Owner: Beijing travel bug URL:http://www.beijingtravelbug.com Join Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:52:52 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Beijing blog that talks about the latest food finds, restaurant reviews, shopping area, olympics 2008 etc ! Site statistics:Click here
Golden Jaguar Best Buffet 2007-08-07 05:11:14
It was plain Gluttony.
With so many choices, who wouldn’t want to try everything out even if it won’t even fit inside your stomach? Ahhhh….I was astounded by the variety of food inside GoldenJaguar
. It’s located at the end of Wangfujing road. We waited for an hour that day (don’t know if it’s because it was Valentines). We thought that there won’t be much food left since it’s past 12nn but to my surprise, the food was still overflowing. From salmon, steaks, lambs, beef, prawns, tuna, oysters, crabs, roasted duck…almost everything you can imagine. Drinks were free flowing, that includes alcoholic ones. My favorite part was the dessert section! UNLIMITED HAAGEN DAZ ICE CREAM!
Honestly, I haven’t tasted any Haagen Daz ice cream until that time. The macadamia nut flavored one was my favorite.
It was just at the rate of RMB 180 during lunchtime but the rate jumps to RMB 210 for dinner! For me, it’s value for Read more:Buffet
Old Summer Palace (颐和元） 2007-08-06 11:12:12 “How can something so beautiful be destroyed?”
That was what I thought when we visited the Old SummerPalace
in Beijing near Beida University. This attraction is not usually famous spot for tourists but it serves a very sound reminder of the humiliating past of China.
It was originally the Imperial Garden that was built by the Emperor Kangxi in the early 1700’s for his son. It was greatly expanded during 1725 by Emperor Yongzheng, adding up ponds, lakes, streams to compliment the gardens.
The Imperial Gardens were made up of three gardens: the Garden of Perfect Brightness proper, the Garden of Eternal Spring (Simplified Chinese: 长春园; Traditional Chinese: 長春園; Pinyin: Chángchūn Yuán), and the Elegant Spring Garden (Simplified Chinese: 绮春园; Traditional Chinese: 綺春園; Pinyin: Qǐchūn Yuán); together they covered an area of 3.5 km² (865 acres). They were almost 5 times the size of the Forbidden City, and 8 times the size of the Vatican
Beijing Olympics 2008 Dashboard 2007-08-05 12:19:33 Here’s a random update about BeijingOlympics
2008:
* Beijing is said to pledge US$ 13 million to clean up the city and advocate itself to launch a “Green Olympics” campaign. Relocating steel factories to outer provinces, planting more trees, replacing old buses etc. Since Beijing has a hazy city line due to smog, the government is still pushing itself to reach its goals.
* Originally, Beijing has 4 main subway lines, but in the next year, it aims to make 4 more to improve accessibility to other areas of the city. Simultaneous constructions are underway and most of the workers work seven days a week to be able to finish with a tight deadline.
* Water Cube is a big dome stadium currently in construction in Beijing. The outer membrane of the dome stretched over the pentagonal and hexagonal steel beams to simulate the look of an ice-blue cube with a water-like surface. The membrane allows the Water Cube to use solar energy to heat the pools and light the inter Read more:Dashboard
Summer Palace 2007-08-05 03:40:55
One of the main attractions of Beijing is the SummerPalace
(Yi He Yuan), located at the other end of the Haidian District.
The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value.
Beauty in every level can be seen in this place. Would you believe that the Longevity Hill was made out of dirt taken out of the Kunming Lake? Behind every step, every temple, every corridor, I sense its history. It’s not just an “imperial garden” to me where you can take a lot of good photographs.
You can see art in the pathway you walk, above the corridor you see. I was in awe with the beauty and has high respect for the creators. But it won’t just make you appreciate it, it can inspire people to rethink their own potentials.
Nanshan Ski Resort 2007-08-03 22:41:12 There are a bunch of sports activities you can do in Beijing. But one of the famous seasonal sports is Skiing. Usually, resorts start to open around end of November or whenever the year’s winter season starts.
