On a Friday afternoon it was a peaceful place. The happy little teahouse was thriving with chirping oldies strewing watermelon seeds just about everywhere except the bowls provided. There was one table in the middle of a feast of very local looking Hangzhou food – hongshao rou, bamboo shoots, fish heads, the usual. The rape is in full bloom and behind it some pretty purple looking things that made me think of linseed, but probably wasn’t. On one edge of the field is the Farmers Calendar etched out in stone detailing all the growing seasons, the stars, moon, and probably pi to 28 decimal places (apparently that was invented here too). The calendar was invented by Wang Zhen and recorded in his book finished in 1313. You cant so easily make out the octagonal shape from down here on earth; my friend even had to ask why it was called bagua. She got a kick in the ribs for that. There was nothing to be done except climb the hill.

Not before a quick wander into Yuhuangshan Town (玉皇山) for cigarettes. I asked two or three people about the ‘other’ bagua. I was kinda hoping there would be hushed tones, embarrassed looks and fidgeting, signalling that my advanced investigative satellite research had uncovered some covered-over secret landing site or something, but I’m afraid to disappoint you. Nobody had any idea what I was going about. Where were my horns? (Or maybe this is a really hush-hush facility, an Eyes Wide Shut playground for local officials?)

Of course, you always end up paying. The park farm is free, but the whole mountain is not. Got ya! Mr. Legacy is grinning. It is just 10Y to enter Yuhuangshan Scenic park, and I guess somebody has to pay for carrying all those immense stair stones up the hill. The place is littered with grottoes and temples and pavilions, allowing you to peak at one step over the West lake, and next step over Qiantang River. In Ciyun Temple (慈云宫) a few angry looking demons guard over the ‘Long Life Vegetarian Noodle’ place. The boss wasn’t anywhere to be found…

At the top, just a 20 min easy climb, you come to Zilai Cave (紫来洞), and this spectacular view from the terrace. What can I say?

Not liking to go back the way I came, and smelling on the wind a faint, but so definitely there, pint at the bottom, we went down the other side into the Jiuyaoshan tunnel cutting, and lo and behold on the corner with Hupao Road, was Norway Woods Bar. (挪威森林酒吧) The sun was still up and the pint beckoning to go down. Cheers.

I dreamt about a Chateaubriand last night. 20 centimeters long, it was the whole tail end of  a filet of beef. Slightly blackened on the outside, this gargantuan piece of beef cleaved open, almost poetically, to show the soft juicy pink centre. I woke up just as that first piece was about to be gently and lovingly savoured. What a dream.

Actually, it wasnt a dream. It’s much better than that; we can all enjoy it. It was a flashback from dinner last night at Angelo’s new restaurant – Angelo’s New York Italian Restaurant and Bar, and that huge piece – 400g or about 10oz – of seriously delicious steak can also be yours.

Angelo’s is tucked up No.2 Side Street of Baochu Road. No2 Street is quite old Hangzhou – lots of little restaurants with doors wide open despite the advertised -4‘C, neon signs selling shrimps, groups of people stuck well into their baijiu screaming numbers at each other. Further in you might start to doubt that any western restaurant could be possibly be here, and Lo, the house of Chateaubriand appears next to the Minsu Hotel.

The restaurant is simple and slick inside. Plain white walls with dark furniture, large frameless black and white prints of old New York on the walls, and black laser-cut lampshades showing the New York skyline provide a modern clean feeling without being minimalist. The small bar at the end is a hive of activity as the barman, an old friend of Angelo, is doing something aggressive with a cocktail shaker – out comes a large Dry Martini, which has my name written all over it. “I’ll have one of those too please”. The drink is 3 minutes in the waiting. Good start.

