On the Oriental-List, Bill Robinson shares a piece of advice that I agree with one hundred percent:

<quote>I have been travelling around China for the last few months with a native Chinese woman who is a very fine cook, and I have come to the conclusion that it matters more how you order than where you eat. We have eaten in places that I normally would not walk into because of their outward appearance and had wonderful meals. We ate in one place in Shanghai and someone else ordered and the food was terrible. The next night we returned to the same hole in the wall restaurant and my companion ordered our dinner. It was fabulous. We went back to that same place, having different food each night(and all of that food being of 'haute cusine' quality) for a week. We never paid more than $8US for the both of us, always had amazing food that was beautiful and too much to finish, and always wished that our hotel was a lot farther away so we could walk off some of the calories. The same thing happened in Beijing and Xian and I came to the conclusion that ordering is the secret to successful eating in China. It's an art I've yet to master.</quote>