Hefei Expat - China

Old Forums => Social => Nightlife => Topic started by: Aussie Mike on September 24, 2011, 02:10:59 am

Title: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Aussie Mike on September 24, 2011, 02:10:59 am

This complex on Huang Shan Lu and Huai Ning Lu has about 12 bars.

So far, Benjamen's "Tang Bar" is open, opulent is a word to describe it.
It's typical Chinese not unlike 88 or Pheobe but nicely done.
The upstairs VIP area is plush.
This bar is near the end of" "B section which is East of Huai Ning in the centre mall

The Blue Marlin is also open, it has 3 floors but only 2 are open now.
Opulent fits for this bar as well, introduce yourself to Taffy the Marketing man.
The BM is located in the A section, West of Huai Ning, towards Da Shu Shan.
It's behind the SPD Bank in the centre mall.

Other bars will open soon but the official date is 30th Sept.

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on September 24, 2011, 02:37:57 am

they told me tonight was some sort of official opening as well..

anyway, i think i'll go there to have a look, worst case trying Ben's place!

Map:

http://maps.google.com.hk/maps?q=1912%2B%E5%90%88%E8%82%A5&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=31.843313,117.220109&spn=0.010791,0.011373&fb=1&gl=hk&view=map&cid=15144043171064702349&brcurrent=3,0x0:0x0,1&t=m&z=16&vpsrc=6 (http://maps.google.com.hk/maps?q=1912%2B%E5%90%88%E8%82%A5&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=31.843313,117.220109&spn=0.010791,0.011373&fb=1&gl=hk&view=map&cid=15144043171064702349&brcurrent=3,0x0:0x0,1&t=m&z=16&vpsrc=6)

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Mateus on September 24, 2011, 08:02:30 am

Hear of any opening specials?  ;D

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on September 24, 2011, 08:03:34 am

no sorry..
it might be i have heard wrong.. but tonight i got time and next week i'll be away for some time.. so, it's my own special!  ;D

Title: Coffee in Hefei at Lavazza
Post by: Aussie Mike on September 25, 2011, 02:42:43 am

(http://expat-central.com/pic-bin/lavazza.gif) (http://hefeiexpat.com/forum/lavazza-at-1912/)

The Lavazza Coffee shop is worth a stop, damned good coffee there, I also sampled their spaghetti cabonarra, small serve at 40rmb but delicious. They have some nice wine as well.

More on Lavazza (http://hefeiexpat.com/forum/lavazza-at-1912/)

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Aussie Mike on September 25, 2011, 02:48:12 am

The Madrid Club is well worth checking out.
It's the location I nearly took but they have done an amazing job on the decor.
As you enter, there is a big spanish bar to sit at or a lounge while you wait for a table, it's busy.
The restaurant is excellent, no cash spared setting this place up.

The Spanish Chef there was preparing some interesting dishes, pity I didn't get to sample any of those.
The Spanish wine selection there goes all the way to the the roof.

I'll eat there another time. I've got to try it.

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on September 27, 2011, 12:25:22 am

The Spanish place owner is a Chinese that lived a loooong time in Spain (friend of a friend) even getting Spanish passport!

The chef are young, Spanish yes, but not that experienced: do not expect too much artistic creations, but in Spain anyone can cook the basics..

Anyway it was recommended to visit..

A pity in general that after 21:30 it is difficult to find any place that serve food, except a small cafe facing the main road..

Anyway, soon I'll check more as well there!

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: ElinJonsson on September 27, 2011, 03:31:52 am

with those prices, you really cant expect that much artistic creations. And they both have michelin star experience and have spent many years in san sebastian, also known as "the capital of gastronomy" amongst food journalists and foodies in general.

They are getting great feedback from the customers, so it looks like its a hit!

