Xi’an Brewery

Recently I discovered that there was a Xi’an Brewery. If you’ve read my Shanghai post, you’ll know that when I went to Shanghai, my friends and I made Shanghai Brewery our second home. So it was a delight to find out that there was a Xi’an brewery as well.

We went to check it out and it did not disappoint. Although their menu is much smaller than Shanghai Brewery and don’t have as many options, what they do have is quite tasty.

I tried the spicy chicken wings and I had the California burger, which included avocados, caramelized onions, pickles, cheese, and I asked the waiter to add bacon on mine and substitute my regular fries for sweet potato fries; it only came up to an extra 10rmb and it was so worth it.

The menu includes a few burger options, including sliders, one vegetarian sandwich, a chicken salad that looks amazing, pizza, and a few other options. It’s a little pricey for China because it’s western food but a bang for your buck. And if you’re a lady and go between 8pm-10pm you can get a free cocktail, which is a nice added bonus.

Although I won’t be making this place my second home in Xi’an (sorry but it’s too expensive for me to be eating there all the time) I definitely enjoyed it and will go back a few times.

Xiangzimen Youth Hostel (Xi’an)

Xiangzimen Youth hostel, located right in the center of the city, is the perfect place to stay when in Xi’an that won’t break your pockets. It’s also my first choice when recommending hostels to people.

I like to call it the quiet hostel because right around the corner is Shuyuan hostel and bar (Parkqin), everyone in Xi’an is familiar with it. It’s the party hostel, I don’t recommend it as a place to stay because it can get loud. What you can do however, is stay right around the corner at a quiet hostel where you can get a good nights sleep, play some pool with friends and head over to Parkqin if you want to party.

At only 45-50rmb for a bed, you get nice clean accommodations, in a relatively big space. For about 150rmb, you can even get a private room with a bed big enough to share with about 3 people. I’ve stayed there quite a few times in 2017 and I can safely say that I haven’t been in a room I didn’t like.  The bathrooms are fairly clean and the shower pressure is better than the one I have at home.

You can go downstairs in the morning and get some breakfast. The options include American breakfast, French breakfast and Chinese breakfast. It’s not a five star gourmet meal but it gets the job done.

Then there’s the added bonus that it’s in the perfect location. It’s right near the Xi’an wall and the center of the city. It’s near a metro station if you want to get away from the area. The Bell Tower is one stop away by subway or you can just walk there and take in the sites.

So if you’re looking for a place to stay, before sure to check this one out. It’s one of my favorites!

The Story of How We First Met a.k.a The Best Restaurant in Beijing

Ok, so I don’t know if it’s the best Mexican restaurant in Beijing because its the only one I went to but to me, in my own biased opinion, it’s actually the best restaurant in the world.

I first stumbled upon Q-mex by accident. I was intending to go to another restaurant, one that rated higher than Q-mex on trip advisor (I will never know if it was better now). While wandering around looking for the other restaurant, which turned out to be in a darkly lit location, my friend and I were stopped by someone who was asking for directions to Q-mex, we didn’t know where Q-mex was and sent the person on their way. We continued walking and lo and behold there was Q-mex. There were so many people outside and everyone looked like they were having a good time. It was then we decided to give up and go into Q-mex.

Lucky for us we stumbled into the best night we had while in Beijing. It was Wednesday and Wednesday is apparently trivia night. On trivia night you get free beers just for participating and free beers throughout for winning certain rounds etc. My friend and I participated in trivia night because why the hell not. We didn’t win but we had a fun time doing it and we got free beers. We also got free drinks for following Q-mex on wechat.

And then there was the food. Man on man hands down the best burrito bowl I’ve had in my life. My friend ordered an appetizer (sorry I can’t remember the name) that brought her to tears. We loved it so much we went back the next night, which was our last night in Beijing, and waited 45 minutes to get a seat because it was totally worth it.

Ever since that night, I have not been able to stop talking about Q-mex, so I’ll just leave this link here, incase anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.qmex.com.cn/

 

The Staircase to Hell is Ascending

First thing I should probably let you know is that I did not enjoy this but that’s okay. I’m not a mountain climber, this was my first time ever doing something as challenging as this. I’m not even an outdoorsy person or a person who likes exercise. So I found it hard and not a very pleasant experience but do not let my opinion deter you from climbing this mountain yourself, especially if it is your thing.

My friends and I wanted to climb Mt. huashan, but decided against it because of the expenses. I found Cuihua mountain as an alternative and I’m glad I did. Not only was it less treacherous, especially for a first time climber, it also only costed 35 yuan to get in and that’s because we had a student discount. We weren’t even students.  It took a few hours to climb up the mountain and I started this relatively happy but by the end of it I was regretting every decision that lead me to climbing a mountain. However, I did it, I made it to the top and I was not happy about it. I was out of breath, drenched in sweat and so angry that I couldn’t even enjoy the view.

I wish I could say in hindsight I’m glad I did it but it really was a painful experience and one i’m not to keen on ever doing again. However, I did get a bunch of cool pictures from it, so there’s that.

The beautiful waterfall at the beginning of the mountain.

One of the views from near the top, when I was still ok with my decision to climb a mountain.

Going through the ice cave, that was literally a cave with blocks of ice cubes in it.

The staircase to hell, yes it’s ascending.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

 

A Week in Shanghai Part One – The Food

For Chinese New Year my friends and I decided to visit Shanghai (they were the cheapest tickets we can find). It was my first time visiting the city and it’s by far my favorite city in China.

This originally started off as a comprehensive post of my entire trip to Shanghai but 1000 words in I was still talking about food, so I decided to break them up and start with the most important. THE FOOD.

