Friday, March 20, 2009

Chinese Man Builds A Car Using Wood

It is amazing what a little bit of determination and inventiveness can do. Check out this home-made car made of wood planks by an ingenious Chinese man. He has basically made sure all the required items are replicated.


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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Unbelievable Accident At A Toll Booth

Another hazard of driving in China. Bet no one has ever seen an accident like this. I still haven't figured out where those two huge tires came from. Knowing that this is China, my guess is that it probably fell off the wheels of a truck nearby. Chinese truck drivers are notorious for overloading their cargo way above limit, at least double to triple the maximum load limit of their vehicles. Coupled with infrequent service intervals, since they clearly subscribe to the old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", it is a proven recipe for spectacular disasters like the video below.

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Japanese Ramen @ Sentoka in Hong Kong 香港山头火

In Hong Kong, good Japanese food is readily available with restaurants specializing in specific food items. Sentoka Japanese Ramen Restaurant specially imports their ramen and miso from Japan.

Proof, as I see it, is in the eating. Stepping in, I ordered the miso ramen. The way I see this, I kill two birds with one stone. I get to try how good their miso and ramen are. The noodles did not disappoint. The noodles had the right amount of zing and taste of wheat. The miso was fragrant and not too salty. This made for a excellent meal. One of the better bowls of ramen I have had.

Miso Ramen Sentoka Japanese Ramen Restaurant Tai Koo Shing Hong Kong

The address:
Sentoka, Basement 1 Jusco, Kornhill Plaza, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong
Directions to get there on my Food Map

Sentoka Japanese Ramen Restaurant Tai Koo Shing Hong Kong Read more...

Monday, March 16, 2009

Crazy Spoof Ad On The Toyota Prius

A great spoof Nissan commercial pitting the Toyota Prius against the Hyundai Elantra. The commercial is written by James Adomian two leads are played by James Adomian and Andy Richter. Both are from the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre comedy group which produces extremely creative work and it worth a gander over if you have nothing to do. This was so good I could not resist posting it up.

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Audi R8 In The Snow As Seen On Garage419

An excellent video from Garage419, a site I admire for putting fantastic video clips all brilliantly edited to film quality. One of my favourite sites.

In this episode, the Audi R8 struts its stuff in the snow, showing off the Quattro pedigree, and easily the classiest car in the entire video.

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Iced desserts @ Tianmu Blue Bird Cafe 天母蓝鸟咖啡

The weather is starting to warm up and despite the few days of rain and cold this last week, on the whole, it is time to start shedding the winter jackets and trading for lighter jackets. And instead of looking for nice hot drinks to warm up with, I have started to look for ice cold desserts in anticipation of the hot summer months coming up.

The Taiwanese have a range of great iced desserts using shaved ice topped with all sorts of sweet options and this is one of my main counters to a hot summer. Tianmu Blue Bird Cafe is a Taiwanese owned and operated chain that has several cafe's spread over Shenzhen (深圳) and Dongguan (东莞). You can tell you are near the place a mile off with the smell of freshly baked cakes and cookies leading you with siren-like calls and your nose instantly takes over control of the rest of your body and leads you on. Arriving at the front of the cafe, the first thing you will notice is the bakery offering a variety of tempting confections. But this is not what I am here for.

The first item ordered was a mixed fruit shaved ice pudding. A small mountain of shaved ice is first placed on a plate and then topped with an assortment of fruits. And then the entire concoction is liberally doused in a sweet sauce, making a beautifully coloured and appetizing visual spectacle.

Mixed Fruit Shaved Ice Pudding Tianmu Blue Bird Cafe 水果冰沙 天母蓝鸟咖啡

Unfortunately, that was all pure appearances. Only good to look at. For what the dessert cost, one would expect Tianmu Blue Bird Cafe to be quite generous with essentially an extremely high profit item. How much can some sweet fruity sauce, a few pieces of sliced fruit, and some ice cost? Yet, stingy they were. The fruits barely covered the surface of the shaved ice and the sweet sauce was not even enough to penetrate more than a few millimetres of the surface of the ice, leaving the ice on the inside completely plain.

The black forest shaved ice pudding was even worse. The picture below says everything. All you get for this desert is an oreo and some chocolate flavouring which I may add, tastes worse than the chocolate ice cream stick you can purchase at the neighbourhood convenience store for 1 RMB!

Black Forest Shaved Ice Pudding Tianmu Blue Bird Cafe 黑森林冰沙 天母蓝鸟咖啡

Dessert clearly is not their strong suit. Service is another of their problems. The staff are excellent but the person running the cafe is not. Someone I know personally recounted to me later that their family was there several weeks earlier and trying to figure out what to order since everything they wanted was not available or out of stock and the rest that was offered was not what they wanted have. This Taiwanese manager came along and ordered his staff to chase them away. Unfortunately, as he was yelling at his staff in Taiwanese, the person who recounted it to me was unable to explain precisely what was communicated. Only that several staff immediately surrounded the family and escorted them away, saying "if you do not order anything, do not stay here". Great customer service. My impression of Taiwanese run dining establishments has always been of the highest regard as the Taiwanese run their shops with the highest standards of professionalism and their customer service has been first class in my experience. I guess the Taiwanese have their black sheep too.

Will I ever go back to find out if they do anything else better, since they clearly cannot do dessert? I think not.
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Spyker C8 spotted in Beijing

Seen when aimlessly surfing youku.com, a video sharing site that is China's equivalent of Youtube.

