Fatburger opened in Beijing a little over a month ago. The name may not be familiar in the UK, if you happen to live on West Coast of the US then the name will be more recognisable. They have been around in the US for more than 50 years. They use fresh (not frozen) beef and cook their burgers to order.

For the Beijing branch beef is imported from Australia, ground on the premises and turned into big, juicy 8oz patties. Potatoes are brought in from the US to be transformed into either fat fries or skinny fries, although for me only fat fries will do. If you don’t fancy beef then you can get a grilled or deep fried chicken sandwich, or a bacon and egg sandwich , or a hot dog. Onion rings are made with real onions taste fab and are a must order.

This is not your run of the mill fast food joint. Burgers are cooked to order and brought to your table. Comfortable seating and great tunes make you want to linger and watch the world go by.

A regular combo meal, which consists of a single patty burger, fries and a soda will set you back RMB 60 with the options of cheese, bacon and a fried egg costing another RMB 5 each. For those with bigger appetites, a double patty burger (RMB 60) and a triple patty (yes, 24 oz!!) burger (RMB 80) are available.

http://www.fatburger.com/home/

Recently the cost of hourly parking was increased across the whole of Beijing. Parking charges were quadrupled! They went up from RMB 2 per hour (about 20p) to RMB 8 per hour (about 80p). By comparison with the UK, this is still tiny, but for Beijingers parking is now a significant cost.

The intended effect was to try and move people out of cars and onto public transport as traffic here is rapidly approaching grid lock. I have to say that traffic does seem to have eased slightly. Many of the car parks are now almost empty and traffic flow on the main roads is slightly easier. This has got to be a positive move for an increasingly choked up city.