A couple of weekends ago (man, that was a long time ago), Chris and I took Pang Li out to eat Mexican after he helped us try to get train tickets to Dandong. I was really craving a burrito that day. Ironically, I ended up getting two tacos once we made our way out to the Silk Street Market area, where Mexican Wave is anchored, beckoning Americans who looking for something familiar.

According to its menu, Mexican Wave is the oldest Mexican establishment still in business in Beijing. If the restaurant can serve as an indicator, Mexican food in China is the complete opposite of Mexican food in America: expensive small servings instead of cheap large portions.

It tasted like standard Mexican fare, though, but it didn’t satisfy my Mexican craving. Had I known the tacos came in a hard tortilla shell, I wouldn’t have ordered two. But the carne asada and pollo asada were delicious. It seemed a little cleaner than Mexican food back home, too, which is unusual because — when is anything cleaner in China?