The guys who took this first video spotted the car in Beijing headed towards the airport expressway and being curious as to what car it was, gave chase and tried to keep up with the Spyker. Luckily for them, the Beijing traffic was in their favour and the Spyker could not put its power to effect although there are short stretches of clear road where the power and acceleration was obvious. Cool number plate too. And the black coloured licence plate in China means the car is registered to a foreigner or a foreign owned (or part foreign owned) company.



In a separate video, this young girl (you could see the reflection off the car) chanced upon the same car parked and took a closer video of the car with her mobile phone. The quality of the video is pretty decent.



The car in question is a Spyker C8 and the car has a V8 4.2l engine sourced from Audi in normally aspirated form for the base model and a twin turbo. I tried to figure out which model it is but unfortunately the Spyker website only has the 2009 models and the trim is slightly different from the car in question. Anyone know what specific model this car is?
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Saturday, March 14, 2009

Kejia (Hakka) Cuisine @ Zhongxin Kejiawang 中信客家王

Kejia (Hakka) food is very easy to find in Shenzhen and wherever you find one of these restaurants, you will find reasonably priced food that is value for money and a big crowd, as Hakka food is very popular. Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka restaurant is not easy to find as the front of the restaurant is hidden from view of the main road by trees. However, at any given meal time, there is a decent crowd at the restaurant. Naturally, following the herd instinct, I followed the crowd in.

The menu is pretty much standard Hakka fare and in any Hakka restaurant, my acid test items are the chicken stew (清炖鸡), pork soup (猪肉汤), braised bean curd (让豆腐) and the vegetables cooked in lard (猪油炒菜). I ordered everything except the chicken.

The soup was tasty and on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a seven. Not the best I have had but good enough to be above average. This is not to say that the soup was poor. It is quite good.

Pork Soup Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka Restaurant 猪肉汤 中信客家王


Pork Soup Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka Restaurant 猪肉汤 中信客家王

Braised bean curd (让豆腐) is a classic Hakka dish. The bean curd is hand made and freshly made daily. As a result, the taste is unforgettable. The smoothness and the flavour of beans rather than flour in the supermarket variety combined with the bits of minced meat topping and the preserved beans used to flavour the dish. Excellent. And polished cleanly within minutes.

Braised Bean Curd Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka Restaurant 让豆腐 中信客家王

The pig trotters (糖醋猪手) cooked in sugar and vinegar tasted excellent. However, I found the pig trotters to be a bit chewy. It seems that the chef could have cooked the trotters a longer so that the skin and the meat would fall off the moment you bite into it.

Pig Trotters cooked in Sugar and Vinegar Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka Restaurant 糖醋猪手 中信客家王

The choy sum vegetables cooked in lard was excellent. Cholesterol aside, I maintain that lard just makes the vegetables taste so much better. And even the lard is delicious.

Choy Sum Vegetables cooked in Pork Lard Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka Restaurant 猪油炒菜心 中信客家王

The rice is not cooked in a rice cooker like most other restaurants. Instead, it is individually cooked in earthen bowls and steamed in a large cooker. It seems that the earthen bowls impart a unique fragrance to the steamed rice and somehow enhances the flavour of the rice, making it taste even more fragrant than Thai fragrant rice.

Earthen Bowl Steamed Rice Zhongxin Kejiawang Hakka Restaurant 饭 中信客家王

This restaurant serves authentic and delicious Hakka food. It is a bit hard to get to, but the trip will be well worth it.

The address:
Zhongxin Kejiawang Jinhai Road next to the Houhai Wholesale Market, Nanshan, Shenzhen 中信客家王 深圳南山近海路后海批发市场旁
Directions via my Shenzhen Food Map
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My Gadgets: ZTE 3G modem

China Mobile launched their 3G service at the end of last year and I signed up for the 3G service opting only for the modem to replace my old wireless data service using China Unicom's CDMA. The 3G service was reasonably priced at 100 RMB per month for 2 gigabytes of data. On my GSM phone, the same service using EDGE would cost double and is a fraction of the speed. And at the point when I signed on, all I had to do was to pay for the modem (1300 RMB) and the service was free for the year. So it seemed like a good deal. Of course, the TD-SCDMA technology is new and unproven, so teething problems would be expected. And having witnessed the huge initial problems during the launch of 3G in Singapore and Hong Kong, even the supposedly proven providers are not free of fault.

Looking the modem, ZTE appears to have made a winner. The modem is small and compact, and the drivers and dialer software is stored in flash memory on the device and the moment you plug in the device into your computer, it will check to see if you have the drivers and dialer program installed. If you do not, it will automatically start up the installation process. Quite neat and user friendly.