Angelo is excited. It is only the second day of the soft opening period and people are coming in. “Too busy too busy we are still learning how to do things!” He grabs a menu and talks about it as if it is a list of his child’s A+ school grades. The menu looks good and feels good – has the feel of James Taylor’s handiwork. There seems to be a good range of stuff with obviously a strong American bent, not limited to New York. I didnt see the Reuben Sandwich on there (isnt that a New York staple?) But lots of other tasty looking things – mini burgers, crab cake burgers, pizzas galore, fish and chips, deep-fried calamari and mozzarella. Salads soups. Pasta. And of course that Chateaubriand. This restaurant is going to take a few visits.

And lest I forget to mention, the Martini is good too.

Three of us had the mini-burgers and fried calamari to share as a starter, both from the Share section of the menu. Personally, I felt the calamari were a shade overcooked, but the covering was delicious. Perhaps a slightly smaller, younger squid would be better. Over the table, the Chateaubriand was served in all its glory, alone, on the white plate. On the side were fried potatoes, mushrooms and few other veg served in their own small dishes. The waiter offered to carve the meat, but my friend preferred to do that himself. On my right, the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich looked and tasted perfect – so many restaurants make the mistake of substituting poor beef and cheap cheese into sandwiches, but that did not happen here. My Fish and Chips were not really the British style I was expecting, rather fingers of fish deep fried in batter, tossed together with fries in a tall, paper wrapped cone. The batter was delicious and fish cooked til it was just firm.

I didnt get too far into the wine list – Angelo suggested a great bottle. Will have a go at updating this page soon.

After dinner, we got stuck into the Grappa and Limoncello, perhaps a little too much of it. But hey, there is little better way to cap a very fine dinner than a few shots of grappa.

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Paradise was the first bar I ever went to in Hangzhou. And in it I met many people who are still good friends today. If you only knew how long ago that was, and me, you would be amazed. Paradise went through many phases, some good and some bad, mostly something to do with what manager the owner had hired for that month. (Not kidding, she was a psycho and staff lasted less that a month, most of them.) Perhaps the most successful time was during Kana’s tenure that actually lasted, to his credit, two or three years. The place was packed pretty much every day of the week, with new drinks and shots, great live music (The Honeys, Huhumamas, to name two) and bashes held for all known countries party days. And then some. It was a great place, and I am obviously biased.

The restaurants are different, for sure, but the concept of Paradise whether intended or not, was great. Good music, good food, a happy laid-back place with no pretensions is a base for building a good crowd of loyal fans. Paradise had that gift and the fans, and Eudora has it too, while at the same time, they surpass Paradise in most ways, from food and decor, to staff, and it’s debatable, but the location too.

Eudora is a smart place. Well-lit and spacious with a long bar on the ground floor, its long and narrow lay-out draws you in. I am sure the bar area is always busy, but if you want a quieter drink, slip towards the rear. Upstairs is all restaurant in bright colours, but not garish, and the roof is simply unbeatable for any bar. The menu is eclectic, but strongly European and American. Schnitzels, pastas, great burger, pizzas, local and imported steaks, sausage and more. (The chocolate truffle cake, oh god.) The beer list is extravagant, and while the wine list has some lesser offerings for us poor writers, it is weighted towards those who like wine. The music is superb; Pink Floyd was playing when I walked in the first time and immediately lifted the spirits. Being opposite the artschool and a 45 second walk from the lake and Xihutiandi, you cant knock the location.

What doesn’t Eudora have? Hmmm. I wish it didn’t have the TVs showing 3 or 4 different sports channels, and it doesn’t have 15 years as a central meeting point for all Hangzhouvians. Well, it does take 15 years for the first case, but Eudora will become central much quickly than that. And if the owner were to read this, he might switch off the TVs outside of game time, (doubtful) but he wont read it. “Amateur reviews are not much good for the reviewer, the reviewee, or the viewer.?.” Gulp.

Other Links
Eudora Station
Eudora Station Hangzhou
MOREHangzhou
Eudora Station Beijing
10Best
CityWeekend
TheBeijinger

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From the outside, Fengdu is an unassuming place, lit truly Hangzhou style, i.e. brilliantly (maybe to keep the staff awake at 3am) and without any thought to aesthetic. (Well, the place is for eating at, not looking at). Of course those bright lights draw ominous attention immediately on entering to the large jugs of snake juice behind the cashier. There is nothing like snake juice to start the evening, or for that matter to finish it off. And it’s supposed to be good for you. The restaurant is only a few shades above grubby, perhaps worn is the apt word. But definitely one of those places I don’t really want to go into the kitchen to help. However, just about everything that comes out of the kitchen is good.

