Last week we continued our quest, as many expats do, to stake out all the places that you can get a good "American" hamburger and fries. We have found one or two between our two trips here, but we finally found THE place to get a burger and fries (very good and crispy curly fries are only an extra 5 RMB, ~75 cents). The place is called Johnny Moos and is about 2-3 miles from our house, not far from the boys school. 
Earlier in the week we had asked Mr. He to join us at Pizza Hut to try some "American" food, but he declined since there was no good place for him to park the car. BTW, the Pizza Hut is good here and that is not because we are desperate...not yet anyway. So, going into Johnny Moos we asked again and this time he agreed, parked the car and met us inside. The restaurant is setup like a diner and four of us sat in a booth with Mr. He and Tanner at a table next to us. Mr. He proceeded, quite intentionally to order exactly what Tanner ordered, a strawberry shake and a cheeseburger with lettuce and bacon. The shakes came out first and Mr. He explained the Chinese word for strawberry before enjoying what we found to be thicker than usual, but good none less, shakes. When the food came, it was entertaining to watch Mr. He observe proper hamburger etiquette as we put various toppings on the burgers and proceeded to open up for big bites out of the wide burgers. He followed suit at first putting way too much mustard on the bun, we advised him to wipe some off; he then put on a proper amount of ketchup, put two hands on the burger, and joined in. The hamburger was a big hit, as were the fries. Mr. He even tried some of Amanda's hot dog, first trying it with ketchup and then with mustard. The kids dipped their fries in messy piles of ketchup, while Mr. He preferred to keep his orderly within the confines of a couple of onions that he left off of the burger. As for us, the hamburgers were the best we have had here, the curly fries were great, and we hope a second visit will not disappoint (as some others have!). We finished the meal having gone through the English and Chinese words for most of the items we ate. We are not sure if it was Mr. He's first hamburger and shake, but likely his first with some Americans and their three kids. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience of sharing a little of American culture in the middle of Shanghai. On top of that we found a great burger place!
