Tonight I had dinner at 醉云南. It is on the pedestrian street that runs between the two ancient pagodas by the ancient city gate in Kunming's center. It was really excellent! I highly recommend this place!

www.gokunming.com/en/forums/thread/11914/laowai_typology?page=2

www.thebeijinger.com/[...]

醉云南 - How about a pin yin translation for those of us who are not Sinofied Foreigners.

Can we expect a new thread for every restaurant visited? - this will really get Tony worked up.

zui yun nan

For full review and address:

www.millerfoodguide.com/[...]

Wow! 9.8/10, The place MUST be great. However, the review seems to be written by out-of-town tourists.

The ancient city gate is near where the current Nanping street bus stop is, towards the pedestrian shopping street, where the inlay-ed bronze map of old Kunming is located. Looking North, going past Renmin middle road would've been the old provincial seat (now occupied by the Yunnan provincial government). Anyway, the restaurant in question is about 1km south of the ancient gate, can hardly be described as "across from Kunming's ancient city gate".

Second, the food served can be commonly found in many restaurants in Kunming, albeit the decor might not be as nice but the food is much cheaper and perhaps better. As for the location, if you been around Kunming long enough you'll find the area quite depressing. It's one of the upscale touristy commercial development projects that never quite took off. Instead of being a hustling and bustling busy shopping center, it is anchored by an outlet selling street-vendor-quality, goods. The pedestrian street itself is dead, very little activity and is lined by many out of business store fronts that no one is in a hurry to reoccupy.
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As for the Miller guide, the reviews are very brief, almost useless except to the most undiscerning diner. The restaurants reviewed seems to be focused around the expat community and major shopping centers, very little information on those hard to find, hole in the wall types where the food are truly amazing and are of interest to adventurous eaters.

Reading the About us section, the website truly failed to achieve the objectives it has set out for itself.

1) The site claims to be better than other sites because they are "local" and understand the "tastes...of Kunming people". The problem is, to whom is the website catered to. If it is to non-locals, am I really interested in what locals prefer? I want something that is objectively good regardless of what locals prefer. If it is targeting locals, do they really need another site of reviews that does nothing to set themselves apart.

2) The site also claims to be reviews from "local diners" (as if other sites are not), but the question becomes, how can we be sure the reviews are really from local diners, how can the site distinguish which review is indeed from locals?

3) While claiming star reviews are "simplistic", I find the "four specific" criteria elements equally simplistic and arbitrary. And mind you, the Michelin guide, the holy bible of food reviews, employs a star system. And finally,

4) The "beautiful, professional" photographs only speaks to the voyeurs inside of us. Without a detailed review of the restaurants, not even in the four criteria the website champions, the photos are nothing more than selfie pics posted on WeChat moments meant to show off to one's friends and to prove "I was there".

All in all, speaking as someone from the IT field, having cut my teeth on the Internet crazy of the 90/00s, I would have to say this website is nothing more than a half-hearted attempt at a hobby that is meant to be self-congratulatory and perhaps to impress the someone's girlfriend or potential girlfriend.

One final thought, to include Brother Jiang's in a list of top ten Mixian shops is akin to listing McDonald's on the list of top 10 burger joints.

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Note to Moderators:

In hindsight, perhaps this post is inappropriate for the forums. However, I duly submit that this post is a natural progression from the link provided in the above post, which in-turn was an appropriate discussion of the topic initiated by the OP.

I leave the matter up to your editorial discretion.

@Tony are you hinting at the narcissistic nature of the unfortunate website designed to provide some sort of self fulfillment?

Oh, BTW, I like Brothers Jiang but McD's would never make my list of top 10 mixian joints,

Narcissism....Wow, haven't used that word in a long time, ever since you-know-who left the forum. The website does not seem very well thought out, almost amateurish. The UI is horrible; the use of colors, or the lack there of; the superficial reviews and the half-hearted attempt to find meaningful restaurants to review all points to someone not serious about developing a website.

Don't get me wrong, back when I was a tourist in KM, I went to Brother Jiang's almost everyday. I still think it's great place for a quick fix. But as my palate became accustomed to Cross the Bridge noodles, I find their fare to be mass manufactured and not as authentic. The equivalent of McDonald's of the mixian world. Nothing wrong with McDonald's, of course.

One does have to wonder though, how can McDonald's be demonized for being everything gastronomy is not, and yet Brother Jiang's can make the top 10. But then again, I'm not an expert gastronomist.

I liked zui yun nan. *shrugs* there sure are alot of people here who are inordinately angry about food.

Nothing wrong with Zui Yunnan, or Brother Jiang's or McDonalds and Burger King. Food is a very personal experience and to each their own.

However, when one starts to criticize other's food choices, it opens the door for their own choices to be criticized.

Tonyaod, the only one criticizing other people here is you.

I'm not criticizing, only making an observation.