China Mobile 3G USB modem from ZTE

After three months of usage, I am able to sum up my experiences with the ZTE modem and the 3G service as follows:
  • The 3G network coverage is decent but quite unstable. Even when I am in a fixed location and not moving, I see the signal strength bar on the dialer moving up and down like the graphics equalizer LED display on a stereo. That is not all. Because the modem is also able to switch to EDGE/2G service when 3G service is not available, I see the dialer program switching to the 2G network after a while. The strange thing is that the 2G implementation for the ZTE modem seems to be very poor as the browser speed on the 2G network is pathetic compared to using my mobile phone to get online. However, this is a common problem in virtually every market where 3G was launched with 2G switching enabled. So I guess the only solution is to grit my teeth and hope China Mobile fixes it soon.
  • When all is working normally, speed is excellent. No where near broadband speeds but adequate enough for a smooth browsing experience. No complaints here. In fact, I am pretty pleased with this performance and I am also told it will improve dramatically in the coming months when the data service is upgraded to HSDPA. Fingers crossed.
  • The updated drivers are impossible to get. When you click on the upgrade check on the dialer software, it will tell you that there are updated drivers available. Then you click on the button to get the driver and after a minute, it bounces back to tell you the drivers cannot be gotten. Searching on the internet for the drivers does not work either.
  • Dial-up software doesn't work well under Windows Vista but works well on Windows XP. Under Vista, the installation process is triggered when you plug in the modem. Then after the dialer program and USB driver are installed, the dialer then refuses to work. The manual for the ZTE modem clearly states Vista is supported. Unfortunately, there is no help or technical support available anywhere. Frustrating.
  • Coverage is limited as the 3G network and service was only launched in a small number of cities in China. Shenzhen is one of them. This also means that the moment I leave Shenzhen, chances are there will not be a 3G network available.
  • The 3G network and the existing 2G network is not integrated on the administrative front. To sign up for the service, I had to apply for a brand new 3G account and this new account could not be linked to my existing 2G account for information sharing and billing purposes. What a waste of administrative resources!
The experience with the ZTE modem and the 3G data service has been a roller coaster, running from pleasant to downright frustrating. Thankfully, there were more ups than downs but when the service or the modem was down, there was nothing I could do other than to wait till it restores itself magically.
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Friday, March 13, 2009

Driving Impressions: Chrysler Grand Voyager

The Chrysler Grand Voyager was a well built MPV that met most of my requirements with a decent price, good user-centric design features, and an excellent reputation in the USA. the basis of competitive pricing, strong options list and excellent design. So, this MPV merits serious consideration. Now the big question is how does it drive?

Naturally, one must temper one's expectations when driving a big van such as the Chrysler Grand Voyager. Drive like a small car, it certainly will not. Stepping into the driver's cabin, the proportions of the vehicle around you is very obvious. This thing feels like a barge in dimensions. The driver's seating position and all round visibility is excellent. Being on the tall side (I am 1.84m), I am happy to say that the leg room is pretty good and I could find a comfortable position quite quickly. The driver controls are relatively intuitive and need little trouble getting used to.

Chrysler Grand Voyager
Source: Chrysler China

Stepping on the accelerator, the MPV takes off at a smooth leisurely canter after hesitating for a moment. No push or sudden acceleration even when I push the pedal to persuade the MPV to move with greater urgency. A wafter would be the word to best describe the Chrysler Grand Voyager. However, this is not a negative. This is precisely what I am looking for a sedate cruiser that wafts from point to point, providing the maximum comfort for the occupants.

I picked a stretch of road that had humps and tested out the Chrysler van's handling of the speed humps. Oh dear. This van really does behave like a barge and rocks sideways like the best of them. The suspension was overly soft and I think I would be happy to sacrifice a bit of comfort for some sanity. The rocking was literally making sea-sick. On the turns, I could feel the size of the car working against me and I felt like a bus driver. The thing about this is, I have been in cars that are as big as this Chrysler and yet not feel the size as keenly as I did here. My Audi A6 is 5035mm long x 1855mm wide, compared with the Chrysler at 5096mm long and 1997mm wide. I have also driven the Audi Q7 (5086mm × 1983mm × 1737mm) a fair number of times and neither of them felt as big and cumbersome as the Chrysler. All is not lost, but I will have to do some homework on the internet to see if there are suspension kits available as well as strut braces and tie bars to correct this handling deficiency.

Attempting quick braking, I felt the brakes were soft and the response slow. However, the front and rear disc brakes were adequate for the job since I do not expect to be moving very quickly on this MPV in the first place.

Overall, the Chrysler Grand Voyager was comfortable and a pretty decent ride for passengers, as long as you live in a place where the roads are straight and smooth and you take corners very slowly. Passengers would be very comfortable as the car is well insulated and road noise is kept to a minimum at city driving speeds. I did not get an opportunity to test the MPV on an expressway to see how bad the wind noise and tire noise is going to be at speeds above 100 km/h. I would expect the noise to be much more intrusive though. But this, I believe, can be corrected with appropriate soundproofing work.

Chrysler Grand Voyager
Source: Chrysler China

Finally, in the showroom, the Stow 'n Go option on the Chrysler looked and sounded brilliant. In practice, I hated it. On the road, the combination of flaps and hinges under your feet in the passenger row was not at all reassuring. The flex and the squeaks made me feel like the floor would collapse any time. I am not very heavy, a mere 80kg. But I shudder to think if some of my larger friends were to be seated in the middle row. The floorboards will not break, but the squeaking will definitely drive me and anyone else insider the car completely insane before the end of a trip to the supermarket is up.

So, would I buy this car? Or at least seriously consider buying this car? This is the first that I have driven and will serve as a benchmark. I would give it a half-hearted maybe as I would have to add the cost of the modifications to the consideration as well as to find out if the modifications I would require are at all available, since the market for MPV modifications is tiny. And no, as wonderful as the Stow 'n Go option is, I shall give that option a miss as well. So I do not have high hopes of success in this respect.
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Korean Food @ Hannashan Korean BBQ 汉拿山韩式烤肉

Authentic and great tasting Korean food is widely available in China. In fact, a minority of the people living in the Dongbei provinces are Korean by descent, a legacy of longstanding and close relations between China and Korea for numerous centuries. As such, one can easily find great Korean food with authentic taste that will even satisfy a pure Korean quite easily. Although, I must admit, this is much more easily done in north China than in the south where I am.

