China Travel Forum

[kanny]

best place to coffee and other pleaserable advise please?

[aynor]

Hey everyone --
I highly recommend the 7th Heaven Hotel's Coffee shop on the 7th floor of the Giordano building. It's a truly weird place with decent coffee (18 RMB) brewed with these vessels that look like what you'd make crank in...There's a nice view of Nanjing pedestrian street from the windows and when you finish your coffee, you can buy an expensive bottle of Jonny Walker Black (if that's the way you roll) or a cheap bottle of French table wine. There's also two guys in here who have been playing mahjong in the corner every time I've been in here for the last 4 days...For what it's worth, the hotel is pretty cheap and much cheaper if you book it through sinohotel.com.
I think I also remember that there was some discussion about where to find LP guidebooks. The City Supermarket, inside the Ritz-Carlton shop-o-plex on Nanjing Xi (West) Lu, has a bunch of LP guidebooks for all kinds of places, including China, Beijing, etc. They also have a bunch of really shitty novels in English. I highly recommend, however, their bakery pretzels, which are the most appropriately salted food item I have enjoyed in China.
The Propaganda Poster Museum is an awesome place and the owner is really nice. He even let us stay after hours to wait out the rainstorm. His collection is amazing and if you have any money, you can buy stuff too (100-3000RMB). Once you get the street address, the guards at the apartment complex will give you a little card with directions on how to get there (it's in the basement of building B). Plus, it's kinda air conditioned.
Cloud Nine is the bar at the 87th floor in the Jin Mao Building where the Grand Hyatt Hotel is. The view is amazing! On a clear day, you can skip the Oriental TV Tower's 100 RMB fee and get a similar view for free (sorta). You have to take an elevator to 54th floor, then another one to the 85th floor, then one more to the 87th floor. There's a 120 RMB minimum person plus a 15% service charge, which will take anyone about 45 seconds to reach. And don't be fooled by everyone in suits -- there is no dress code. I suggest getting there before 10pm, because afterwards the bar is filled with people like the Vice President for Sales of Some Shitty Company With Questionable Values, USA.

another place is #3, coffee in KFC/McD's actually cost 4 RMB, and the one in KFC was so bad that my bf's parents took one sip and declared that that was all that they were going to drink of it. I'm not sure if it's an isolated incident, but if anyone's interested, we were at the KFC at the Suzhou train station!
Actually, in the time that you wait in line to get served et al at McD's, the coffee at my familiar cafe will already be out. BTW, I should just mention that maybe it's a good thing that I don't drink coffee... at least in China! In any case the cafe is still one of my favourite places to show travellers to, and coffee's not the only draw there.
Cheers!
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china tour