I can't help you with the card thing but instead I recommend that you go into one of the payment offices and pay directly. Around Xiao Xi Men both Unicom and China Mobile have offices. You just go in, scribble your phone number on a piece of paper and hand over the cash. Takes about 30 seconds! Much easier than mucking around with those cards. I haven't used one in 4 years!
Party at Chapter One on Friday 29th September.
Drinks promos, drinking games, cheesy music and lozza fun!
Bring your dancing shoes and drinking boots!
We've got some older editions at Chapter One. Not much has changed but if you're keen on getting the latest version then you should probably buy from Mandarin (300+ kuai) or try swapping at Camellia Hotel. For a Yunnan guide Dominique wrote a fanastic book a few years back but I've forgotten the publisher. Look in Mandarin for a guide solely for Yunnan written by a Frenchman!
It seems that Kunming has run out of water again!! For the past two days there has been no water on Wenlin Jie and other parts of Kunming. A source at the water company tells me that "the reservoirs are empty"!
Let's pray for rain!
Not sure about the DVD stores but the tables on wenhua xiang are deemed to be an eyesore on the beauty of wenhua xiang. Usually these things are enforced for a week or two then life reverts but this time wuhua gov't might stick to their guns.
No results found.
Update/Retraction:
I went to the new Red Star on Jinhua PuLu last night (they've moved across the road) hoping to have a good steak and a chat with some friends.
From the moment I walked in I had a bad feeling about the place. There were swarms of fuwuyuan all over delighted to welcome us with synchronized yells but nobody seated us. We found a table upstairs and ordered three of their French Steaks and some beers. After waiting 15 minutes our beers hadn't arrived so we called over an indignant waiter who bluntly told us we hadn't ordered any.
Having re-ordered our beers and confirmed how we wanted our steak cooked we began our discussions only for the speaker next to us to crackle into life at full volume. Unable to hear a thing we moved to a table away from the speaker where we still struggled to hold a conversation. We asked the staff to turn the music down which to our surprise they did. Within 5 minutes, however, they cranked the music back up whereupon we again complained that we were eating and unable to hear a thing. Another indignant (and this time belligerent) waiter told us that after 8pm Red Star turns into a bar and thus loud music was a pre-requisite.
We ate up quickly and left.
Whatever charm the Red Star used to have has gone. The new place is huge, the staff are beyond useless and completely unable to answer the simplest question, the bathroom is brand new and looks like it's already been through 30 years of use, the food average and the general feeling is that they don't care at all about customer experience.
After all this time it seems that Bernie was right!
28th Jan 2007
Whilst I'm loathe to defend the Red Star I must point out that 'niche' doesn't equate to 'standards'. If I may point out a few similarities between the two:
1. Both Bluebird and Red Star are multi-level bar-restaurants with roof gardens.
2. Both Blue Bird and Red Star have live music in the evenings (BB a Filipino keyboard-crooner couple and RS a guitarist)
3. Both BB & RS are quiet drinking venues outside eating times.
4. Both BB & RS serve western food, chinese food, Thai food, Italian etc. In fact the menu content is surprisingly similar (RS is perhaps a third or quarter of BB's price).
5. Both BB & RS were designed rustic-style. BB just renovated and RS was renovated badly.
And finally whilst BB may have a 'chef' to RS's 'cook', the RS's cooks, in the most part, used to work as chefs in BB.
The RS is quite plainly an imitation of BB with lower standards. It is the Wimpey to BB's Burger King.
Next time (of if) you go, try the French Steak at Red Star and then head over to Bluebird for the same. Sour and Spicy Noodles, iron-skillet squid, spicy devil fried rice, pizza, pasta, the list goes on....
Pretty much the same recipes but made with lower quality ingredients, presented less professionally and delivered by waiters with a quarter of the IQ, in a setting that as Bernie rightly states could have been knocked up in a couple of hours on Wenlin Jie.
**************************************************
Red Star is very much in the same niche as Bluebird but not quite as expensive. The restaurant is on 3 floors, I'd recommend going up to the roof terrace for the best atmosphere especially if you want to eat. The second floor is more of a bar with lower ceiling and smoky atmosphere.
I had some pretty good food last time I went to Red Star. In the past though it has been hit or miss. I'd recommend the steak and the chicken burrito isn't bad.
The one thing that brings the Red Star down is the service. The waiters look like they've been pulled out of the Firebird, thrown into uniform and told to stand around and ignore customers. They are masters at avoiding eye contact.
If you like Red Star get one of their VIP discount cards for 100 kuai. The savings tot up pretty quickly.
Oh and don't try the house wine. It's foul (makes Yunnan Red seem like premier cru bordeaux!)
3 1/2 stars for food
0 stars for service
In the past few weeks most, if not all, of the Feiyang branches have upgraded menus and some have renovated. Annoyingly some of my favourite dishes have disappeared to be be replaced with poor but expensive replacements.
From my last visit expect prices to have nearly doubled - I kid you not.
This is my favourite Feiyang. It's a lot more spacious than the one on Jiaoling Lu.
Other reviewers have given a good description of the food and service. However I have to reiterate the Japanese beef is awesome.
For draft beer fans, they stock KK draft. It's nothing special but it's cold and wet and 15 kuai a pitcher.
Feiyang have discount cards that can get you up to 15% off. Used to cost 100 kuai or sometimes a friendly manager gives you a free one.
Depending on what you order, meals can cost from 20-40 kuai per head (with drinks). I think it's best to go in a larger group so you can get more variety without wasting too much food.
It closes at 2am for late night snackers.
Who were the ad wizards behind this one?
发布者Nice one! I found some eye drops in Kunming whose usage was only recomended when "the eye fucks the eye". This one was just a silly translation but don't must Chinese translators know that "fuck" is a dirty word?
Beerlao returns
发布者Beer Lao is now available in Chapter One, Salvadors, and Speakeasy (No Dark Beer at Sp'easy). French Cafe may well be next on the Beer Lao circuit.
If anybody has a bar that is interested in stocking Beer Lao please contact me at Chapter One or thru this site. For Beer Lao sales in Dali, contact Brian at Dragonfly Garden.