Nanshan Ski Resort
is one of the biggest and popular ski resort in Beijing. It’s located on the outskirts of the city, around 2 hours drive away from the city. During weekends, people flock the area to ski, snowboard, snow mobile, toboggan etc. Having 13 runs that is about 1500 meters long, the ski resorts boast to offer the best ski/snowboard experience. They also have the flying thing, where there’s a cable that connects to a glide that you can ride to enjoy the spectacular view from above.
I went there twice, the first time where it snowed hard and the second near the season end. Beijing doesn’t have snowfall everyday so you wonder where did they get the ice. They have this machine that creates ice. Of course, newbies lik
Grandma’s Kitchen 2007-07-14 23:12:22
I enjoy eating brunch so we tried Grandma
’s Kitchen
. The small restaurant has a homey feel. You need to go before 11am to avail the 10% discount. We got to order 1 minute before the deadline!
I never really enjoyed the food sadly, either it was too bland, or starchy (steak). Though my other friends loved their order (peppered steak), it was not really my thing. You can order pancakes, waffles, omelet too.
The service waitresses/waiters can speak a bit English so you can explain what you want. Though this is not my favorite, you can try but order the right ones. Try the cheesecakes, I heard that it’s their best seller.
Tel: 6503-2893
A11 Xiushui Nanjie
behind Friendship Store
秀水南街甲11号
友谊商店后边
Tel:5869-3055/6
0103, Bldg B, Jianwai SOHO, 39 Dongsanhuan Zhonglu
东三环中路39号建外SOHOB座0103
Y100 - Y199 per couple
Open 7:30am-11pm
Houhai 2007-07-13 09:20:53
Houhai is one of Beijing’s bar hot spots. It is located near Behai. Though in the morning, it looks like an ordinary restaurant strip, at night, it will look livelier. I visited this place only twice. Once when my friend Jessica toured us back in 2005, and we got lost looking for Hutong Pizza. The second time, when I was studying and my friends and I went to eat at Hutong pizza after touring BeHai.
The lake looks serene day and night. But at night, the bars around the area will be the highlight. It’s famous getaway for expats. During winter, the lake will freeze thus you can skate!
There’s also a branch of Starbucks
I got to see this Sex and Da City bar. Minus the spelling, reminds me of the famous series!
Korean BBQ- my top 5 2007-07-11 08:13:10 One of my favorite restaurants are KoreanBBQ
places. I can’t resist the rice, sauce, BBQ altogether. That’s why I didn’t wonder why I got fat all the while. The hot coal grill is also a warm retreat versus the nasty cold during winter.
Typically, you need to choose different variety of raw meat (from lamb, karubi beef, harami beef, pork, chicken, squid, ribs). They serve appetizers first (actually a lot, I usually get a bit full with appetizers). If you love kimchi, you will love to eat in Korean restaurants. I get flushed out whenever I eat here, because of SPICY food and the hot coal grill.
There are a lot of Korean restaurants around Wutaokou area. My favorites are Fushion, Sarambang, Kimchi rice place (though I don’t think this is the name, we just named this cause of our favorite Kimchi rice), Korean restaurant in Xi Jiao Hotel.
They taught us how to eat the Korean BBQ traditionally. The reason why there are lots of sauces, vegetables,
Flavored Soju anyone? 2007-07-08 01:57:18 Soju is a very popular alcoholic drink Koreans prefer. It has I think 6% alcohol in it, if drank purely, you can really feel it tickle down your throat. Nice to have this for drinking games we usually enjoy back in Beijing. Though not all supermarkets have this (we usually buy in Korean convenience stores for around 13 rmb)
We got to try other variants of this, which made popular by the once Ramia (too bad it’s already close, maybe they moved somewhere else). They added flavors for it, like mango soju, peach soju etc. Fun times! Ask Koreans about their drinking games, super fun!
