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The Flight to Glo Now Boarding

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There is a nice little piece of urban legend, an apocryphal story if you will, surrounding the opening of the “British” restaurant Glo in Xinjiekou’s latest icon, the House of Fraser Store.

It is supposed that CEO of the China end of the chain store insisted on journeying to Shanghai to have lunch in the contender’s eatery there, before proclaiming it to be fit, which presumably means “British enough”, to open its doors within House of Fraser in Nanjing.

But does The Nanjinger agree? 

For starters, the fish and chips comes with mushy peas. Many of our non-British readers shall likely be unfamiliar with this great UK tradition, in which peas are soaked overnight in water and baking soda, before being simmered until they form a thick green lumpy mash that is also colloquially known as, a little cruelly, as “Yorkshire caviar”. Trust us, it tastes a lot better than it sounds, and at Glo they are done to perfection, with the caveat being there are countless recipes for mushy peas and many local varieties, so expect healthy debate.

Still with the fish and chips, the former are sourced from the waters of the North Sea around Iceland. Close enough.

Then there is the bacon that is uncannily British. And just how do they manage that? Well, by making them in Ningbo, of course, along with the sausages.

But seriously, having a centralised kitchen for such items has helped the brand maintain standards across its eight branches, along with its identity as a whole, not a bad idea in a world where a dodgy (and outrageously priced) sausage is never more than a Metro ride away (pardon the pun).

Mesmorisingly great value for money is also offered on the weekday lunch menu; two courses for ¥68, three for just ¥88; choose from the likes of seafood or carbonara pasta, bacon cheese burger, fish and chips or a full English breakfast.

For the beer drinkers, that great British bitter London Pride can be found on the menu, standing (almost) head and shoulders beside Nanjing pride, as represented by the mighty Master Gao’s ales that are currently all the rage.

As a drawback, Glo takes dining in a mall to a new level, whereby one can actually read the price tags on the clothes on sale next door over the top of one’s reading glasses while perusing the menu.

Yet, this is actually not as annoying as it sounds and may well actually be a core strength. The fact that Glo is located in the mall itself, as opposed to in a unit within, means it is akin to eating in a very fancy airport, except without the announcements and scents drifting in from duty free.

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