The best lunch deal in Nanshan (district of Shenzhen), or maybe in all of Shenzhen for that matter, is the Korean Restaurant in the Coastal City shopping area.  The restaurant is on the second floor near the theater and has a large window on one side with a commanding view over the plaza area at Coastal City.  The lunch deals start at 18RMB (less than $3) and include the following:

1) Four small Korean-style appetizers
2) Two soups (one pumpkin and the other a traditional Cantonese soup)
3) Your entry
4) A scoop of ice cream

For the entre, I like “shi2 guo1 ban4 fan4″, which is a rice dish with a collection of vegetables and an egg served in an iron bowl and served very hot (needs to be stirred up immediately).  The rice continues to cook while it cools down.  So, while I’m waiting, I can bust out the laptop, hop on the free wifi, and crank through a few tasks.  The restaurant itself is high-end and clean.  Hopefully, they’ll stick with that price for a while, in spite of the inflation of food prices here.

The Korean restaurant in Coastal City