Tucked behind the back of a shabby hotel, past the goods entrance, is Qingdao's bowling alley. The Chinese for bowling is 保龄球, baoling ball. Spot the transliteration.
The bowling alley was rather old, which surprised me. The machines were all a bit shabby and the programs used for the scores were rather 90s. Normally this kind of thing is brand spanking new, with all the bells and whistles. This alley also lacked the gates that can be used in British places to stop the ball going into the gutter, which proved a challenge for some members of the team... I didn't play as my eye infection is back and it was hurting like a bitch. It also meant I was permenantly crying from my left eye which blurred my vision. This, combined with my usual uselessness at a)aiming at an object and b) throwing something with force, meant that I took a spectator view. Sara won with a score of 88. According to a poster this meant she should have had a free coke, but apparently this only applied to those who had got the score on their penultimate throw. On a full moon in a leap year on the 30th February as well probably...
After this Becka and I pootled off to The Diner. This is the best place for Western food and normally we go every now and then. This time though, I had a secret mission- to review their desserts. I'm writing an article on the best puds in Qingdao and this place was no.1. It was done "properly" so they were warned in advance that I was coming.
We went in. Three of the staff looked over, uninterestedly.
"Hi, I'm Louise" I said.
"Sorry?"
"Er, from Redstar"
They were much more interested then. The chef came over and shook my hand and introduced himself. I explained I was there to review the desserts. He was unusual in that he had dreadlocks-not many Chinese men have that hairstyle... I, half remembering that Jaimi had called him Japanese, asked if he was Japanese. Turned out I'd remembered wrong, he was in fact Chinese. Calling a Chinese person Japanese is a bit of a faux pas... Turns out the main waiter, I hesitate to call him a maitre d', is the Japanese...
Oops.
I ordered the steak, the 2nd most expensive thing, and Becka went for the fish and chips. The steak was lovely and Becka's fish and chips were done properly. Then came the chocolate souffle, our raison d'etre. Now I don't like chocolate. Unusually. But I manfully ate half and Becka had the rest. There was a solid outside and a gooey centre, all made with imported Belgian chocolate. So there is a Chinese man who can cook western food!
Redstar works by having an advertising license. Everything it writes has to sell something, or it can't publish. So any reviews I write have to be, on the whole, laudatory. This means restaurants want to be in the magazine, so Becka and I got the meal, over 200RMB, free :D For a student, free food makes us very happy;)
I did feel very guilty when we left though. The chef had scurried out when we finished to ask how things were and said not to worry about the bill, but there was still this sense that we had missed something out when we siddled out...
I have to review as many desserts in Qingdao as possible. Tough job, but someone's gotta do it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHAMAwIWciA
That link is to the first part of a documentary called "Crossing the Line", about an American who defected after the Korean War to North Korea. He still lives in North Korea. It is fascinating, heart-breaking, surprising and gripping. I can't recommend it enough. Surprises right to the very end. Worth the four hours loading via vpn!
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