What is Chengdu missing?

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  • #49462
    Avatar photoLongWang
    Participant

    Ahoy Hoy…

    Having lived in Chengdu for the best part of five years it’s amazing to think back to what was available in the way of western comforts back then. Forget about a good beer, and if you fancied something western to eat you were given the choice of either Peters or Grandmas (Not knocking either, still serve a valuable purpose).

    Nowadays we have decent pizza, very good BBQ, a whole host of good bars serving good beer (albeit at a western price) and all manor of other places of interest.

    My question is, wht else would you like to see open in Chengdu to cater to ex-pats that you think the locals would also buy into? A new bar catering to US sports replayed at a decent time? some food you’d like to see perhaps? A dirty kebab shop or something.

    Just a bit of fun, and may also inspire people if they know a market exists for something.

    love and hugs

    #49468
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Right now I am really missing:

    • Clean air
    • Sunshine
    • Stars

    In terms of products and services:

    • Good live music. Little Bar is good. Outside of that it is like a wasteland.
    • Authentic Vietnamese pho (Dazhong in Tongzilin is the best I’ve found but the quality seems to have gone downhill recently)
    • A real sports bar (I don’t want to go to Shamrock or Mooney’s)
    • Another Western coffee shop or lounge, or two. I miss Kafe Stugan (Swedish cafe which closed a while ago)
    • More authentic ethnic and regional American food. Panda Libre by Mike’s Pizza Kitchen is a welcome addition, more places like that would be great. In the same vein as Johnny 5, Red Beard, Lazy Pug, etc.
    • Lunch delivery services with healthy options would be great. Pickings are slim on apps like 百度外卖. There are a few Chinese services which have started to do this.
    • More high-quality events hosted by expats, for expats. Recently I’ve been checking out some of the comedy nights at Bookworm, those are fun. More events like that would be great. There used to be a photography club, it’s too bad that has fallen off.
    #49469
    Avatar photoRay
    Participant

    Pro sports that you can see live, in the stadium, whether that be soccer/Aussie rules/NBL/NFL/NHL etc. etc. That’s what I really miss. It’s one reason why weekends here are just normal days, nothing special.

    #49471
    Avatar photoHise
    Participant

    a park where you can sit on the grass

    belgian fries

    #49472
    Avatar photoMerior
    Participant

    Perhaps it is missing foreigners that could populate the establishments and events that you are looking for Charlie. I am sure that there used to be more of them both here and in the city – virtually everybody who I knew has gone back home.

    But the air has been better for the last few days (or the air filters are lying to me) and I saw a ‘very faint star last night.

    #49477
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Perhaps it is missing foreigners that could populate the establishments and events that you are looking for Charlie. I am sure that there used to be more of them both here and in the city – virtually everybody who I knew has gone back home. But the air has been better for the last few days (or the air filters are lying to me) and I saw a ‘very faint star last night.

    I wonder about how the expat population here fluctuates. I feel the same way, that a lot of people have left. When I debate this with my girlfriend, she responds with things like “But there are so many new foreigners at the Poly Center”. I wonder what the real deal is with the expat population in Chengdu, and whether it is expanding or contracting. Either way, it is hard to see long-term friends depart (miss you, Sascha!)

    #49529
    Avatar photoStephanieGodfrey
    Participant

    -Sun

    -Air

    -Healthy food

    #49536
    Avatar photoyyw201
    Participant

    How about Spanish food? Or like a Tex Mex place? What about things like wine tastings – where you have a mix of locals & expats? Where can we find those?

    #49550
    Avatar photoBrad Gies
    Participant

    Good, classic rock and roll.. and a decent disco that plays it 😉

     

     

    #49571
    Avatar photoIan
    Participant

    A real kebab shop.

    A decent music scene (same old bands same old songs).

    Higher quality Western food. After spending a few weeks in Chiang Mai the Western food options are just on another level compared to Chengdu, but that’s due to the amount of tourists demanding high quality food.

    The Western options at TKL are over priced and just substandard.

    As Charlie mentioned places like Mike’s etc are the only decent places we have at the moment.

    I feel like our options are still limited.

    #49602
    Avatar photo897934-884
    Participant

    Someone could open a real buffalo wings place. Mike’s is fine of course, but there could be a dedicated spot. I’ve had many versions of chinese hot wings and they all pretty much sucked -except local flavored bbq style. they’re the easiest thing in the world to make, you just have to create the atmosphere.

    #49611
    Avatar photoDaniel Wikstrand
    Participant

    Thanks Charlie, nice to see Kaffestugan’s name pop up 🙂

    Daniel

    #49635
    Avatar photodove
    Participant

    Chengdu is always humid and cloudy.

    #49657
    Avatar photoKim Duistermaat
    Participant

    – Easily accessible information in English about outdoor destinations around the city: what, where, how to get there, what you can do there, facilities available or not available, with pictures and good maps.

    – clean air
    – traffic police giving everyone that goes against the traffic (especially ebikes) a fine.
    – clean supermarkets, with spotless veggie and meat departments
    – children swim classes in English, in an affordable, warm pool, taught in a way kids enjoy.

    #49843
    Avatar photootchengdu
    Participant

    Sunshine

    Stars

    Fresh air

    Smoothe lawn to sit on

    No horn blowing

    Appled safety measures (i.e. street crossing)

    Sports bar & grill

    #51235
    Avatar photosquirrel suit
    Participant

    Has anyone been to the new Five Elephants cafe in Chengdu? If so, how is it?

    Any Germans who can comment on how it stacks up to their Berlin cafe?

    I was psyched when I saw that Chengdu had gotten a specialty Coffee shop, and can’t wait to geek out over it when I get back.

    here’s the (poorly written) article where I found out about it

    Build-Outs of Summer: Five Elephant Coffee In Chengdu, China

     

    #51397
    Avatar photoErika0909
    Participant

    Fresh clear air is what I missing.

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