Coffee and Snacks @ Charlie Brown's Cafe 查理布朗

Shenzhen residents have taken up to drinking coffee and on any given weekend, you will find coffee places in shopping malls packed to capacity. As a result, while there used to be only Starbucks occupying this space, several new competitors have sprouted out over the past two to three years and old competitors have also expanded their outlets rapidly. The formula for success is simple - provide free wifi internet access and a place where one could stay for hours for the price of a cup of coffee and you will be packed with people meeting up, socializing or meeting new friends. Match that with a community of foreigners who cannot live without their daily cuppa, and the frequent double doses, you have a coffee place that is packed to the gills with customers. Unfortunately, all the coffee places tend to fall into two genres - the Starbucks clones and the Taiwanese style coffee places such as Mingdian Coffee (名典咖啡) which are full dining establishments.

Charlie Brown's Cafe (查理布朗) at Coastal City Shopping Mall (海岸城) is a relatively new entrant that tries to differentiate itself from the rest of the coffee places. Apart from coffee and tea based beverages, they also serve a variety of cakes and snacks. Naturally, being a Charlie Brown-themed place, they also sell various Charlie Brown and Snoopy gift items and souvenirs and a wall mounted television plays videos of Charlie Brown all day long. Free wifi internet access is also offered for patrons and there is an abundance of power sockets to ensure you can stay there all day.

I ordered the barbecued chicken wings which arrived fresh from the microwave oven. The chicken wings are deboned leaving a single bone for you to hold. They come lightly spiced and while the portions are decent at 28 RMB for four pieces if you compare it to Kentucky Fried Chicken which sells chicken wings at 28 RMB for an equivalent portion serving (4 wings comprising 8 pieces) without the additional helping of mashed potato.



Charlie Brown's Cafe is also doing a special offer for Coastal City Shopping Mall VIP card holders till the end of February 2009 where if you purchase a cup of coffee, they give a cake of your choice free. I selected the chocolate mousse cake to go with my hot latte. The chocolate mousse cake was pleasant and tasted quite nice. A lot of bakeries tend to put too much sugar and make the cake too sweet. Fortunately, Charlie Brown's did not. I would rate this as above average.



The address:
Charlie Brown's Cafe, Second Floor, Coastal City Shopping Mall, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 查理布朗 深圳南山海岸城2楼
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Where to get Free Wifi in Nanshan Shenzhen for the Price of a Coffee

Here is a list of Nanshan Shenzen cafes and restaurants offering free Wifi for the mobile set. The list will be updated regularly as I discover new establishments.

Overseas Chinese Town Area:
KingkeyBanner Plaza 京基百纳广场 - A Little Flavour 一点味, Starbucks
Yitian Holiday Plaza 益田假日广场 － Starbucks 星巴克, Illy Coffee
Crowne Plaza Hotel 威尼斯酒店 - Lobby Lounge

Coastal City Area:
Coastal City Shopping Mall 海岸城 - Starbucks 星巴克, Charlie Brown's Cafe 查理布朗, Mountain Breeze Cafe, Blue Bird Cafe 蓝鸟咖啡

Garden City Area:
Garden City Shopping Mall 花园城 - Starbucks 星巴克

Shenzhen High Technology Park 科技园:
Brown's Cafe 勃朗咖啡
UBC Cafe 上岛咖啡
Raindrop Cafe 雨花咖啡

Xihaimingzhu 西海明珠 outside Shenzhen University 深圳大学:
UBC Cafe 上岛咖啡 Read more...