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on September 27, 2011, 03:50:02 am

don't misunderstand me!!

i'm sure the food is great.. i actually hope to try it asap!!

it was a comment from a person working in restaurant as well: the chef are young, and making good experience..

anyway many places in spain have top level gastronomy!

besides, i think that nay spanish restaurant in hefei would get great hit, with people able to cook decently some real spanish food!
i mean, any foreign restaurant with decent chef would great top hits, especially from our laowai community!

and if the chef look also typical spanish, they would get good hits by chinese girls as well   :P

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: ElinJonsson on September 27, 2011, 03:57:36 am

yeah, Im the girlfriend of the souschef, and I dont think the headchefs gilrfriend would appreciate that comment haha  ;) 
tranquilo, hope to see you around the club some time!

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on September 27, 2011, 04:00:35 am

gracias chica!

i thought so, from your reply, that you were somewhat related..
anyway the attentions bring customers.. your boys don't have to do anything more than flip the deep brown eyes ;-))
and stay behind the kitchen stoves, to avoid mas problemas  ;D

i sued to live with spanish people.. i miss real spanish food, that's why i'll pay you a visit after my "national" holidays :)

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Dangermouse on October 11, 2011, 05:22:19 am

Was thinking about heading down to have a look at this bar street sometime this week. From what im reading and hearing, it's a place not to spend much time in.
As far as the  table fees <Kiabo>  thanks for the heads up ;) I too would have looked at them and after the starting "WTF!!" ??? ??? also would have told then ( politly of course ) to please go forth and muliply with yourself >:(
The drinks are going up all over and its to be expected, but no way am i going to pay to sit at a table :o The amounts the forigners drink in any bar, dosnt mean we should expect special treatment, but charging to sit down??  I dont think so!!
Any Chinese having the same problem or is this little rip off being pushed to us expats more ???

Will still have a look-see and judge for myself but reading thins tread i will be very weary of where to go and what to expect.

Interesting to hear others thoughts and opinions on all thats happening down there ???
Take it , it can be a great night out, but im feeling more people are thinking they been ripped off at the end of it?  am i wrong or are a few poor comments clouding my judgement?

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on October 12, 2011, 01:47:18 am

table fees???

this sucks..
pretty new concept for me..

and i would turn at the entrance if asked.. unless in the table fees it was included some table drinks, but i guess this is not the case (in a quite nice pub in Beijing, with live music of high quality, we had to pay for the table but the price included the alcohol fees: we managed to drink actually more and pay the difference..)

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: luiz_iniciante on October 12, 2011, 04:01:02 am

Leaving aside the question of the bars and table fees for a moment, I wanted to ask what prices are like at the Spanish restaurant.

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Aussie Mike on October 12, 2011, 09:50:56 am

I sampled their desert which was a delectable dish of various chocolate at 28 rmb, I'd pay that again for the dish.

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: luiz_iniciante on October 17, 2011, 03:36:33 pm

I checked out the Madrid Club over the weekend. Really excellent service and all the staff speak fluent English. Food was also impressive and the bread and the ice cream were made on the spot, as fresh as can possibly be. Also had the chance to meet the chef and the very gracious general manager (here I confess I name-dropped Mike and his earlier recommendation). A little on the pricey side, but well worth the experience.

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on October 18, 2011, 05:35:55 am

Italian place - Lavazza:

We got there a bit too late and almost all food/dessert were sold out (it must have a quite limited kitchen, but it is also common that in China after 10pm it is difficult to eat in "real" restaurants, no street food).

Very good espresso and also delicious panna cotta (! yes, real one!) but a little expensive (and tiny portions!!).

I took then a cuba libre (very limited coktail choice) and it had a lot of "libre" (coke and lemon and ice), but extremely little Cuban (rum) taste!!!

I want to try to eat there dinner once.. as well as in the Spanish restaurant.. but I have always been around there too late for real food..

anyway my first time there (just opened) i thought 2 things were extremely strange: no street food and few taxi to go back home..
happily i noticed 2 areas with bbq and a very good taxi service now!!  ;D

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Aussie Mike on October 18, 2011, 10:26:44 am

The taxis are always between the two areas on HuaiNing Lu.
I have difficulty crossing the street because some idiot taxi driver always stops right in front of me and I have to walk around them then another idiot taxi driver thinks I must want a different taxi so stops where I'm trying to cross.  ???

