38-year-old self-proclaimed virgin creates website to stop youngsters from having sex
Hu Xijin on the Chinese government's (lack of) communication skills
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Watch: Amazing Hong Kong in 1961!
Last Friday's Kim Jong-un assassination rumours
8:30PM: Zombie Walk (MORE DETAILS HERE) Meet us at Tianping Lu and Hengshan Lu. Don't be late!
9PM: Doors @ Not Me
12AM: Costume Contest - We'll declare the winner of the Shanghaiist costume contest at this time. First place gets a night at the Shangri-La (courtesy of Ctrip!) and second place gets 300RMB in Sherpas vouchers. (MORE DETAILS HERE)
Yao's Yeeha down for the count
Yeeha used to be a great place to go (at least for drinks, if not food). They had cheap beers, they had friendly service, and they had a frickin' awesome mechanical bull. Then something changed hands and the beers got more expensive, the service more apathetic, and the mechanical bull disappeared. And now so has the rest of the restaurant, to the surprise, it seems, of many of its employees. China Daily has the scoop about how much the restaurant (which incidentally doesn't even belong in any way to Yao, except that his friend started it) owes the many many people it hasn't paid in months. We're just disappointed that whoever owned the place didn't go back to making Yeeha worthy of the Yao name.
Masala Art out on Dagu Lu smoked out of commission
One recent Saturday evening, we and a few friends enjoyed a happy hour at Just Grapes on Dagu Lu, admiring the hodgepodge of expat DVD hunters and pajama-clad locals passing by each us and each other on an unbelievably gorgeous day. Little did we know that Masala Art, the fantastic purveyor of some of Shanghai's best northern Indian cuisine, would soon be put out of commission by a smoky kitchen fire. Last night we rode past and noticed the storefront covered in canvas and plastic. Dear Masala Art, proud Dagu Lu stalwart, we wish you the best and hope you come back soon. If not, there's always your little cousin on Yandang Lu.
In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of well... whatever catches their fancy that week. And this week there happens to be two! We already gave you some recommendations for Shanghai-themed costumes and now we're taking a break from all the Halloweeny stuff to talk about FOOD!
Blue Frog closing up Tongren Lu location
Speaking of Tongren Lu, one of the few classier establishments on that strip is now shutting its doors. Blue Frog, which has occupied its spot there for the last five or six years, has decided not to renew its lease. They didn't give us a specific reason why they're closing up shop, but they will be throwing a goodbye party on Friday. Guess we'll stop by to dry our tears on some of those delicious burgers and reminisce about how they hosted one of our first happy hours ever.
In typical Shanghai form, there are more Halloween parties this Saturday then you can count (including, of course, our bound-to-be fantabulous Rampage bash). But here's another option we'd love to endorse …Shanghai LGBT’s 4th Annual Halloween Pub Crawl.
Despite our eager anticipation of its summer arrival, we hadn't had a chance to review Southern Belle until now. Recently, we went with a 12-person birthday swarm to try out a bit of Southern hospitality in the French Concession - particularly the Southern hospitality that guarantees a ¥100 all-you-can-eat grilled chicken wings and jumbo beef-pork hotdogs until 11pm (tack another ¥100 for open bar).
Does the fact that China doesn't have scrabble get your goat? Does the fact that Craig Beevers won the UK's national Scrabble championship AGAIN and you know you could take him down bother you? Have you ever wanted to battle with the Shanghaiist editors in a match of lexicons?
While stumbling through the vast array of Shanghai expat writing institutions, we realized that there was a real big explosion of news for foodies this week. Maybe with Fall kicking into high gear, the cooler weather's whetted restaurant appetites and now everyone's throwing down with new openings, new menus and new... well, everything else.