Jiaxinmao Shopping Mall (嘉信茂) is right below Walmart's China headquarters. Prior to Walmart's move there, the place was new and dead with the only life coming from Sam's Club next door. Sam's Club, for the uninitiated, is like a members only warehouse style department store where shoppers gain slight discounts for purchasing in bulk. In practice, they sell the more or less the same stuff sold in supermarkets outside, except for a decent imported goods section. Price-wise, I do not see much of an advantage. Some items are cheaper and others are more expensive and I believe it all evens out. I do a lot of my shopping there because I love the spaciousness and the wide aisles. I also get most of my DVDs there since they cost slightly over 10 RMB for a recent movie DVD, I do not see why I should buy pirated ones.

Hannashan Korean BBQ (韩式烤肉) restaurant seems to be set up mostly for barbecued meats. I was there for a quick lunch and I did not want to go through that process. So we ordered a pair of stone pot rice dishes. Even then, we were presented with four appetizers which were artfully presented.

Kimchee, which is cabbage preserved in vinegar and Korean chili paste. I thought this was ordinary but it did whet up my appetite.

Kimchee appetizer at Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉那山韩式烤肉 深圳

The boiled brocolli was artfully garnished with a slice of carrot and that provided me a nice photo opportunity.

Brocolli appetizer at Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳

I thought this shredded Chicken was excellent. Just the right blend of sour and spicy tastes.

Shredded Chicken appetizer at Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳

The black beans were interesting. The beans were on the sweet side, simply boiled and coated with sugar and something else which I could not make out.

Black Beans appetizer at Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳

The mushroom stone pot rice arrived and unfortunately, it could not follow up on the excellent start provided by the four appetizers. The sauces were on the sweet side, and unfortunately, the rice was not fragrant enough. I think they were short on some of the traditional sauces used in this dish, as the dish was just sweet and flat.

Mushroom Stone Pot Rice at Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳

The beef stone pot rice was no different. Sweet and devoid of other fragrant tastes associated with stone pot cooked food.

Beef Stone Pot Rice at Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳

In all fairness, I did not try their specialty, the barbecued meats, so this should not be seen as a damning review of the Korean restaurant. For the sake of the excellent appetizers served, I shall make a second trip to sample their barbecue meats at some point in the future.

The address:
Hannashan Korean BBQ Basement One, Jiaxinmao Shopping Centre (next to Sam's Club), Nonglin Road, Futian District, Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳福田农林路嘉信茂广场负一楼山姆会员店旁
Directions there using my Shenzhen Food Map

Hannashan Korean BBQ Shenzhen 汉拿山韩式烤肉 深圳
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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Changan Mini Truck Drifting

This is a crazy "Fast and Furious" style drifting on a Changan mini truck. Note that the truck is old and bone stock too. Well worth the few minutes watch even if you do not understand the language.


More videos following the jump.



Amazing what you can do with loads of effort and next to no equipment. And this young man from Guizhou in China became so famous after his videos went online that the television station invited him to meet the challenge of a professional racing driver in a training track.


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Photo Gallery for Penpenxiang 盆盆湘湘菜馆

Following my original visit to Penpenxiang Hunan Restaurant 盆盆湘, I went back a few more times and I figured that it was worthwhile to put up some of the photographs here.

Asparagus leek and smoked meat in a hot pot 干锅莴笋腊肉
Asparagus leek and smoked meat in a hot pot 干锅莴笋腊肉

Smoked meat stir-fried with leek
Smoked meat stir-fried with leek

Cabbage tossed and stir-fried with vinegar and dried chili 醋溜白菜.
Cabbage tossed and stir-fried with vinegar and dried chili 醋溜白菜

Spicy "General" Duck 香辣将军鸭
Spicy

Soya beans in chili appetizer
Soya beans in chili
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MPV Search: Kia Grand Carnival VQ

When I was at the car showroom looking at the Kia Carnival, I also saw the Kia Grand Carnival VQ there. The differences between the China made Kia Carnival and the imported Kia Grand Carnival VQ are quite marked:
  • The VQ is four wheel drive instead of front wheel drive.
  • The VQ has Disc brakes all round as opposed to drums at the back of the Carnival.
  • Side curtain style airbags for all three rows on the VQ. Only front row air bags for the Carnival.
  • Smaller turning radius - 5.51m on the VQ which is amazing vs 6.3m on the Carnival.
  • Alloy engine block on the VQ which means a lighter nose. Cast iron block on the Carnival.
  • Slightly bigger fuel tank on the VQ - 80l vs 75l which I hope translates to a slightly longer touring range.
In all, the extras that you get appear to be more than worth the additional 70k RMB to the price.

Kia Grand Carnival VQ
Source: Kia Motors

A look at the car reveals a standard sized MPV for its class with pretty standard specifications.