Crepe Cake 2007-07-05 22:36:23
This cake is hidden specialty in Wotaokou area. You can buy this crepe cake in Cafe Bro. So what’s so good about this?? You just can savor it by rolling each layer and eating it with friends. One of my favorites in Beijing…
Read more:Crepe
Annie’s Cafe 2007-08-08 06:56:53 Italian food anyone??
One in Beijing that serves one of the best is Annie
’s Cafe!
Before getting to the basics, the staff here would give fresh bread with pesto on the side and garlic butter. This would easily fill your empty stomach, but don’t despair, they won’t serve that long. I love the Carbonara when we tried it in one branch.
A special feature of each of these restaurants is the wood-fired pizza oven, designed to ensure a true Italian taste and flavour. It’s for this reason that Annie’s is rightly called “The home of the Flying Angel Pizza”.
My other favorite is their Sole di Napoli ( Pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmaham, cooked ham, almonds.).
Interiors:
You can check out the menu first:
Annie’s Menu
You can check out Annie’s website for the locations of the restaurants. Now, they have already 5 branches open. Also, remember to reserve seats before going there. Sometimes, it’s jam
Golden Jaguar Best Buffet 2007-08-07 05:11:14
It was plain Gluttony.
With so many choices, who wouldn’t want to try everything out even if it won’t even fit inside your stomach? Ahhhh….I was astounded by the variety of food inside GoldenJaguar
. It’s located at the end of Wangfujing road. We waited for an hour that day (don’t know if it’s because it was Valentines). We thought that there won’t be much food left since it’s past 12nn but to my surprise, the food was still overflowing. From salmon, steaks, lambs, beef, prawns, tuna, oysters, crabs, roasted duck…almost everything you can imagine. Drinks were free flowing, that includes alcoholic ones. My favorite part was the dessert section! UNLIMITED HAAGEN DAZ ICE CREAM!
Honestly, I haven’t tasted any Haagen Daz ice cream until that time. The macadamia nut flavored one was my favorite.
It was just at the rate of RMB 180 during lunchtime but the rate jumps to RMB 210 for dinner! For me, it’s value for Read more:Buffet
Old Summer Palace (颐和元） 2007-08-06 11:12:12 “How can something so beautiful be destroyed?”
That was what I thought when we visited the Old SummerPalace
in Beijing near Beida University. This attraction is not usually famous spot for tourists but it serves a very sound reminder of the humiliating past of China.
It was originally the Imperial Garden that was built by the Emperor Kangxi in the early 1700’s for his son. It was greatly expanded during 1725 by Emperor Yongzheng, adding up ponds, lakes, streams to compliment the gardens.
The Imperial Gardens were made up of three gardens: the Garden of Perfect Brightness proper, the Garden of Eternal Spring (Simplified Chinese: 长春园; Traditional Chinese: 長春園; Pinyin: Chángchūn Yuán), and the Elegant Spring Garden (Simplified Chinese: 绮春园; Traditional Chinese: 綺春園; Pinyin: Qǐchūn Yuán); together they covered an area of 3.5 km² (865 acres). They were almost 5 times the size of the Forbidden City, and 8 times the size of the Vatican
Beijing Olympics 2008 Dashboard 2007-08-05 12:19:33 Here’s a random update about BeijingOlympics
2008:
* Beijing is said to pledge US$ 13 million to clean up the city and advocate itself to launch a “Green Olympics” campaign. Relocating steel factories to outer provinces, planting more trees, replacing old buses etc. Since Beijing has a hazy city line due to smog, the government is still pushing itself to reach its goals.
* Originally, Beijing has 4 main subway lines, but in the next year, it aims to make 4 more to improve accessibility to other areas of the city. Simultaneous constructions are underway and most of the workers work seven days a week to be able to finish with a tight deadline.