Thinking about the Brooklyn Beer we had at Vargas' Bistro Burger last week has got us thinking about the alcohol market in China. With fancy bars and designer restaurants offering all sorts of international beers, it's getting easier and easier to find your favorite in the ever-increasing wine list. But who doesn't remember the days when Budweiser was considered exotic, and the Qingdao Beer Festival a real representation of international beer? So we took a look into the expansion of the alcohol market in china and found some interesting things.
We've told you about chef cum entrepreneur extraordinaire Eduardo Vargas and the many, many pots he has his hands in around Shanghai's culinary scene. The latest, and potentially greatest, is the unassumingly chic Bistro Burger, down on the Fumin-Donghu expat strip. Trust us, it's worth it.
Krispy Kreme store spotted in Shanghai
It's been ages since we heard any news of Krispy Kreme, the American donut slinger which was supposed to come to our shores sometime "soon" over eight months ago. But it seems that Cityweekend has now found an actual store - and it says it will finally open in "early December 2009." When it does do its non-specific opening day, the first 200 people lined up at the door will receive a "special surprise." So uh... Krispy Kreme stake out anybody?
Best and worst bars/clubs for air quality in Shanghai
CNNGo went around Shanghai's bars and clubs recently in a confusing article about air quality. Confusing namely because they said they're testing for the best and worst, but only six bars/clubs make the story and, really, the only one that got lambasted was The Shelter, which had a ppm ([thousand] parts per million of criteria pollutants) of 350. Regular air quality in Shanghai is 230 and the U.S. FDA says 150 is in the high end of the safe zone. Because we needed an air quality meter to tell us that it hurts to breathe in The Shelter. Anyway, apparently one of the best places to go for a breath of fresh air is Sin. But while your lungs will feel clean, can all the ventilation there stop your soul from feeling dirty?
The Factory closing up shop until November?
Well shoot. The Factory, the art/food destination that only just opened in late April and played host to a multitude of interesting art/food events is now "termporarily suspending its activities." According to its recent blog post, they'll be closed until November while they undertake "a strategic review to refocus and further develop its creative core." We'd heard rumors of them having trouble paying chefs, causing some of the founding members to leave - does that have anything to do with this?
Did you know today is the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction? The UN designated it back in 1989 as a day to "promote a global culture of natural disaster reduction, including disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness." In this vein, Element Fresh has partnered with environmental organization Roots & Shoots so that for every smoothie sold today, Element Fresh will to donate one tree to The Million Tree Project. Every one of these trees planted helps offset China's greenhouse emissions and combats the desertification of grasslands in northern China.
Kyochon Chicken is a Korean fried chicken joint that apparently has gained some following in the U.S., if our brother's yelps of glee when he discovered the outlet in Pudong's Thumb Plaza this summer were any indication. While our subsequent visits to the joint still didn't help us understand exactly what he was getting so ecstatic over, we have to admit - it does serve some damn fine fried chicken.
Oh thank goodness! We nearly had a heart attack this morning when we read this chilling article (maybe just chilling to all of us who enjoy comparably cheap imported French cheeses) in the Economist noting that two big shareholders were reportedly pushing Carrefour to sell off its China and Brazil businesses. At least according to the company, it's not true.
Three Bund restaurants place in Miele's Top 5 for China
Well, would you look at that - The Miele Guide, which is like Zagats but with an all over Asia focus, has listed five of the best restaurants in China and three of them are in Shanghai! Who made the cut? Jean-Georges came in at fourth place, beat out just barely by fellow Bund institution M on the Bund at third. Though Beijing's Da Dong Roast Duck took second, it was ultimately David Laris' Laris that grabbed the top spot. Laris is also located on the Bund. While those three are fine restaurants indeed, did the Miele people never go anywhere outside of the Huangpu district?
The Shanghai Center location of Gourmet Cafe opened up two months ago... and we were there to try it out then. Like the Element Fresh across the way, Gourmet Cafe features an extremely spacious outdoor dining area. You can choose between one of the wooden lunch bench tables or from the cushioned wicker lounge chairs.
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