For those of you about to spend your first Spring Festival in Beijing, be prepared for dining disappointment. Your favourite regional Chinese restaurants will close (if they haven't already), and those eateries that remain will be on skeleton crews. You may well be forced to abandon your culinary scruples and - perish the thought - eat fast food. But it's not all bad news...

Whether it's a literal interpretation of the word "spring" (unlikely) or meant to symbolize a curled dragon's tail (also unlikely), the Golden Arches have re-introduced their curly fries for the new year! For those not familiar with this product, it may well be the single greatest potato snack ever created.

McD's curlies seem to pop up here and there only occasionally, ensuring a sort of legendary status worldwide. There's a Facebook group called "Bring Back McDonald's Curly Fries", and raving editorials on the product, like this from SmartShanghai a while back.

I sampled them at my local McDonald's branch (in disguise) and can report significant sensory pleasure. And I wasn't even a tiny bit drunk. Remarkably crispy with a slight southern zing. The eggheads in the lab have done themselves proud. Chunjie kuai le!