However, imported ingredients used in foreign dishes often cost more and result in higher menu prices. Luo Juan with Forward and Intelligence Co Ltd, a catering industry analyst in Shenzhen, says it has found that Western restaurants generally turn higher profits than their Chinese counterparts in the same market range.

But even with that potential, the well-established dining chains one would expect to see lining the streets of any big Western city are almost absent in China. Several famous US and European brands have made attempts to enter the market but struggled.

In 2010, the US chain California Pizza Kitchen had to close its only Chinese outlet in Shanghai after discovering imported ingredients resulted in a product too expensive for Chinese consumers. Re-evaluating their operations, they made a second attempt the following year and have seen slow but steady growth this time.

Similarly in 2011, Outback Steakhouse was forced to close two Beijing locations after a local partnership soured. It too made a second attempt, opening in Shanghai shortly after, but has not had the same success as in the US.

But the resistance to large chains entering the industry has created a better landscape for entrepreneurs wishing to develop their own China-grown Western food brands.

This has given opportunities to entrepreneurs like Li Zhao, co-founder of Ahava Bistro, a small sandwhich shop focused on serving American style sandwhiches tucked in an alley near the University of International Business and Econocmics in Beijing.

With less than a half-dozen tables, Li is one of hundreds of small entrepreneurs cater to China's new demand for foreign dishes.

Opened in May 2012, she says the trick to their success so far has been doing something unique and having a Western partner who knows how to make authentic food.

"Most of the foreign cooks only work in the big restaurants, so this makes us unique," she says.

And while small shops take their share of the market, for the bigger chains, they provide a benefit.

"There is no big shark attacking us in the water, but there are a lot of little piranha fish swimming around," says Scott Minoie, CEO and founder of Element Fresh, a restaurant chain focused on healthy eating.

Minoie, who started Element Fresh as a small catering company, investing $1,000 (764 eurso) and operating out of his apartment before watching his business grow to a $30 million-a-year operation and 12 branches, is another of the country's foreign food pioneers.

He says the increase in the number of small competitors seen over the past decade is good for business.

"Any competition can be viewed as negative, but the increasing number of restaurants offering Western food has created a lot more awareness for the product," says the 39-year-old Bostonian.

While perceptions, true or not, of food safety may encourage people to go for foreign fare when dining, not understanding the dishes can sometimes act as a deterrent.

Mehernosh Pastakia, general manager of Taj Pavilion, one of Beijing's oldest Indian cuisine restaurants, says he's seen the number of Indian restaurants in the capital more than quadruple since first opening his restaurant in 1998.

While a decade ago he catered primarily to expats, he says in the past few years he's increasingly seeing young Chinese venturing into the restaurant.

"Many times they come in with a foreigner or an overseas Chinese who are familiar with our type of food," he says.

"But occasionally we have a Chinese person walk into the restaurant that has no idea about what Indian food is. Our Chinese staff describe to them exactly what they are ordering."

Though fierce competition is brewing in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, demand from customers looking for imported cooking styles in China's rapidly developing second and third- tier cities far outweighs supply.

The result is a businessman's dream, with droves of developers approaching brands such as Element Fresh and Blue Frog asking them to expand their operations.

"Xi'an, Tianjin, Chengdu, Chongqing - you name it, any second-tier city, we've got calls from major developments where they want us to come there and set teams up to look at these places," Minoie says.

However, expansion in these cities has also put a strain on China's service industry.