HOURS after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden finished his lunch Thursday, noodles with soybean paste became the hottest topic on the Chinese Internet. The homely Beijing favorite was the noon meal for Biden.

    Biden, with his granddaughter Naomi, her mother and U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke and his wife, Mona, ate at Yao Ji Stewed Liver, a small restaurant set in a traditional alley near Beijing’s Drum Tower.

    The Chinese public got the news of Biden’s culinary expedition from an item posted on the microblog of the U.S. Embassy in China.

    “Western stomachs don’t do offal,” said a microblogger named Laociwei_CWM, speculating why Biden skipped the house specialty, stewed liver.

    “American politicians are good at molding their public image. This is a product of the system,” wrote Rui Chengang, an anchor with China Central Television.

    The embassy’s post on Sina.com, China’s top microblogging service, has been forwarded more than 47,000 times and generated 20,000 comments so far.

    The post said Biden and his staff ordered five bowls of noodles with soybean paste, 10 pork buns, some side dishes and cola for a total cost of 79 yuan (about US$12). Biden paid the bill with a 100-yuan note and offered the remainder as a tip, “in line with American custom.”

    A microblogger named Shenxingzhong quickly did the math: “Five people dined for only 79 yuan, plus a tip of 21 yuan. That averages out to three dollars each. It’s so cheap.”

    Some more globally minded Chinese netizens reacted to the news with a mention of world affairs. “Mr. Vice President, I know you didn’t come here for noodles, so never mind the tip. But don’t blow our US$1.165 trillion in Treasury assets. There are 1.3 billion Chinese keeping an eye on this,” wrote a microblogger named Ningxiangdong.

    (SD-Agencies)