Liquid Laundry

• Let’s start off this post right at liquid laundry. We went here twice, once in the beginning of the trip and once at the end (only because they were closed in between). I got the macaroni and cheese and man oh man, to quote The Jonas Brothers “Now i’m speechless, over the edge and just breathless.” I haven’t had mac and cheese in a while so when I saw it on the menu I just had to get it and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I also got the avocado ranch burger and it was so big and so juicy and just all around a good freaking time. My friends got the chicken and mashed potato and mac and cheese, I can’t speak for them but my food was amazing.
• The second time we went there, we got brunch and I ordered the corn bread with bacon, which i’m not going to lie was disappointing because it was literally what it said it was going to be. There were corn pieces baked into bread and I expected something different. I also got the Korean chicken sandwich, which was really good. My friends got the waffles, eggs Benedict and pancakes. It was all picture perfect and all in all a very good brunch.

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Shanghai Brewery

• Shanghai Brewery was deemed our second home in Shanghai by one of my friends. We stumbled across it (you’ll start to see a pattern) because they had relatively cheap happy hour prices and it was the nicest day – weather wise – in Shanghai, so we decided to day drink. They had really good drinks, we tried the mojitos, margaritas, tequila sunrise, some beers and for food we tried the buffalo chicken wings, fajitas, mashed potatoes and loaded nachos. Let me tell you there were all  good, I mean we must have thought it was because we kept going back.

The Ramen Bar

• Another place we stumbled upon, it was right next to the hidden bar and by far our cheapest meal in Shanghai, but also a hidden gem. It was a kind of asian fusion and I had the kimchi stir-fry pork and let me tell you it was heavenly. I have a strong love for Korean food and that dish just did it for me. My friends had the bibimbap and I tried some, it was good too, but that kimchi stir fried pork was top-notch. 👌🏽

Catina Agave

• I was really excited to go to this place because I was really craving Mexican food but unfortunately nothing compares to Q-mex in Beijing and this place left me feeling unsatisfied. I tried to get a burrito bowl but they only had burrito’s and it lacked in flavor. However, they did have bottomless chips and salsa and a free drink.

Moka Bros

• Moka Bros is what I would like to called an LA girl menu. It has all the trendy food such as acai bowls, avocado toast, smoothies. I just feel like it’s downtown Los Angelos in a menu. I had the avocado toast, unfortunately it was on rye bread and I found out that I am not a fan of rye bread so I didn’t enjoy the toast as much as I would have if it was just on regular bread.

Beef and Liberty

• Subpar food for high prices. This was one of the places that was actually on the list to go and it disappointed. The burger was average, the fries were average and the food was expensive. My friend got to the point where the more she thought about it, the more she hated it. At first it was just ok to her, by the end of the trip she was cursing their names.

Charlie’s

• A burger joint that we did stumbled upon and it turned  out 100 times better than the one stated above. We went to the location looking for a fast food Mexican joint but it wasn’t there anymore so we said “what the hey” and decided to eat here instead. The hotdog, (I wish you guys can see my face as I think about the hotdog)  it was so good I could cry. I mean, I may just be saying that because it was my first time having a hotdog in a while but it was so good. The avocado burger was also really good but the hotdog, man, the hotdog. I also had a milkshake because they are known for their milkshakes and that was delicious as well, but once again the hotdog. 

Original Korean Taste

• Remember earlier, I was talking about my love for Korean food, well because of that KBBQ had to go on the list. This was hands down the best Korean barbecue that I’ve had in China. We really went all out with this one, we ordered so many things on the menu including, kimchi jjigae, Korean pancakes, a pork stir fry dish and pork belly. OK that may not sound like a lot but but we didn’t have any space on the table because you know there are also the sides, when it comes to KBBQ. Is “it was so good” banned from my dictionary yet? Ok fine, it was amazingly delicious. We went back the next night and ordered the exact same thing, if that tells you what we think about it. Also all the food split between the three of us was so cheap.

I talk about the prices a lot because compared to other parts in China, Shanghai is an expensive city and considering we ate our way through most of the trip, I just want to let anyone who has a budget know what they are getting into when they go there. Some of the items are even more expensive than NYC and my friend said that the drinks are more expensive than in London. So you have been warned. Other than that feel free to eat your way to shanghai like we did, it was delicious!

BEST BOOKSTORE IN BEIJING (for foreigners)

So if you don’t know by now, I live in China. I’ve been living in China for the past year and as an avid reader it’s hard because I had to leave all my babies (books) behind. And I can’t just walk into any bookstore and pick up a book I want because you know, the 99.9% chance that it will be in Chinese. So this one post goes out to all my readers out there in China who happens to live or is just visiting Beijing.

The name of the bookstore is very straight forward, no frills or added niceties, it get’s straight to the point (unlike this sentence). Beijing Foreign Language Bookstore, located right in the middle of Wanfujing shopping street.

235 Wanfujing St, DongDan, Dongcheng Qu, China (王府井大街, 100006东城区)

It’s not perfect but it’s doing the best it can and I applaud them for that. Of course you won’t find every book you’re looking for or sometimes not even the latest releases, but it’s doing better than most bookstores in China, in which the store only has one shelf of English books and something you might not even want to read. In the case of this bookstore I think you can at least leave with one book (hey, I left with two). I think the prices are pretty standard and if you want to compare for yourself, just take out your conversion app and make sure you’re not getting overcharged. They also have pretty cool bookmarks that you can gift to friends and I just loved the travel section and flipping through all the travel guides. Oh and the best part is that there are tons of floors to explore, I spent hours roaming up and down all the floors and checking out what each had to offer.

So if you’re ever in the neighborhood, make sure to give it a look!