MANY Irish exiles in different parts of the world go home for Christmas to stuff themselves with turkey and plum pudding and enjoy Irish food as a change from foreign cuisine.
But in a smoky little jazz bar near the centre of Beijing the other day, I was struck, on seeing a customer tucking into a big Tbone steak with two fried eggs on top, how it is now possible to order practically anything you want to eat in China.
The spread of McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken all across the country has been extensively written about as a phenomenon of China's opening up. But follow the neon signs on Beijing's streets and you can find bars, cafes and restaurants with food from all over the world.
Typical American establishments include the Texan Bar & Grill, Cafe Kranzler, Frank's Place, the Hard Rock Cafe, the San Francisco Brewing Co, the Louisiana, and TGI Friday's. The latest addition, Henry J. Bean's Bar and Grill, is just like any bar of the same name in any American city. It has ice cold beers, buffalo chicken wings, wooden floors and raised alcoves. The only difference is that the prices are stiffer and the newspaper on the counter is not the New York Times but the English language Beijing Scene.
Every so often the fortnightly Scene updates its food guide for foreigners. It lists French, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Thai, Vietuamese, English, American, German, Italian, Swiss, Scandinavian and Indian restaurants. There's even an excellent Mexican establishment called Alfred's, and an over priced and pretentious Maxim's. Astonishngly, there's no Irish bar in Beijing, though Jameson's whiskey and Guinness are available.
The nightly live music scene is just as varied, with gigs in several clubs and bars every evening. Expatriates can choose between big concerts at the Rockers' Return, or jazz at the tiny CD cafe, where the blues singer in dark shades is actually the senior representative of a western financial institution.
There are of course a few Chinese restaurants in Beijing. The scene names the posher ones under the headings Beijing, Mongolian, Imperial, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Cantonese, Hunan and Chaozhuo, reflecting the cuisine of different areas of China. Dining in some of these can be quite an experience, like the noisy, exuberant Shao Eh Tzai, a Cantonese restaurant whose name, translates roughly as "Young Fellow Roast Goose".
This has huge displays of live fish and sea creatures threshing about in tanks, a wire mesh cage full of dozens of writhing snakes, and shelves laden with every conceivable kind of vegetable, poultry, meat and, of course, goose. Customers pick their dinner and bring it to waiting chefs who cook it on the spot.
There are also exotic eating places like that run by 75 year old Li Shan lin in an alleyway called Sheep House Lane. Li's father was commander in chief of the palace guard in the Forbidden City. Over 30 years he memorised the menus of the most exotic dishes prepared for the Dragon Lady empress in the Qing dynasty which his son now serves up.
It is a far different world from the noisy western style cafes here there are just two tables with maximum seating for 22. It's so popular with western diplomats that bookings have to be made weeks in advance.
But the secret of eating out in Beijing is the abundance of good, cheap local restaurants, where the menus and quality of food are better than most Chinese establishments outside the country.
In a clean, friendly Cantonese restaurant on Chaoyang Road which we frequent it is hard to spend more than the equivalent of £10 for a full meal of dumplings, fresh seafood and meat dishes and rice.
Here we discovered something else about restaurants in China. The menu is only a rough guide. The chef will cook up what you want the way you like it just by asking. If he's got it that is, which he usually has.
For those westerners who longed for turkey and trimmings and couldn't get home, Beijing, didn't let them down. Several restaurants in the big hotels laid on western type Christmas dinners. The Jianguo provided plum pudding and custard for the Foreign Correspondents' Club annual Christmas party.
Another attraction at the party was the Christmas Draw, which included prizes of airline tickets to exotic destinations. I ended up sharing one of the consolation prizes, a voucher forizza for two at Charlie's Place. At least in Beijing you don't lose your taste for pizza.