* Water Cube is a big dome stadium currently in construction in Beijing. The outer membrane of the dome stretched over the pentagonal and hexagonal steel beams to simulate the look of an ice-blue cube with a water-like surface. The membrane allows the Water Cube to use solar energy to heat the pools and light the inter Read more:Dashboard
Summer Palace 2007-08-05 03:40:55
One of the main attractions of Beijing is the SummerPalace
(Yi He Yuan), located at the other end of the Haidian District.
The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value.
Beauty in every level can be seen in this place. Would you believe that the Longevity Hill was made out of dirt taken out of the Kunming Lake? Behind every step, every temple, every corridor, I sense its history. It’s not just an “imperial garden” to me where you can take a lot of good photographs.
You can see art in the pathway you walk, above the corridor you see. I was in awe with the beauty and has high respect for the creators. But it won’t just make you appreciate it, it can inspire people to rethink their own potentials.
Nanshan Ski Resort 2007-08-03 22:41:12 There are a bunch of sports activities you can do in Beijing. But one of the famous seasonal sports is Skiing. Usually, resorts start to open around end of November or whenever the year’s winter season starts.
Nanshan Ski Resort
is one of the biggest and popular ski resort in Beijing. It’s located on the outskirts of the city, around 2 hours drive away from the city. During weekends, people flock the area to ski, snowboard, snow mobile, toboggan etc. Having 13 runs that is about 1500 meters long, the ski resorts boast to offer the best ski/snowboard experience. They also have the flying thing, where there’s a cable that connects to a glide that you can ride to enjoy the spectacular view from above.
I went there twice, the first time where it snowed hard and the second near the season end. Beijing doesn’t have snowfall everyday so you wonder where did they get the ice. They have this machine that creates ice. Of course, newbies lik
Grandma’s Kitchen 2007-07-14 23:12:22
I enjoy eating brunch so we tried Grandma
’s Kitchen
. The small restaurant has a homey feel. You need to go before 11am to avail the 10% discount. We got to order 1 minute before the deadline!
I never really enjoyed the food sadly, either it was too bland, or starchy (steak). Though my other friends loved their order (peppered steak), it was not really my thing. You can order pancakes, waffles, omelet too.
The service waitresses/waiters can speak a bit English so you can explain what you want. Though this is not my favorite, you can try but order the right ones. Try the cheesecakes, I heard that it’s their best seller.
Tel: 6503-2893
A11 Xiushui Nanjie
behind Friendship Store
秀水南街甲11号
友谊商店后边
Tel:5869-3055/6
0103, Bldg B, Jianwai SOHO, 39 Dongsanhuan Zhonglu
东三环中路39号建外SOHOB座0103
Y100 - Y199 per couple
Open 7:30am-11pm
Houhai 2007-07-13 09:20:53
Houhai is one of Beijing’s bar hot spots. It is located near Behai. Though in the morning, it looks like an ordinary restaurant strip, at night, it will look livelier. I visited this place only twice. Once when my friend Jessica toured us back in 2005, and we got lost looking for Hutong Pizza. The second time, when I was studying and my friends and I went to eat at Hutong pizza after touring BeHai.
The lake looks serene day and night. But at night, the bars around the area will be the highlight. It’s famous getaway for expats. During winter, the lake will freeze thus you can skate!
There’s also a branch of Starbucks
I got to see this Sex and Da City bar. Minus the spelling, reminds me of the famous series!
Korean BBQ- my top 5 2007-07-11 08:13:10 One of my favorite restaurants are KoreanBBQ
places. I can’t resist the rice, sauce, BBQ altogether. That’s why I didn’t wonder why I got fat all the while. The hot coal grill is also a warm retreat versus the nasty cold during winter.
Typically, you need to choose different variety of raw meat (from lamb, karubi beef, harami beef, pork, chicken, squid, ribs). They serve appetizers first (actually a lot, I usually get a bit full with appetizers). If you love kimchi, you will love to eat in Korean restaurants. I get flushed out whenever I eat here, because of SPICY food and the hot coal grill.