The restaurant is famous for the chicken stock that goes into the chicken noodles and rice soup. There must be a section of the kitchen devoted to boiling carcasses as the stock flows out in huge bowls of noodles, steaming. The stock is so thick and tasty it is almost sticky. Spectacular. Don’t tune up a nose to the rice soup either – normally a rather bland dish, the stock makes it.

The menu is Chinese only. I have offered to translate it, but I think the owners are worried that my fee might be free food for the rest of time. And they might be right about that. There aren’t even any photos. So it’s time to practise language or leave it up the boss and hope. I can hardly walk past the place without rushing in for the Shrimp fried with Meigancai – I have no idea what that is in English – oddly the rich flavours of the dried vegetables mixes perfectly with the shrimp. There is a pretty good Braised pork over spring onion, although it isn’t on the menu. Refried pork is fantastic, the Family fried doufu is not what you might expect, using old doufu instead of the delicious deep-fried crispy silk doufu. (How do they fry that stuff without breaking it?) Deep-fried spicy chicken is a must, along with the bacon and potato fry. And the black fish soup?

Last but not least, give the snake juice the respect it deserves and have some. The boss takes it seriously, makes it himself, and drinks it too. There is more than just snake in there too. I would suggest trying the stuff before looking. For a good warm up, split one serving between two – the stuff should have an ‘inflammable’ warning on the glass. And even if it isn’t good for you in the long term, what the hell, it is very good in the short term.

And you could always pop over to Provence for some coffee after.

Always open
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For first timers, the place is a little tricky to find, but it is right next door to the Tea Museum (Lake direction), and if you are turning up in the evening, you’ll find it hard to miss the wood buildings with huge green neon sign outside. There’ll be plenty of badly parked cars scattered around the main entrance. On the way in the din will increase and you’ll realise your effort to arrive late, or early so as to get a table has failed. This place is always full. You can book a table, but all that only really means is that you’ll jump the queue of those waiting who didn’t book. (Book anyway). The menu is on a blackboard and other miscellaneous notice boards littering the entrance and so there will be staff taking orders, delivering food, moving chairs and tables and herding guests onwards all going on in seeming chaos right there when you walk in. With a bit of luck you’ll also soon be herded through a series of rooms and verandas and companion ways to your table. On the way there’ll be fire pots burning, smells of dorian fruit being dismembered, the whiz of blenders making somebody some sort of fresh juice, weird looking toasted whole breads with ice-cream careering past, and when you make to your table, it’ll be clear to you that the chaos is only skin deep. The previous 12 guests haven’t yet put on their coats, but your setting is already spic and span.

Green Tea used to be a little more difficult to find when it was stuck up a mud track near Linyin Temple. The new one is heavily modeled from the last one, with the brick terracing, copious use of pine and batiques. The original Green Tea was a youth hostel and had a few youth-ish maybe hostel-ish trappings; a small pool, climbing wall. Some rooms too. The success was maybe a little too much for the local government who pulled down the building and turned it into tea fields. Sad irony in that.

Thomas, the owner is a bit of foodie. He travels much around China, and whenever he finds something he likes, he takes it back to Green Tea. If the chefs cannot make it according to his instructions, they are sent to the far-flung corner to learn how to make it. So keep an eye out for what the neighbours are eating or otherwise it is easy to miss something special. The core of the menu is based around the duck oven. Thomas cooks lots of things in the oven. Delicious pork belly of perfect succulence, spatchcocked chickens, leg or back of lamb. Fish. Maybe even some duck. It’s a real BBQ. There are other truly delicious things – the fish head in pickled chillies is a house special. And dont forget the booze. Qingmeijiu is baijiu flavoured with qingmei, or plum. It’s only served by the pint, so make sure you have a few hardies to drink it with you as it kicks like an angry mule. The hongmeijiu is a little less fundamentalist, but no less good. And the beer comes in kegs and miniature glasses, so you’ll quickly lose count over how many you’ve had. No harm in that.

