to the amazement of our nine diners! The owners thought Glen's nine expressive taps on the menu meant nine chooks in the cooker!

As a result of not taking part in the ordering of the choices tonight and by sitting down the end of the table (on a couch no less) I for one, was not totally sure what each dish was when it was placed before me by the friendly staff. But the pictures looked great.

One dish really got my attention. It was in a massive deep bowl (say 9 or ten inches across) which contained a dark gruel in which meatballs and greenery floated on the surface. But after you dug your spoon in a search for an elusive meatball, a giant fish with a gaping mouth (well, it was at least six inches long!) was hauled up from the depths, like a fisherman might do here at the mouth of the Yangtze River! So it was a meatballs and fish special!

Also swimming in the broth were corns of garlic and hot chilli's. And other mysterious eastern vegetables too.

It was not a barn-burningly hot dish - but boy! It was great on the taste!  

And there were other dishes too which bought more sighs of contentment from some normally hard to please pie and chip lads.

And when the plates were empty what did we do? Did we sit back, belch like (some) blokes do - and make our verdicts? The hell we did! We ordered more - and in due course some beautiful refills arrived. Honestly, we ate a big dinner - all of us! And true to form it was washed down with some icy cold journalistic beers.

Of course the only pause in the night's fun came in that sobering moment when the bill was set down in front of Mark.

'It is 640,' said the lovely lady in charge with her halting English. She could tell her kitchen had pleased the seven strangers, but she hovered smilingly for her money.

'640 wots?' we asked, wondering just how tough it was going to be to pay for the feast we had just devoured.

It turned out 640 was for local Yuan - and doing the math I worked out my total dinner cost was, in New Zealand dollars, about $19! (Don't tell anyone but all that food included three Heineken beers too!) A couple of Brits around the table cheered themselves - they had eaten brilliantly well - for about nine and a half quid!

So how well did we do on our first night out in Nanjing? I must say we did great!

And yes - to the friendly staff - who of course are bound to be regular readers of keithquinnrugby.com (ha ha!) I can say - we WILL be back!

But as for the name of the place  - to recommend it to you for all you future travelers to Nanjing? It had no name in English that we could see - either outside or in!

I will check again next time we go in! But it was terrific!

TODAY'S FOOTNOTE: I'll talk to you here again tomorrow - actual competition is 36 hours away. Tomorrow is set aside for the Opening Ceremony. Long-time Olympic commentator John Burgess watched the final dress rehearsal last night and waxed on at breakfast, 'I've seen 'em all over the years Quinney,' he said, heavily weighing his words, 'and this one is NOT to be missed!'

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