There are a lot of Korean restaurants around Wutaokou area. My favorites are Fushion, Sarambang, Kimchi rice place (though I don’t think this is the name, we just named this cause of our favorite Kimchi rice), Korean restaurant in Xi Jiao Hotel.
They taught us how to eat the Korean BBQ traditionally. The reason why there are lots of sauces, vegetables,
Flavored Soju anyone? 2007-07-08 01:57:18 Soju is a very popular alcoholic drink Koreans prefer. It has I think 6% alcohol in it, if drank purely, you can really feel it tickle down your throat. Nice to have this for drinking games we usually enjoy back in Beijing. Though not all supermarkets have this (we usually buy in Korean convenience stores for around 13 rmb)
We got to try other variants of this, which made popular by the once Ramia (too bad it’s already close, maybe they moved somewhere else). They added flavors for it, like mango soju, peach soju etc. Fun times! Ask Koreans about their drinking games, super fun!
Rio Brazillian BBQ 2007-08-13 20:32:21 Die hard carnivore? Well, this is the place you’ll surely love!
RIO BRAZILIAN BBQ
offers buffet with free beer and drinks plus special discounts for students! The place is usually jam pack so you need to reserve if you really want to binge meat of all kinds.
They have all kinds of sauces to appease your cravings and of course, to give flavor to the meats you’re about to order. The restaurant has a buffet table on the side where you can other entree however they can go empty fast. So be sure to be ready when it gets served. The meats (lamb, beef, chicken) will be personally sliced on your plate when it’s ready.
The downside of my experience is that the service is slow. There are only few waiters going around serving the BBQ so you’re left wanting for more than what is given. Also, you have to wait for what is ready…sometimes…it takes forever to serve the one you really like.
Tel: 8406-4368 ext. 69
9-13, Bldg 5, Dongzhimen Neidajie
10
SPR Coffee 2007-08-11 06:19:40 SPR Coffee
seems to sprout in China like mushrooms. Looks a lot like Starbucks but it’s not. It’s a typical cafe but it lacks the distinct frapuccino I love in Starbucks…though I think it’s overrated.
SRP comes from the word SPRING, not the season but it’s the small stream of water flowing from the earth.
Around Wotaukou, there are 2 branches where we love to hangout when exams were near. The huge branch in Tsinghua Science Park is our favorite because of warm ambiance and unlimited WiFi access. The huge tables are perfect for a library feel where you can study and lounge around at the same time. Just bring all your stuff (laptop, books, pen) and you can stay for as long as you want (it closes at 12mn on weekend and sometimes earlier). Just of course, order 1 or 2 from the menu. There’s also free distilled water with lemon zest.
Another branch is a smaller one along the side of Hua Qing Jia Yuan, near RBT and 7 Ele
Shanghai - view in the daylight 2007-08-12 00:03:43 Shanghai
has been one of my favorite cities in Asia. Ever since, I dream to see the wondrous city that can fill my desire to see architectures close to my dream destination, Europe. I love to peer out the taxi window to see the buildings from afar. During my trip with friends, including fellow blogger Soph, we tried to make the most out of our 3 day trip in Shanghai. I introduced to her the famous Chinese Candies Strawberry which they loved.
You must visit the famous Bund!
We didn’t use the city’s public transportation like train or bus so couldn’t really say how well it is there. However, the only problem we had on the trip are the taxis! Almost all our taxi experience are not something to boost the image of Shanghai. Well..maybe we were just that unlucky.
But still, I want to visit Shanghai again! Too many sights not yet seen, too many restaurants we haven’t tried…too many bars yet to visit.
Din Tai Fung Shanghai 2007-08-19 10:29:14 Shanghai is known for its Xiao Long Pao and we definitely went to Din Tai Fung Shanghai to see if it’s better than the Beijing branch.
