Eating and Drinking
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Eating and Drinking |
Please note this section includes restaurants which think they are western, but may not be!
You probably get out more than me! If you know somewhere, please tell me.
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It is difficult to know what to say about this place. Situated on the ground floor of Liuzhou's 5 star Liuzhou Hotel (Liuzhou Fandian), Prince is a steak restaurant., although its menu has alternative dishes. However on a recent visit, at just before 7 pm on a Friday evening, I was presented with the menu, which is a design disaster. Someone decided that all dishes should be pictured. Unfortunately, one steak looks pretty much like another so the pictures are not really all that helpful, especially the ones out of focus or just too small. Each dish is, of course, captioned in both Chinese and English. The English is almost unreadable. Green lettering over a picture of a salad doesn't really help. I was perusing this menu trying to find something I could read when the manager appeared and informed us that only steaks were available. He pointed to two pages of the 20+ page menu and said that was all they had. Oh! And, of the 12 listed soups, they only had two. For a 5 star hotel restaurant to run out of 80% of its menu so early in the evening is nothing short of disgraceful. If you run out of food so early - go buy more! We duly ordered our steaks, which was not what we really wanted, and they arrived reasonably promptly, cooked exactly as we had requested. They have Japanese, American, New Zealand and local beef and although it's not the greatest steak I've ever eaten, it was perfectly acceptable. Note: When you order a steak, that's what you get - with the tiny addition of two cherry tomatoes, a lump of corn cob and two slices of cucumber. No carbohydrates were on the menu. Come on, guys! A steak need some fries! (The full time we were there, the waitresses were kept busy delivering bowls of rice to carb deprived Chinese steak eaters!) As I was munching into my steak, I noticed adjacent tables being served non-steak menu items which we had been told were 'not available'. These included tables which had ordered after us! So, all in all, a very disappointing experience. I have been to this restaurant many times before and the service was never so awful. Perhaps the new manager should spend less time wining and dining his friends (he was at the next table to us) and more time doing restaurant manager stuff like buying food. 3rd November 2007 |
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This is a fairly new pizza and pasta restaurant/cafe on the north side of Wenhui Bridge opposite the old East Gate (Dong Men). (see map) The cafe seems tiny - only four tables, but there are more tables on the second floor. It is nicely decorated (Ikea!), clean and friendly. Pizzas are made in a proper wood fired brick pizza oven in the corner of the first floor. When the pizza arrived (somewhat later than advertised), it was authentic (thin crust - which I prefer anyway), 9 inch diameter, and very tasty indeed. They have recently rewritten and revised their menu which is in reasonably good English (although they still insist on selling Dorolph salad rather than Waldorph) but their Italian ain't so hot - Mazzarella? Unfortunately, the night I went, the Ostrich pizza was unavailable. At least, the meat free Pepperoni Pizza has disappeared! The Vegetarian pizza features broccoli! Broccoli on a pizza? They also follow the ancient Chinese tradition of sticking corn into almost everything. However, they are happy to leave out anything you don't want or to add anything you do want. There is a 'build your own pizza' option on the menu, too. Most pizzas cost ¥48. They also have a wide range of pasta and other dishes, including the intriguing "Fussilli with Spring Little Italian Boy Sausage" at a mere ¥35.00 and steaks (beef or ostrich) at ¥58
Liuzhou has a sad history of pizza places (good and bad) going to the wall pretty quickly. I wish this place all the best, but I can't see how they can survive as they are. The locals generally ain't interested and there aren't enough foreigners yet.
Address: 2-3, Wenhui Road. Virtually on the bridge itself. Telephone: 2821758 18th June 2007 |
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Small and friendly, the Shoe offers soft drinks and imported beers, snacks, the obligatory banana or apple pancakes, steaks with fries, a few Indonesian type dishes and various sandwiches. They have a fully stocked bar with Chinese and western drinks. Look out for the popular 'metre of beer'. English menu naturally (Not Dutch!) Open 7 days a week 17:30 to 02:00 Visit the website. Tel: 0772-2806256 updated March 2007 |
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Daiwo is one of a chain of Japaneses sushi restaurants. It serves all the expected sushi and sashimi dishes in the traditional manner and at the traditional prices (Figure on ¥75 to ¥100 per head for a decent feed.). A huge range on conveyor belts and plates priced by colour. The restaurant is now in new premises beside the No1 bridge, behind UBC coffee, in ShuGuang Xilu. 22nd January 2004 |
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UBC is a Taiwanese chain which has a number of outlets in Liuzhou. See the map. I really can't see the point of these places. Overpriced, terrible service, average food. They happily charge ¥25-30 for Chinese fast food you could buy all over town for about ¥5. Their western food is mediocre at best and way too expensive. The coffee is run of the mill and way overpriced. Avoid. |
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