Shanghaiist: Chinese Football: Agony as Shenhua blow championship in closing minutes

Mark

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:12:16 +0800

Looks like a mess...

Flashback

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:37:41 +0800

You'd think professional football players would have plenty to spend on food, but Bi Feng Tang really does reveal the truth of the often made statement that Chinese people love food. The one on Changshu Lu has dedicated parking attendants to help the BMW and SUV drivers to park, it's constantly full and the food is mediocre at best. The truth is that Chinese people love cheap food. I went there once and regretted it the next day. Having seen the deliveries arrive at Changshu Lu, be thrown on the ground and then pushed along the ground in crates where only earlier some sewage workers were dredging the drains, with all the concomitant muck on the street, made me swear never to darken its door again. That said, the company perhaps warrants some respect - they have a successful model which Chinese appear to love.

Andy Best

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:57:31 +0800

I have a Bifengtang story too. One night I went to the one opposite the Portman and it was well busy. First up our food came late and stone cold. When we (me and one friend over from Japan) tried to very politely send it back the waitress shouted at us and basically ordered us to eat it. Next, a homeless guy wandered in to the restuarnt and sat at our table, then proceeded to pick dead skin off his hands and flick it around the table top. We called over one of the floor managers and , again very politely, asked if the guy could not perhaps have a seat in the waiting area if he needed a sit down. The manager said "He's a customer waiting for his friends to turn up, I can't ask him to move". So, we got up, went to the manager and explained what had happened. I just explained that we were leaving and we would not be paying as we hadn't actually got anything we could eat. Here's the punch line: he agreed and apologized, waited for us to disappear out of the view of the customers, then sent three waiters after me to beat us up and get the money back! Lucky for us when I told them to f*ck off, none of them would make the first move and they went away quietly. It was right on the corner where City Diner is now.

Jake Newby

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:15:53 +0800

Ricard's penalty miss was shocking, as was much of his performance - he didn't really seem to care at all. Shenhua missed plenty of chances, but at least the other players made an effort. Then again, if they'd won we might not have got that glorious Shanghai Daily story

James Creegan

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:27:56 +0800

Man I wish I'd been at that game, it sounds amazing / awful / fantastic. The follow up story with the Bifengtang (professional football players eat at BiFengTang?) is almost as good. "Xu was kicked and beaten to the ground, and two tables were thrown on top of him, said one of his friends, who declined to be named. Xu added that he could smell alcohol on the players. " Yes- it was as the second table landed on my head that Xu began to suspect the players had been drinking...

Andy Best

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:43:35 +0800

Losing out on goal difference has to be frustrating. However, you can take it out later in a Bifengtang by beating the shit out of some with bottles for saying hi to your girl! Soccer players held for bloody restaurant brawl