1912 Bar Sreet

[luiz_iniciante]

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.

[Aussie Mike]

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

[luiz_iniciante]

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.

[Andy72]

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!! 

[Aussie Mike]

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. 

[zap]

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.

[Andy72]

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......

[Patrick]

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?

[Andy72]

so it was not only renovating....

completed renovation!!!!

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

[Patrick]

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

[kaibo 开 博]

You should be working with me Pat ... you would be assured of rock & roll fame ...

[Andy72]

Kim,

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

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   

[Patrick]

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...

[zap]

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!

[Andy72]

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!