Engine: 2.7l V6
Power: 139Kw @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 249 Nm @ 4000 rpm
Top Speed: N/A
Gas consumption: 9.6L/100km
Gas tank: 80l
Dimensions: 4810mm long x 1985mm wide x 1760mm high

When stacked against my requirements, the Kia Grand Carnival VQ passes with flying colours:
  • The doors on both passenger sides and the rear hatch are electronic and may be opened using the remote key and an assortment of buttons.
  • Five star crash test ratings along with air bags all round including side curtain air bags for the second and third row. More importantly, the doors are disabled when the car is in motion. This is very critical when you have young children with itchy fingers.
  • The interior is very comfortable and flexible enough to be configured in a variety of ways. This would make the MPV a very versatile people carrier and yet be able to haul large items in a pinch. The DVD comes standard as well and there is enough little compartments spread out so that small items like drinks and other knick knacks may be stowed. I do like the hooks at the back of the third row seats where you could hang grocery bags to prevent them from moving around as well.
  • Modifications wise, with the current spec sheet, I reckon I would only look to swap out the rims and tyres (they're Hankook) for some lighter alloys and grippier rubber for improved ride comfort and probably a switch to Evans NPG+ coolant which I had excellent experiences with on three other cars.
In all, this MPV popped out of nowhere and passed with flying colours on my requirements list. It was not even on my initial shortlist and on paper, I think I will put this on the top of my list already. All it needs is a test drive to cement its position and I believe I will sign on the dotted line for the Kia Grand Carnival VQ MPV.
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Audi S4 vs Skier on Downhill Slalom

Awesome Audi video of a 2009 Audi S4 going head to head with a skier on a downhill slalom course. A great testament to Quattro four wheel drive. And as always, great photography. Enjoy!



Even better than the Audi S4 commercial Read more...

Beef Noodles @ Master Kong 康师傅私房牛肉面

Master Kong (康师傅) is one of the top selling instant noodle brands in China. So when I passed by this restaurant along Fuhua Road (福华路) near the Huaqiangbei (华强北) shopping area, my interest was piqued. And of course, I stepped inside.



Allow me explain why I had my curiosity aroused. Beef noodles is Master Kong's best selling flavour of instant noodles. This brand extension into a restaurant specializing in beef noodles would not only boost Master Kong's credibility as a beef noodles expert brand, the restaurant also becomes a trophy piece and brand spokesman. Of course, the restaurant is also an income generator so what better way of having your own brand advertisements that actually makes money for you.

This is all very well in theory. In practice, there are many potential pitfalls in this strategy.
Firstly, Master Kong as a company is a manufacturer and not a restaurant operator and they need to invest in this core competence and learn to trust the restaurant's professional management and not interfere. It would certainly be something that is quite difficult for a company as successful as Master Kong. Secondly, as both businesses share the same brand name, any incident affecting either business would automatically affect the other. And it is so easy to mess up with a restaurant. Someone gets food poisoning, whether it is the fault of the restaurant's or not, creates a major media stink and even the instant noodles business would be affected. It is so easy to create that media stink too, with the internet empowering every individual with his or her own media platform and with traditional media reporters and editors scouring the internet daily to get in on the latest scoop, bad publicity becomes harder and harder to extinguish. Then there is the product experience and whether both products, the restaurant and the instant noodles, provide a uniform level of experience that the consumer expects. So then, the Master Kong restaurant walks a really thin tightrope. Do the food too well and the consumer wonders why the instant noodles are so terrible in comparison. Do the food just like the instant noodles and customers do not see the point paying to be served when all they need is to add boiling water.

A scan of the menu revealed a range of items meant to boost Master Kong's brand reputation within the domain of beef noodles. There is even a high end halo product in the menu - some special rib noodles for 108 RMB for a bowl! Apparently, the restaurant picks a specific rib in the cow and there are only four of this particular rib in each cow. The main reason why this particular four ribs are picked are because of the texture and tenderness of the meat. Seems a bit extreme and it also reminds me of another taiwanese restaurant in Shenzhen that makes similar claims for their steak, Taiwan Rubber-Wangpin Beef Steak Restaurant (台朔王品牛排). The rest of the noodles clustered around the 20-30 RMB price range which is relatively standard for fast food. In the posters and promotional materials found around the restaurants, they proclaim their choice of fresh choice beef which makes the noodles much more satisfying. In all, I thought Master Kong could not have done a better marketing job to boost the image of their brand. However, all this would be a complete waste if the food could not live up to the high claims.

Unfortunately, the restaurant did not allow photography and I respected their request. So, no photographs of the food, which was a pity, as the food looked pretty good. I ordered their chef's special beef tendon, tripe and meat noodles (招牌牛三宝面). The noodles arrived beautifully presented in a large bowl. Portions are generous and the food looks appetizing. So I tucked in and then I found out where they went wrong. Firstly, the food while looking good, tasted just like instant noodles. The noodles had no texture to it and were soggy. The soup tasted like it came from the instant noodles spice packet too. The only good parts was the bits of fresh beef on it. At this point, the entire experience unraveled completely. What the restaurant served is a bowl of instant noodles with beef topping.

At this point I am not sure if this was the right move on the marketing front. It certainly was not from a restaurant perspective. Who would go to a restaurant that served instant noodles? From a brand perspective, I am not sure how it would work for the Master Kong either. In attempting to boost the image of the instant noodles, Master Kong has sacrificed the restaurant. In that process, it could also do irreparable harm over time to the instant noodles business as well.

The address:
Master Kong's Chef's Table, Fuhua Road (junction with Fuxing Road), Futian District, Shenzhen 康师傅私房牛肉面
Directions to get there using my Shenzhen Food Map
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Street Food Fare @ Baishijie 白石街

Street stalls are a great way to sample the various tastes of China, or for that matter, any other country in the world. A bite on a local snack and you can tell the taste preferences of the people and what you can expect their other food dishes to be like. Baishijie (白石街) is a regular haunt for me and the place is a microcosm of China with peoples from all parts of China living in the area. As a result, the food available here is also just as varied and both authentic in taste and reasonable in price.

Chaozhou (or Teochew) is famous for their green bean cakes which are fluffy pastry not dissimilar to those found in your croissants and pies filled with green bean paste. Then the cake is then pan fried till done. However, little or no oil is used and as a result you have a mix of slightly salted pastry with a mildly sweet green bean filling. A very excellent mix of flavours.