The food is surprisingly superb, and the unusual offering of booze, combined with the disarming informality of Green Tea makes for a laid-back evening kick-off for two or three friends, or a gathering much larger. I don’t forget lunch, Green Tea is a great way to have lunch then settle back with some fresh tea and soak up a little afternoon sun.

It isnt the easiest place to find for the first time, so print out this map! If you are going south down Yanggongdi, take a right into Longjing Zhilu. Go over the T junction and on about 200 metres. It’s on the right, before the Tea Museum.

Well, Indian food connoisseurs will be happy to note that there is now a new kid on the block in the form of the newly opened Moksh… Ok, so it’s not the same block, but rather a little further in the East of town – more options can’t be a bad thing though can they?

Located a little down from the junction of Jiefang and Jiangguo, it’s within walking distance of the Shamrock and Holiday Inn. Opened for a week, we were put on to it by a friend who said the food is not to be missed. Therefore it was with some excitement that the 4 Indian food critics in us set off to put the menu through its paces.

The restaurant is easy to find with foot high illuminated red letters slung on the outside of a black shiny two story building just by the Jianguo Lu tunnel.

As we approached the tinted windowed door, the staff reacted with pleasant efficiency, opened the door and welcomed us in. Unfortunately the sophisticated illusion of the exterior quickly faded revealing a slightly drab, albeit freshly painted, faded grey interior. But we had come on the recommendation of the food not the decor.

We were ushered past the wood topped, spirit stocked bar and seated on the upper floor over looking the tables and bar below. A large projector played a mixture of what one assumes were Bollywood music video hits. We were the only table at the time and the English speaking Indian Manager was quick to give us Menus and take our drinks order. They were out of Kingfisher, but assured us that this would be rectified by the next time we came.

The menus were a little hard to navigate at first, maybe due to lack of pictures, but once you took the time and delve inside the favourites were there. All currys are represented from Vindaloo, through Bhuuna to Rogan Josh. Couple those with Chicken, Beef and Lamb and you’ve got yourself a good start. The Tandoor is well represented too with a selection of meats and fish. Numerous vegetable dishes should also help keep the Vegetarians happy.

Our group kicked things off with a Chili Paneer, Samosa, Kebab Platter and Onion Bhaji’s. The Paneer was a little on the sweet and sour Chinese style sauce, but the Samosa and kebabs pulled through. It was the Onion Bhaji’s that stole the first round though; a large basket of hot crispy Bhaji’s accented by condiment sauces of aniseed and mint.

The starter had arrived within what seemed like a few minutes of placing the order and it was with little further delay that the rest of our food began to arrive. It was at this point that the portion size became evident. If you go to Moksh, expect to eat a lot; the servings far exceed those in Haveli or the ‘Kitchen. Suddenly the agreeable prices seemed a whole lot more agreeable.

For main course we ordered Chicken Madras, Saag Aloo, Aloo Gobi, Yellow Butter Naan, Lamb Rogan Josh and a couple of Naan to mop up. Half way through we were starting to falter and the amount of food still looked a little unapproachable. Seasoned veterans that we are, and indeed to offer unbiased opinions as to who had chosen the best dishes, we ploughed on.

In the end it was difficult to split the dishes all receiving the much acclaimed mark of ‘Moreish’. (Though the Chicken Madras, ordered extra hot, REALLY hit the spot!).

By this time another couple of people had happened upon the restaurant and they too were welcomed and looked after with the same courtesy that we had grown accustomed to over our dining experience. The Indian Manager was very apologetic and explained that they have organised dining entertainment in the way of a belly dancer, but she was to start later in the week. Nice as that might have been, we were all rather more focussing on our own bellies and the amount of food and drink we had expanded them with.