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: zap on November 07, 2011, 08:31:43 am

I checked out 1912 for the first time last night (a little late to the party). It was kinda raining and i was already pretty juiced up from a business dinner crunk on bai jiu. I was on a mission to find the new Ben 15 bar as i stopped in the older bar briefly last night and then decided i should probably have a look at all the new stuff.

Never did find it. But i walked into the jumping dolphin or the angry marlin, or whichever sea creature you want to name your club these days and stopped in for a drink. No foreigners at first, paid 34 RMB for a budweiser that i wanted to call 'cold' but was slightly cooler than the current room temperature, and found a spot at the bar. I did shots with some locals that I'm pretty sure was just plain apple juice (not sure about the price). The dance floor was tiny. Much smaller than Phebe. I gave it a whirl by my lonesome because i do what i want, then was unceremoniously removed for the entertainer to sing. I met two other foreigners when i went back to the bar, one of whom i've known for about a year here in Hefei and the other guy, i'd seen before in passing (the guy who looks exactly like Edward from Twilight. The hair and everything. I have yet to see this guy in real sunshine. And hefei is the perfect place to hide from real sunlight anyways. I think there might be a connection).

It was all really much of the same. I don't really see any reason of going to 1912 as opposed to the regular haunts downtown. I'll admit that i wanted to go to a regular bar and never did find one, but it wasn't a 'great' experience all around, including the lack of street food as another member mentioned. The restaurants looked great, but they were already closed/closing when i got there. Worth another look i suppose.

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on November 07, 2011, 12:48:58 pm

Zap,

1912 is actually in 2 sections: walk past the angry dolphin until you get to the main crossing..
street food is there now and after you cross and continue on 1912 area, you'll find B-15 that is actually the last on the other side (farthest from the mentioned cross)

Anyway i also prefer Baidu, Phebe and MGM, much more than the clubs there..
still haven't tried B-15..
a pity Benjiamin now is always 1912.. the one in laobaoguan has lost the special touch of having the great cocktails made by Ben...

for the food, i tried the italian place on late evening coffee/dessert and it's good (not cheap) and several said the spanish place is very good!

but i do agree.. also for me not much reasons to go to 1912......

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Patrick on November 30, 2011, 09:10:39 am

Went to Bitburger the other night for my weekly fix of sausage and real beer. Walked over to Nighthawk afterward for my weekly fix of watching hot Chinese girls dance. When I got to there, it had been completely razed to the ground. WTF!? I'm not sure why they did that (unless it's because I was always the only customer when I went there), but now I'm looking for a similar bar to go to. Are there any more places of that type in Hefei?

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on December 01, 2011, 09:07:21 am

so it was not only renovating....

completed renovation!!!!

those girls must have found another place.........

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Patrick on December 01, 2011, 10:11:01 pm

If they didn't, there's always room at my place;)

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on December 02, 2011, 11:46:49 pm

Kim,

you changed work or you're still an english teacher???  ;D

then it is a pity you never took along some of your groupies.. because i cannot remember hot chinese girls in your bar... just a bunch of us foreigners looking for those ones   :D ;)

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Patrick on December 03, 2011, 04:21:29 am

Kaibo - I'll have to join your entourage one night if it means getting a bit of fame...or notoriety (I'm ok with either;)

Andy, some of the Nighthawk girls were pretty talented, but most of them probably ended up at KTV's. Will have to keep searching for a new venue...

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: zap on December 03, 2011, 06:25:33 am

More info on 1912 bar street.

After a few more trips to the club scene, I have some observations I would like to post for the masses who are interested.

Tang Club: This is Benjamins Club of Benjamin 15 fame. Ben is usually somewhere in the main room or hanging outside the entrance. Make sure you introduce yourself. He is a cool dude and his English is great. Tang club is a club and a KTV but they are separated nicely so that you don't accidentally end up in a posh room listening to awful music. Tang Club has THE LOUDEST MUSIC of all the clubs at 1912. It will rock your brains out of your head. I don't have any problems with MGM (which i've read from you lot that it is pretty loud) Tang Club feels twice as loud as MGM. I feel like the drink selection is the most respectable of all the clubs (probably because Ben is really into drinks). The dance floor isn't great, but it doesn't put you in any dangerous situations like, elevated 2 meters from the floor, or level with a bar full of glass bottles. They 'effin love Happy Birthday in this club. LOVE IT. The DJ calls it out all the time, during songs and stuff. It's pretty annoying actually. Unless it's your birthday. You might want to hit up Tang club on your birthday. You will never get drunk enough to forget it's your birthday because you will be reminded constantly. Bathrooms are a free for all. They're just rooms all lined up with no division of sex. It's fun to try to meet ladies while you both are doing the peepee dance waiting for a bathroom to open. The coatroom gives you a metal wristband to wear. I prefer dropping my stuff off at Tang Club and then club-hopping all night with my stuff safely under Ben's protection.