Green bean cake at Baishijie Street Food Stalls Nanshan Shenzhen 录豆饼 白石街 街边小吃 深圳

The green bean cake is not filling enough to be a full meal and tastes mild and pleasant enough for a single person to gobble several at a single sitting.

Green bean cake at Baishijie Street Food Stalls Nanshan Shenzhen 录豆饼 白石街 街边小吃 深圳

This makes for excellent business as evidenced from the empty layers on the rack. And in the few minutes I was there, several customers had already come and gone, each carrying a bag full of the freshly made cakes.

Green bean cake at Baishijie Street Food Stalls Nanshan Shenzhen 录豆饼 白石街 街边小吃 深圳

The next stop was at a store selling a pan fried Chinese pizza. This is made in several different provinces in China and each region has their unique ingredients and fillings. However, the general method of making the cake is similar. The pizza was on the salty and spicy side and was an excellent alternative as a snack when taken with an ice cold Coke or a cup of hot tea.

pan fried Chinese pizza at Baishijie Street Food Stalls Nanshan Shenzhen 煎饼果子 白石街 街边小吃 深圳

The pizza is made on the spot. Try not to think too much about hygiene.

pan fried Chinese pizza at Baishijie Street Food Stalls Nanshan Shenzhen 煎饼果子 白石街 街边小吃 深圳

The address:
Baishijie at an alley next to the Jiangnan Department Store, Nanshan, Shenzhen 深圳南山白石街江南百货旁
Getting there using my Shenzhen Food Map

Baishijie Street Food Stalls Nanshan Shenzhen 白石街 街边小吃 深圳

Other street fare:
Hubei Spicy Duck Necks
Read more...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Roast Goose @ Xinwenhua Hong Kong style cafe 新文华港式茶餐厅

While getting into the basement carpark of Shenzhen's Coastal City Shopping Mall, I passed by a new Hong Kong style cafe next to the entrance of the car park, right opposite another Hong Kong restaurant Cafe de Coral. So, as it was time for a meal, I decided to give this new restaurant a try. The posters on the outside proudly proclaim the Hong Kong heritage. So it is with a certain amount of expectation that I stepped inside.

The interior of the restaurant is pretty nice with purple cushions on the chairs and waiters and waitresses all dressed in black. Then it started to go all wrong. First, I took out my laptop and a waiter said they had wifi available, only that the signal was a little weak. I checked out the signal and found that it was actually Cafe de Coral's wifi base station. Oh.

Roast goose is one of my favourite foods and to me, that is the classic item you order at a Hong Kong style cafe. And so I ordered a roast goose and barbecued pork mix with rice and it arrived shortly.

Roast Goose Barbecue Pork Rice Xinwenhua Shenzhen 烧鹅叉烧饭 新文华 深圳

First impression was good grief, the portions are miserly! It seems that their chef is related to scrooge. However, it looks good and maybe it is the triumph of quality over quantity. Unfortunately, it was not. Neither the roast goose or the barbecued pork was good. The pork was overly sweet, tough and cold. The goose was even tougher. But they were both beaten handily by the vegetables. Effectively, this was a poor meal and I do not expect to see this store last very long unless something changes. Or unless they do other dishes better. I do not think I will be going to find out either.

The address:
Xinwenhua, Office Tower, Coastal City Shopping Mall, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 新文华 深圳南山海岸城办公楼
Directions there using my Shenzhen Food Map

Roast Goose Barbecue Pork Rice Xinwenhua Shenzhen 烧鹅叉烧饭 新文华 深圳

Other roast goose restaurants reviewed:
Fat Girl's 肥妹烧腊店
MC Charcoal Goose Restaurant 味宗烧鹅
Tai Hing Roase Goose 太兴烧鹅
Read more...

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sichuan Chengdu Food @ Taoweifang 淘味坊成都风味

Chengdu (成都), the provincial capital of Sichuan (四川) province, is famous for her street food stalls offering a variety of spicy and savoury snacks and quick meals. Chengdu has exported their street fare all to the rest of China. Of course, Sichuan food has been very popular in major cities in China but it has mostly been restricted to hot pot restaurants and spicy crab restaurants.

Chili oil bamboo shoots (红油小笋) is a popular appetizer that is a spicy and crispy. Sichuan is also home to pandas and I wonder how many pandas were deprived of their meals to serve up this dish. In any case, I am glad this made it from the pandas' grasp as it was excellent.

Chili Oil Bamboo Shoots Taoweifang Sichuan Chengdu Restaurant Shenzhen 红油小笋 淘味坊 深圳

Crunchy black fungus (爽口木耳) was the other starter and like the bamboo shoots before it, the fungus was excellent as well. The fungus is scalded and then doused with vinegar and chili.

Crunchy Black Fungus, Taoweifang Sichuan Chengdu Restaurant Shenzhen 爽口木耳 淘味坊 深圳

Chili beef noodles (素椒牛肉面) are the Taoweifang's house special. This is basically a dry noodles with sauce and a generous topping of dried chili, minced pork and peanuts. While the ingredients are not exactly generous, the taste is excellent. It is like a great tasting instant noodles, in a nice kind of way. I love this and will definitely go back for more. But I would advise going for some other dishes to go with your noodles.

