Thai food with an international sensibility…
Long a favorite with local Chinese and Tianjin-based expats, YY Beer House is finally recieving some much deserved attention. In March, a journalist from the Wall Street Journal surprised everyone when he named YY Beer House one of the top dining establishments in Tianjin. Despite the notoriety, this Thai restaurant continues to do what it set out to do 11 years ago; provide quality Thai food and international liquors in a fun and quirky environment.
Overall the good portions and fair prices along with good, authentic Thai food make Mango Thai an excellent escape.
There’s a reason why people dine at five-star restaurants, and Wyndham Grand Plaza just set the bar for service, hospitality, and overall authenticity of international cuisine. A famous international Howard Johnson chain, the Wyndham Grand Plaza Royale is a relative newcomer to the hotel scene in China. Having only opened in Hangzhou three months ago, the hotel is only gaining momentum. The staff speaks excellent English, are exceedingly helpful and go out of their way to provide their guests with exceptional service.
The evening was a cool relaxing evening served with quality mildly spicy food at a reasonable price.
Purple Haze Thai Restaurant is a tucked away Workers Stadium area establishment that is guaranteed to be busy every night. True to its namesake, the purple décor surrounds diners in a cozy yet chic motif, providing a much needed sanctuary to fall into large plush chairs yet still feel trendy and ‘seen’.
Thai food in China... is it a necessity, waste of time, or eh, maybe? Lantung gives you that answer straight away. People will say that there are many great Thai restaurants in Beijing; ignore them for Lantung is the only restaurant you want to eat at. It is the only place where every dish is a Wow.
The Face Bar/La Na Thai complex looks exotic and bright in the early afternoon and I am excitedly waiting for a return in the evening hours when the intimate, seductive vibe and artfully decorated plaza takes on a life of its own.
Golden Thai is a funky setting with great ambience and friendly staff that makes the ¥100 plus per person price tag and out-of-the-way location worth the trip.
The Melting Pot – an authentic Thai restaurant led by native Thai Head Chef, Alyssa Han Pongpandh, will neither disappoint Thai food lovers nor burn a hole in your pocket. Enjoy these authentic delights in the French Concession district.
The Melting Pot serves its Thai cuisine competitors a large slice of humble pie. The competition only deserves it, because they are, as reflected in price, establishments that pay more attention to trendy décor and stylish presentation rather than pure taste. The Melting Pot on the other hand, has found a niche of authenticity deserving of praise.
It was an unbearably hot summer’s day and my taxi driver had just annoyed me immensely. Only after much protest did the air conditioning come on and absolutely no effort was made to help me locate this hard-to-find restaurant – a converted school building hidden near the south gate of the Worker’s Stadium. When I arrive at Face I was flustered, half an hour late and drenched in sweat.
The summer is hot in Shanghai, but is worse in Beijing. Chinese people often sleep on bamboo mats in the summer to keep cool. There are different kinds of mats, some with long strips of bamboo tied in parallel, some woven and some with thick tiles of bamboo, bound like a matrix of mahjong pieces. The last one keeps you coolest but because it doesn’t distribute your weight so evenly, the tiles angle towards your skin and stick to you as you roll backwards and forwards on a hot night, lying broad waking.