The Verdict: Moksh provide a good alternative Indian Restaurant to Hangzhou, the prices are fair – expect to get away between 100-150 RMB / person depending on how many beers (20RMB for a Corona) you need to put out any fires. The food is good and the quantity is not to be sniffed at. The decor is lacking which is a shame, but it was noted by an Englishman of the group that it was a very close dining experience to that he associates with the UK. We not sure whether that reflects positively or negatively on Moksh or the Englishman in question, but it would be a real shame to see this restaurant not get the chance it more than deserves.

We are all talking about going back for a repeat test so for the moment Moksh awarded 3.5 out of 5. If they spruce up the interior and get a bit of colour in there… expect it to nudge 4 stars.

If you like curry, this place comes well recommended.

For some info about the other 2 Indian restaurants in Hangzhou, see the Hangzhoutours page.

The meal is a slightly unusual format – buffet for starters and desserts and a la carte main courses. The buffet start is a quite a spread all by itself with loads of antipasti, tomato and mozzarella salad, salami, shrimp cocktails, carpaccio, Gravadlax and cheese and more. 2 or 3 plates of that and you have to start to wonder if there is any room left for main course. And the Shang hasnt held back on those either. There are perhaps 6 to choose from, not including build your own pizzas and pastas, with grilled cod, Roman-style veal escalope (which was amazing), ossobucco, spring chicken. You get the message.

While the food is worth a visit just for that, the real fun is the free flow martinis. Yup. Free flow. There are perhaps 20 of them on the menu, and it is tempting to challenge yourself to try them all, although I think that is taking hair of the dog a little far…

Jamaica has some pretty good eats too – the photo here doesn’t really do it justice, but this Jamaica Club Sandwich is full of cheese, pork loin and bacon, and is oozing with mayo and butter. The bread is fresh and soft with a little chew and a crisp outside. It is definitely worth the trek to Xihu Tiandi just for that. Jamaica has several other tasties on the menu, meatballs, paella pasta and some more sandwiches.

Jamaica does not seem that busy in the afternoons, although the booze on the menu may help fill the place up of an evening. Without the Quaker-ism of Starbucks etcetc, you can smoke eat and drink all at the same time. For now anyway – there is a rumour that China is going non-smoking too.

To find Jamaica, wander into Xihu Tiandi – I prefer the northern most entrance just after the Dahua Hotel and follow the lake bank to the cafe – but there are good signs all over the area.

If somebody ever gets there at night, let me know how busy it is.

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I like real guns that shoot real things that move – not too many people on the whole, although I must admit that desire has been there on occasion. So was a little skeptical about BB, but it was a mate’s Stag Party, there were 20 funny people going, so even if the BB was crap, it was going to be a guaranteed great afternoon. The first bottle of pastisse was gone by 11am, and in no time we were out at the ‘camp’. No joke, this place is on the edge of rather daunting looking military base. There was a Chinese (Xinjiang) style BBQ waiting for us and some more tepid beer, so by the time we got our camo gear, helmets and guns, we were definitely ready for some testosterone / alcohol fuelled violence.

Counter-Strike China has a wooded side of a hill, maybe 10 or 20 hectares with 5 game areas. The place was riddled with trenches, pill-boxes, guard towers and dugouts. Several paths slithered through the undergrowth and I could not help thinking of some of the scenes in Platoon or Apocalypse Now. 20 drunk guys with pretty realistic looking machine-guns helped.

We played 5 games, the usual “Get the Flag” or “Kill EVERYBODY” on two different game areas. Sweated a lot. Ripped our clothes. Got shot up. The Stag had a bright yellow plastic bag on his head, so everybody, including his team-mates made sure he got riddled every game. Focusing on not getting “killed” while running up and down hills is exhausting, but seriously good fun. Try it out one time.

You have to get on the National Road 320 to Fuyang. 15 minutes on from the ringroad keep an eye out for the petrol station on right. Turn in, follow dusty broken road up past military base and on up the hill to the top.