Chili Beef Noodles, Taoweifang Sichuan Chengdu Restaurant Shenzhen 素椒牛肉面 淘味坊 深圳

Pork noodles in chili oil (大肉面) is a more soupy variant with a more generous topping of pork belly meat and the noodles are soaked in a soup that is probably 50% chili oil. I found this a bit too oily and ordinary. The taste is not as multi-layered and interesting as the chili beef noodles too.

Pork Noodles in Chili Oil, Taoweifang Sichuan Chengdu Restaurant Shenzhen 大肉面 淘味坊 深圳

Flour balls in glutinous rice wine (粉子飂糟) is a traditional dessert in Sichuan and Hubei. Many families actually make their own glutinous rice wine as well. The wine made the soup mild and slightly sweet and this made the flour balls a bit easier and smoother to eat. Compared with the dish served in other restaurants that I have tried, this is one of the better ones. It is the perfect end to a hot, spicy and oily meal.

Flour Balls in Glutinous Rice Wine, Taoweifang Sichuan Chengdu Restaurant Shenzhen 粉子飂糟 淘味坊 深圳

The address:
Taoweifang Sichuan Restaurant Jiaxinmao Shopping Mall (next to Sam's Club), Nonglin Road, Futian District, Shenzhen 淘味坊 深圳福田农林路嘉信茂购物中心负一楼山姆会员店旁
Directions using my Shenzhen Food Map

Taoweifang Sichuan Chengdu Restaurant Shenzhen 淘味坊 深圳

Related posts:
Hexu Sichuan Noodle Bar 和旭面吧
Read more...

Saturday, March 7, 2009

MPV Search: Chrysler Grand Voyager

When I started my search for a family MPV, I had originally shortlisted the Dodge Caravan. When I dropped by the Dodge showroom, they were clearing stock as apparently due to a consolidation of dealerships, Dodge was now also represented by Chrysler dealers. As a result, the former exclusive distributor for Dodge in Shenzhen had given up their representation of the Dodge brand and was dumping their remaining inventories at cost. This was great news, but there was a snag. There was no vehicle available for test drive. Thankfully, the Dodge Caravan is also badge engineered as a Chrysler Grand Voyager and a Mercury Villager.As such, I dropped by the Chrysler showroom and checked out the Chrysler Grand Voyager.

Chrysler Grand Voyager 克莱斯勒 大街龙
Image taken from Chrysler China

The Chrysler clearly meets my requirements:
  1. Sliding doors on both sides are electronic and maybe remotely opened using the electronic key.
  2. Five star rating on NHTSA for safety, although it appears to overly protect the driver and not the passengers. I mean, here is a car that has airbags for the driver's knees! But, Chrysler neglected the passengers at the back, only offering airbags for the driver and front row passenger. So that, to me, is a big minus. However, I must add that most of the MPVs that I am looking at also do not offer the side passenger air bags.
  3. The interior is very comfortable and roomy, especially the middle row with two captain style armchairs that offer a decent amount of support and comfort. The party piece for the Chrysler is the Stow 'n Go option which offers tons of storage options all over the passenger section that allows you to put things out of sight and arrange the seats in all sorts of configurations to suit your needs. I was particularly impressed with the ability to store the middle and back rows so that the entire floor is flat for hauling large items. A big plus. DVD with an LCD screen for the middle row is also offered as standard in the higher priced option.
  4. The car is quite large and I am certain I could find some parts to modify it. However, if the ride is good enough, I may not necessarily need to modify the car. I will need to road test the car to find out.
Specifications:
Engine: 3.3l V6
Power: 128Kw (174hp) @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 278 Nm @ 4000 rpm
Top Speed: 179 Km/h
Gas consumption: not reported
Gas tank: 76l
Dimensions: 5096mm long x 1997mm wide x 1803mm high

And on to the test drive.
Read more...

Hubei Spicy Duck Necks @ Jueweiyabo 绝味鸭脖

Spicy duck neck (麻辣鸭脖) is one of the big local dishes in Wuhan (武汉), the provincial capital of Hubei (湖北). In fact, the people of Wuhan are so proud that they have a saying "去武汉,啃鸭脖" which loosely translates to "if you are in Wuhan, you have to try their spicy duck neck." These days, you do not have to go to Wuhan for the duck necks, the business savvy Wuhan people have brought this snack all over China and shops selling Wuhan spicy duck neck have sprouted up in virtually every street corner. This snack has become very popular with the Chinese and having tasted it once, I can understand why. It is ADDICTIVE! The first bite is one of pure heaven. The spices instantly burn your tongue and lips and yet, the flesh is juicy enough to make you want to take another bite, and another, and another till you are gnawing the bony neck bones trying to get at the last bits of meat stuck in the nooks and crannies.

Hubei Spicy Duck Necks Jueweiyabo Shenzhen 麻辣鸭脖子 湖北 绝味鸭脖 深圳


In addition to duck neck, there are duck liver, intestines, gizzard, wings, feet and each have their unique taste even though they are all stewed in the same spicy sauce stew. I personally love to mix the neck with the liver and gizzard as the taste differences between the three are most marked. However, nothing is better than gnawing on the duck neck.

Hubei Spicy Duck Necks Jueweiyabo Shenzhen 麻辣鸭脖子 湖北 绝味鸭脖 深圳

I love to have the spicy duck neck with beer. There is nothing more pleasurable than having your tongue and lips burned by the duck neck and then washing and salving your mouth with ice cold beer. My Chinese friends also like to have it with a meal but I think its best appreciated on its own.

