Beijing

"Make sure you have the eggplant dish from the Chinese restaurant on Penn's campus" was my mother's suggestion as I was preparing to visit the US. "Eggplant? No way!" I said.

Well, I did try it and loved it at Beijing, the Chinese restaurant on the campus at Penn. One meal turned into another one,and another and another , till it finally became a regular eating joint with friends.

Our standard dinner order there is Singapore Noodles, String Beans in Garlic Sauce and a chicken dish, which would vary from General Tso's to Chicken in Black Bean Sauce etc. One day, we saw a shrimp dish being served to the customers behind us. On asking, it turned out to be Fried Shrimp in Hot Pepper Sauce. As I said in my introductory post, our server, who knew us very well by now, willing agreed to substitute the shrimp with chicken.  That has become our patent dish aka Fried Chicken in Hot Pepper Sauce.He expressed his surprise when we did not order that dish on one occasion, as he always puts it down on our order on his own.

Another sign that we are well received there happened when the server, same guy again, started bringing water without ice for my significant other without her having to have to ask for it.