I had tried the Lotus Cafe opposite Skyway before and found the croissants uncooked (soggy bottoms!) but thought I would give it another try. I spotted some nice looking sandwiches which the assistants couldn’t tell me the contents of. I thought it looked like a beef kebab style so feeling brave I asked for it and a coffee.
There was only me in the queue but it still took 15 minutes for them to get me the sandwich (from behind the glass cover) and make the coffee. There were three assistants but only one was working. She was preparing the sandwich (slowly), making the coffee and taking the money.
Then just as the sandwich was about to be handed over I asked for it to be cut in half – bad mistake – took another couple of minutes for them to find a knife. In fact it took long I said I would be prepared to have it uncut and use my Swiss Army knife.
The sandwich itself was quite nice and was obviously made at the Turkish restaurant next door. If I had known it was the Turkish restaurant which supplied the meat I probably wouldn’t have picked it is not known in Nanjing for its levels of hygiene.
Maybe that was why they supplied a couple of pairs of disposable gloves to eat it. It was a first for me – sandwich gloves – only in Nanjing!