My friend Soph wanted to try the very best and this was the restaurant we can vouch. The branch we visited was the Xin Tian Di branch, although it was jam packed, we waited a bit and got a room all by ourselves (whoohoo!). The service was excellent though I can comment on the difference of the Xiao Long Pao variant. Shanghai branch didn’t have the Crab Roe flavor which I love in Beijing. But nevertheless, we enjoyed every burst of surprise inside the dumpling.
We also tried the Hot & Sour Soup
by request of Soph. My only disappointment…they didn’t offer the Mango ice dessert! Grr…
We were surrounded by caricatures of HongKong/ Chinese artists. It’s nice hanging out in the restaurant however since they serve fast, you couldn’t really stay long since you would probably get addicted with Xiao Long Read more:Shanghai
Beijing Olympics Mascots 2007-08-17 10:10:08 When I was in Beijing
, you can see the Olympics
fever almost everywhere. There are huge Olympics themed billboard. Then there’s these cute mascots sold in Olympics souvenir shops around Beijing.
The mascots have a deeper reference to it not just their names “Bei Bei”, “Jing Jing”, “Huan Huan”, “Ying Ying”, “Ni Ni” when said into one “Beijing Huan Ying Ni” means Beijing welcomes you!
In Olympic Games, every athlete is eager to win in the games. They all want to be "faster, higher and stronger", and they believe that " one world, one dream" because we are living in the same world and have the same dream. The Olympic flame, the fish, the panda, the Tibetan antelope and the swallow make up the Olympic mascots. Their names are Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. They are so beautiful that almost everybody loves them. From: 2008 Blog
Sold as key chains, gold coins, collectors items&he
Peter’s Tex Mex 2007-08-22 01:41:19 Craving for some tacos or burritos? Well, Beijing definitely has this variety to offer. Never thought that the place would look so homey. Peter
’s Tex Mex is one of the highly recommended restaurant if opt to try Mexican food.
We were greeted by the personnel warmly when we entered the place. (Tip: Always reserve in advance). Weren’t able to order tacos but we tried the burritos. The serving was big enough for 3 if you will be ordering other entrees. A must-try is their 7 layer dip nachos. They also have different milkshakes and other desserts.
Nice to see a lot of kids hanging out in the restaurant. You can actually borrow books to read inside the restaurant. I also saw a play area so your children can play while they wait for the food.
BRANCHES:
Tel:8532-2449
88A St. Regis, 21 Jianguomen Waidajie
next to the St. Regis Hotel
Tel: 5135-8187; 8627-3734
Boutique 2, Hairun International Condominium, 2B Jiangtai Lu
Sichuan Ethnic group 2008-03-06 07:35:28 It’s rare nowadays that we see people living in a completely different cultural society. Being cosmopolitan is the way of life in this century. However, if we set aside patronizing the liberated modern world, we can see ultimately unique people still existing amongst themselves.
Well, I caught a glimpse of ethnic minority [...]
Sarangbang- Korean 2008-03-02 09:56:53 SarangBang is one of my favorite Korean
restaurants in Beijing. I first experience this quite authentic Korean cuisine during my trip with friends a year before I went to study in BLCU. The spicy food complimented the cold autumn weather.
Back in the old days, I had learn to love to Korean food when [...]
Chinese New Year Traditions 2008-02-24 03:52:21 Chinese New Year Celebration is based on the start of the Lunar Year. As the year starts, there are a lot of activities Chinese practice to welcome the year with ,luck, fortune and prosperity.
Back in China, there were a lot of temple fairs and fireworks during Chinese New Year’s Eve. Scheduled huge fireworks were [...] Read more:Chinese
, Chinese New Year
Temple Fair (Bai Yun Temple) 2008-02-11 04:13:38 During Chinese New Year, there is a tradition in China which celebrates by having temple fairs. Celebrated in temples around the city, people gather around to pray for luck, good fortune, health and all possible good tidings that one can ask. One of the temple we visited is Bai Yun which means [...] Read more:Temple
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