The Blue Marlin; The Blue Marlin is a rip off. Aside from that, it has a second floor 'observation' level / pass out on a couch area which is kinda interesting if you're tired of whiffing horrible body odor on the crowded downstairs floor. The owners are nice and they both speak English pretty well. Just look for the table with most of the performers/ guys with business suits. You'll find the owner or Lili, who is in some kind of ownership position of the club. The big thing about blue marlin for me is that they have SO many performers. There are some foreigners who dance, singers, rappers, b-boys, and dancers. it's definitely action packed but if you like to dance (dancing machine), then you literally never get fifteen minutes strung together to get your groove on. It's really annoying to just be yanked off the floor by some guy who is taking his job far too seriously. The dance floor itself is really bizarre. It's basically a model runway that isn't very wide at all. It leads to the DJ table and there is a slightly elevated platform for dancing. I've never made my way up that far as i'm usually getting pulled off stage so that some bimbos can butcher an English song, or dance like Brittany Spears during the music awards where she was clearly on drugs. This is also the bar where i experienced the congo line. I'm not a fan of this bar, and again, it's expensive. The coat room gives you a key on one of them phone cord stretchy bands.


I'll get the other two later. Just killing time in the office right now. Might head out to 1912 on Saturday. I'll stay local tonight. Have a great weekend guys!

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Andy72 on December 03, 2011, 06:42:51 am

one extra comment:

i have been visiting all the clubs, but i thing Tang Club is the only one that does not give a too oppressive feeling!
more space than the other places even in full nights..

anyway, I still prefer Phebe/Baidu, even if especially young pretty Chinese girls throw themselves on anything new, good or bad.. so for most of them 1912 is the *only* popular scene nowadays!

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: zap on April 02, 2012, 08:12:57 am

Hey dudes. I went to 1912 last night to change things up and to set a time limit for the group as some had work today (1912 bars close down at 2 am) and i was VERY surprised to see the Blue Marlin was shut down.

We asked some girls walking by and they confirmed for us that it was out of business. Does anyone know when this happened? Since the last time i was there, a new bar/club has opened behind TNT, which seemed smaller than the others. Ben's club is still up and there is some new pseudo-bar with a German flavor to it that sells pretty good beer and has a milli-vanilli entertainment group. Also, starbucks.

I think 1912 is getting pretty desperate for business. We got caught pilfering abandoned drinks, had some manager come out to talk with us, they gave us some complimentary beers, and when they realized we weren't buying any drinks for the night, ended up giving us a free whiskey and red tea drink. It was.... puzzling.

Anyone in the know as to the current situation in the 1912 area?

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: Patrick on April 02, 2012, 04:35:16 pm

The "pseudo bar" is Bacchus. Ostensibly German, it actually caters to the upscale Hefei crowd. Went there tonight and enjoyed a couple Paulaner's. The menu is extensive, but has only one German dish - the sausage platter (authentic taste). The pasta dishes are exquisite. Service is exceptional. And free wi-fi (though I'm usually too sideways to make use of it).

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: mjsuke75 on April 15, 2012, 08:17:24 am

have a quick question. did u shit outside their door. to ask them if they cater to the upper scale. and one more thing, u "hate esl teachers" last time i checked u are an english teacher

Title: Re: 1912 Bar Sreet
Post by: zap on April 16, 2012, 03:38:03 am

Thanks for the review Patrick.  :)

Mjsuke, who are you quoting?? Where are you coming from?   ???