It’s laid out kind of weird, one floor open to Huaihai Road/Longmen Road, then a balcony then another set of stairs to the THIRD floor where the men’s (or the less women-friendly) clothes were. Obviously everything is overpriced, and yet, I think the 50/50 and the tri-blend t-shirt are the world’s most comfortable articles of clothing. I bought a new Dov’s Hoody to replace the one that I left at Park Tavern after the US/England game. It really is awesomely comfortable, but the ironic mustache is not included.

Here’s what the store looks like

all the gold lame, polyester shorts and world’s most comfortable and overpriced plain t-shirts are coming soon to downtown shanghai!

138 Huaihai Zhong Lu
Shanghai China

hope this message finds you well. Many of you already know and many of you don’t, but I (Brian) have been working on putting together an event this summer here in Shanghai called Frexh (pronounced “fresh”) – a new showcase of emerging innovators in the fields of Fashion, Music, Art, and Food.

What is this, you ask?

Good question.

Allow me to direct you to the website where you can have all the questions (or many at least) about what it is answered:

www.frexh.com

We have a very exciting line-up of emerging and accomplished but always reinventing themselves creators from these various fields for you. It’s a two-night festival-like format on Friday and Saturday nights August 6th and 7th in about 3 week’s time. Portions of the proceeds of this event will be donated to a not-for-profit organization called Wokai that I encourage all of you to learn about. They are a microfinance company that helps raise capital for rural entrepreneurs in China. They are doing truly innovative things!

I wanted to invite you guys to come out to the event and, of course, to encourage all your friends, family, and future spouses (or exes, if you so desire) to come as well. Please forward them the information! We hope to make this the Shanghai summer event! One night of exciting international and Chinese musicians, DJs, and fashion designers at Mao Livehouse (one hour of free beer will be available starting at 8pm). The next evening, some of the city’s finest restaurants serving you samples of their flavours in the midst of free flow alcohol at 5 on the Bund. Paired with this F&B extravaganza will be an exhibition of eye-catching art that I dare say some of you will want to purchase (proceeds of each sell also go towards Wokai) on display around the perimeter. Following the Aug 7th event, there will be an official after party at The Hamilton House 2 blocks away from the Bund 5, so hang onto the wristbands you’ll be getting for that night. You’ll want to keep those handy, trust me.

Ticketing for Frexh is now open and being handled by SmartShanghai:

Look for future articles/press on it soon. We are officially on countdown towards the fun, so I hope you all will circle the date and join the festivities! Keep revisiting our website as regular updates and fun things will be added.

See you all at FREXH!

linked within may have been china’s most ironic restuarant. or maybe it has to do with the chinese mao-era edict of “remembering the bitterness of the past to savor the sweetness of the present.

no. 9 factory restaurant – a sichaunese restaurant located in shanghai stadium, decorated to look like a 1970s era Factory.

decorated with factory machines, maoist propaganda posters, and household goods of the era (along with a mao statue in front, the restaurant succeeds on an imagery level. the waitstaff is smartly clad in shapeless overalls – although the hip haircuts, foreign beers and soft drinks as well as the touchscreen POS system computers do indicate the modern era.

the food? well, it was decent sichaunese. very spicy. nothing outstanding, and not the best nor the worst sichuan food in town – i mean its better than sichuan citizen, but its certainly not as good as . but the real attraction is the decor and atmosphere.

No. 9 Factory 666 Tianyaoqiao Lu ,
Xujiahui
In Shanghai Stadium near exit two, near Lingling Lu
About 60 rmb/person

wow. how awesome is this?

i would really like to go to juan mari azrak or martin berastraguei’s dinners. anyone want to join me? no, i’m serious. hit me at the email if you want to go.

lamma island is one of the outlying islands in hong kong – a 30 minute ferry ride from the central ferry piers, you have your choice of two villages to take the ferry to. we arrived too late (or early) to take the ferry to sok kwu wan, we got on the ferry for yung shue wan.

well, getting there, i didn’t know which of the seafood restaurants to pick (i’ve only been to sok kwu wan before) but there was certainly lots of seafood to choose from. we picked one at random and had a feast.

photos after the jump

fresh boiled shrimp

bamboo clams steamed with black bean sauce – these are especially delicious. i would’ve eaten another plate of these if i could.

clams steamed with the same black bean sauce. i preferred the bamboo clams, but that’s just me. these were also very good though.

steamed fish

lamma island is a 30 minute ride from the central ferry piers. usually, people go to sok kwu wan for the long row of seafood restaurants – i really don’t have one restaurant to recommend over any other. one note – these restaurants, despite the basic decorations, plastic chairs and lack of ambiance, are not cheap. the ultra fresh seafood and the laid back atmosphere make for a great day out though.

but the main inspiration was to go to the somewhat-local lianhua supermarket and buy my duck legs. my local lianhua is terrible and cityshop is expensive AND doesn’t carry poultry beyond chicken. but at the larger, somewhat more foreigner friendly one down the road – lots of poultry to be had.

following on a combination of the beijing hao chi recipe linked above and the recipe culled from anthony bourdain’s les halles cookbook that i won’t bother replicating here – but let’s just say it involved duck, various types of citrus, some leftover red wine from the last time galbraith was here to watch “fargo”, various herbs and some oven time.

photos after the jump

here’s the duck legs post pan-searing

here’s the sauce preparation. red wine. orange slices. rosemary. shiitake mushrooms.

in the oven

and here served with homemade parmesan mushroom risotto.

here’s the best part – duck legs at lianhua? 7.5 rmb for two!

Next game, Sunday morning 2:30am Shanghai time.

USA 1 – Algeria 0

We’re going to the second round!

What an emotional roller coaster this tournament has been. From the Robert Green goalkeeping mistake to going down 0-2 to Slovenia to the comeback and what we thought for 5 seconds was the winning goal to having it taken away to the erroneous offsides goal to Dempsey missing twice from 2 yard to the above.

Let’s go USA!