The proprietor of a public inn is compelled to furnish the authorities each month with a list of the persons whom he has lodged or fed, and women are not received at all in the public hotels in the South.
The restaurants in the cities are often quite large, running to two and three stories in height.
On the ground floor is the kitchen. On the first floor at the head of the first staircase is the public dining room where a good cheap meal can be obtained, and on the second and third floors are the private and more select chambers. In each room is a bill of fare.
An ordinary first class restaurant dinner comprises from ten to thirty dishes, and for any special occasion a hundred or more are often served.
Below is the menu of a dinner which, if served to eight or ten persons at a good public city restaurant, would cost about seventy-five cents per head.
| Fried Ham | Gizzards | Grated meat Grilled |
| Dried shrimps | Preserved eggs |
| Four kinds of dried fruits |
| Four kinds of fresh fruits |
| Fat duck | Shark's fins | Swallowsnest soup |
| Meats |