The address:
Jueweiyabo, Coastal City East Tower Block facing Kempinski Hotel, Nanshan, Shenzhen 味宗烧鹅 深圳南山海岸城东座凯宾斯基酒店对面
Directions using my Shenzhen Food Map

Hubei Spicy Duck Necks at Jueweiyabo Snack Shop in Shenzhen 绝味鸭脖 深圳
Read more...

Friday, March 6, 2009

Taiwan Lunch Box @ Chishangfanbao, Dongguan 东莞池上饭包

I was in Zhangmutou town (樟木头) in Dongguan (东莞) and chanced upon this Taiwanese diner's that had a decent crowd in there and decided to walk in for a quick meal. The area is in recent years, home to a few Taiwanese owned factories and obviously this diner's was catering to the Taiwanese customer base as Taiwanese factories tend to hire their own nationals for middle to upper management positions. So I reckoned that for this restaurant to survive, they had to serve up authentic Taiwanese food.

This restaurant serves the lunch box style fast food (便当). The food was served promptly with a glass of Taiwanese style flower flavoured tea. The meal arrived in a Japanese style bento box with loads of different bits to go with the rice.

Deep Fried Breaded Chicken Drumstick with Taiwanese Lunch Box Rice, Chishangfanbao Taiwanese Restaurant, Dongguan 香酥鸡腿饭 台湾便当 东莞池上饭包 台湾餐馆

The rest of the bits of vegetables were average but the deep fried chicken drumstick was excellent. Firstly, it was freshly fried and the spices used made it taste just like they make it in Taiwan. No wonder this place is well patronized by the Taiwanese. This is as good as it gets to their home town cooking.

The address:
Chishangfanbao, Xianwei Road, Zhangmutou Town, Dongguan 池上饭包,东莞樟木头先围路
Directions there using my Shenzhen Food Map

Chishangfanbao Taiwanese Restaurant, Dongguan 东莞池上饭包 台湾餐馆

Read more...

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Another Wifi Hotspot @ Subway

A new Subway restaurant opened in the residential area of the Shenzhen High Technology Park area and the good news is that this Subway also offers wifi internet access. Only snag is you have to ask the staff for the password as access is password protected.

Subway sandwiches used to be my staple for a quick lunch whenever I used to be swamped with work and wanted a quick meal at my desk. I am glad to see them around. I had a standard Italian B.M.T. which was tasted pretty much like what it was supposed to. So no surprises, pleasant or unpleasant, which is nice when you visit a chain restaurant.

I had a roast beef sandwich.
Subway Roast Beef Sandwich

The address:
Subway Binfushiji Plaza, Shenzhen High Technology Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen 赛百味 深圳南山科技园滨福世纪广场

Directions using my Shenzhen Food Map

Subway Sandwiches Shenzhen
Read more...

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Xibei Muslim Food @ Laoxibei Muslim Restaurant 老西北穆斯林饭庄

China has a fairly large number of Muslims, some 20+ million, and mostly concentrated around the North western provinces of Gansu, Xinjiang and Ningxia. As such it is not too difficult to find decent Muslim food. However most Muslim restaurants tend to be the Lanzhou noodles variety and lack a lot of the traditional dishes. Laoxibei Muslim Restaurant (老西北穆斯林饭庄) is one that has a decent menu of traditional northwestern Muslim dishes and is located in the residential area within the Shenzhen High Technology Park.

The first dish is the home cooked potatoes. The predominant spice in the potatoes is cumin (孜然) and this gave the otherwise starchy potatoes a flavour that is extremely pleasant. I think potato chip companies like Lays should really consider making a variant of chips with cumin flavour.

Laoxibei Muslim Restaurant Shenzhen home cooked potatoes 老西北穆斯林饭庄 深圳 家乡土豆

The diced mutton on toothpicks (牙签羊肉) is one of the restaurant's more popular dishes. I noticed that virtually every table in the restaurant had a serving of the diced mutton on toothpicks. Again, the predominant spice is cumin with an assortment of other savoury spices and the mutton cubes that have been marinated and speared with a toothpick are then deep fried till the flavour is brought out. In spite of the deep fry process, the mutton remains tender and juicy. This is best eaten with your fingers holding one end of a toothpick and chewing off the mutton bits.

Laoxibei Muslim Restaurant Shenzhen diced mutton on tooth picks 老西北穆斯林饭庄 深圳 牙签羊肉

The bean curd stir fried with garlic chives (韭菜香干) was pretty decently done too. The chives in my opinion is the essential ingredient that makes or breaks the dish. In this instance, the chives made the dish an excellent one, neither too salty or too overpowering.

Laoxibei Muslim Restaurant Shenzhen stir-fried bean curd and garlic chives 老西北穆斯林饭庄 深圳 韭菜香干

Finally, the beef in a bucket. I think the dish can be best described as a variant of hot plate beef. The beef is cooked in a pre-heated iron pot along with the spices and other ingredients and the red hot iron pot is then enclosed within the wooden bucket to prevent it from burning anyone who may accidentally touch against it. In my opinion, this dish, while highly recommended by the waiter, was not really worthy of high praise. Firstly, the taste is not much different from the more commonly seen beef on a hot plate and secondly, the beef was just average.

Laoxibei Muslim Restaurant Shenzhen beef in a bucket 老西北穆斯林饭庄 深圳 木桶牛肉

In all, for a change of taste, this place is highly recommended. I would further highly recommend their barbecue mutton sticks (烤羊肉串) which I did not order on this trip.

The address:
Laoxibei, Donghaiwanhao Plaza, Shenzhen High Technology Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen 老西北穆斯林饭庄 深圳南山科技园东海万豪广场
Directions using my Shenzhen Food Map
Read more...

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