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Eating, drinking and nightlife
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Qingdao has plenty of
restaurants
to choose from. The speciality is, unsurprisingly, seafood; mussels and crabs here are particularly good, and not expensive. There are plenty of small
seafood places
along Laiyang Lu, particularly around the
Haiqing Hotel.
They're all small, noisy and busy, but competition means that standards are high, and, with some exceptions, the food is reasonably cheap. The expensive hotels also have restaurants, and although they're pricey, the food is very good and the setting is often palatial. The first-floor restaurant in the
Huiquan Hotel
is one of the best. If you're staying by the ferry terminal, you would be better off heading south to eat, as the only sanitary restaurant in the area is the
Friendship Restaurant,
next to the
Friendship Hotel,
where the food is average but pricey, and the service is terrible.
Pick of the seafront places is the Nanhai, 14 Nanhai Lu, opposite the Huiquan Dynasty Hotel. The food is excellent, though the portions are a little small, and the beer comes in real pint mugs. Expect to pay about ?60 per person. On and around Zhongshan Lu, try the Chunhelou, 146 Zhongshan Lu, a quiet little place with discreet service, small tables and ambient lighting which gives it a Continental feel. The food is very good, and portions are more than generous - the spicy chicken is highly recommended. Just off the main drag, the Cantonese Restaurant, Qufu Lu, has good dim sum and seafood. There's a KFC on Feixian Lu, across the road at the southern end of the train station. There's also a McDonald's on Xianggang Road, a side road on the left just after the Bank of China.
Nightlife
is not as exciting here as might be expected. A lot of Chinese visitors end up in karaoke bars or expensive hotel nightclubs, which aren't so appealing to foreigners. The best place to be in the early evening is around Zhanqiao Pier, where everyone goes for a stroll after eating. There's a good American-style
bar
here, shaped like a boat, at the back of Number 6 beach. Later in the evening, try the
International Seamen's Club
by the passenger ferry terminal, where there's a
disco
till 2am, or the small
nightclub
on the fourth floor of the
Friendship Hotel. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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China,
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