About a year ago this Bakery came to Dalian. For many it has been the first experience of a Western style boulangerie and patisserie. I prevent myself visiting it too often as it is too fattening and "very, very delicious". The food is simpler and less variety than at Fauchon in Paris and it's Asian outpost in Busan in Korea. The nearest I have found here in Asian has been the OPS bakery, also in Busan.
Food: There is a range of breads including baguettes, cheese bread and panettone shaped bread
The small cakes and pastries are varied between "western" -sweet and Asian savoury (e.g. a hot-dog doughnut or vegetable eclair). Among the more recent offerings is a small dough cake containing pannecotta with fruit and the red beans (pannecotta is a cooked custard cream that blows crème brulee out the window). Around the corner are the "serious cakes"! There is a good selection of small and large cream cakes (Asian style) and also a good (non-gelatine) cheesecake (plain or topped with cherry or blackcurrant puree). The emphasis on the small cakes,however, is on chocolate, so if you are a chocoholic you will be in heaven!
Service: the downside! They have put this shop in a corner of the store and grossly underestimated it's popularity. It is too small. The operational logistics are a nightmare as the baking is just behind the customer area, and the area needs a total redesign/refit to separate the customers from the service side. You pick up tongs and a tray from a cabinet as you go round anticlockwise. The breads and cakes are in compartments with covers, which you have to lift to access your purchases. The passage is narrow - will only allow one person in line. But the staff have to replenish these compartments so they will push past with trays of new bakes clockwise. Once you reach the till the operation is swift and efficient. The packaging is modern and you get your goodies home safe and not squashed. THE MAJOR PROBLEM is the Chinese mentality of "I want it now - I won't queue - I won't wait in line to pay". So it is an "elbows and feet" job - stares and comments have no effect.
Prices: reasonable and competitive. My small cakes are 6-8 RMB, cheesecake is 10 RMB, the large loaves are up to 35 RMB and the very large cakes up to about 200 RMB
I went to All’s Well last Saturday with three friends. This restaurant is just round the corner from the bottom of Lianhe Lu.
On Saturday you can have an “all you can eat and drink” buffet for 49 RMB.
We were shown to a largish table in the corner of the restaurant which was very comfortable. The greeting and seating were excellent. In fact the waiting staff here is very good at their jobs.
You go and help yourself to whatever you fancy. As the restaurant was more than half full (a mixture of Westerners and Chinese families) the pizza turnover was very quick, so usually it had just come out of the oven. The other dishes were constantly being replenished.
Food: The pizza is what attracted me there and it was very good in style The pizza bases are thin and made with Italian flour (unlike the P H dough!) and the toppings are very generous and varied. There is also a wide range of salads, different kinds of fresh bread, 2 soups (my minestrone was a little disappointing but tasty), well filled kim bap and bits of what might have been be sushi. There is a cook-to-order grill: with very good thinly sliced steak (which they still able to cook rare!), which is covered in pepper sauce if you want it; meat balls, mutton and chicken kebabs (also sauced if you want). There are several different cakes and sweets – enough to completely seal any last hole in your tummy!
Drink: soft fizzy drinks, water and Tsingtao beer freely available. I never got to pay for and try their wines. I will leave that for a future occasion!
Service: It is here that the restaurant excels. The waiting staff immediately spot when your glass/bottle is empty and refill on request. They were also constantly clearing our table of the pile of empty plates.
Music: unobtrusive, so must have been OK!
Ambience: very good. I don’t know if or where smoking was allowed but I ate a meal in a smoke-free atmosphere.
Toilets: very clean (from a male point of view!).
I will be returning. It was a very good buffet meal that was not too expensive
Was introduced to the place by Jim and was there Tuesday evening. As Jim says: it is quiet in the week
Very pleasantly surprised with the ambience and the comfort of the place. Makes a welcome change from the usual Dalian hang-outs in the streets around the Shangri-la Hotel. Will be back!
I rated the food as average because I didn't have any. Really should also have a n/a rating.
This restaurant has been reviewed previously but informally in the Food section of Forum.
Originally it had a good write-up and then was much criticised. I said I would return to eat there and I did so last night. As I entered I was deafened by VERY loud taped music and a dancer on stage. I asked for and got a table as far away from the stage as possible! My entrance, however, signalled the end of the live entertainment and the large TV display then pumped out Indian music and dance videos, which were much quieter!
I ate alone but there was one other table of about 4 couples already in the restaurant. No one else came in before I left at about 9 pm. The decor is average up-market Indian but with so few people it seemed dead. As I only eat a little, I ordered popadums; butter nan bread; and their special mutton curry. I had banana lassi (yoghurt) to drink. I noticed that there were three wines on each table but the ancestry was unknown to me, so I declined!
The popadums (3 for 12 RMB) soon arrived - as nibbles. But there was no chutney tray, so I ate them dry. They were nice and spicy, but one of them was slightly burnt on one side. I think that this was due to the fact that in the pile of them pre-prepared in the kitchen, that one had been on top of the pile for some time and had dried out. Within about 10 minutes my nan arrived, quickly followed by the dish of mutton curry. The butter nan was slightly oily (butter?)and of the flakey variety; the dish of curry was excellent in texture, sauced at medium hot and of sufficient portion for me. The lassi drink was not cold. I really prefer it served with ice, but couldn't be bothered to ask for any. My only comment here is that the bill came to 80 RMB, so the price IS high. My service was excellent.
It is much more interesting in a restaurant, if you are on your own, to "people watch". The other table had (?) four couples: Western guys with Chinese gals and a Chinese guy, whose English was so good that he must have been Chinese-American. Their service (I felt) was very poor. Although we were the only 2 tables being served in the place, the waitress standing around failed to notice their empty water glasses that needed refilling; the Chinese girls were only drinking water. The party were already eating their meal when I arrived, but dishes of food were still arriving at their table (usually one at a time) when I left. The last arrivals were not being touched at all and the Chinese guy and one gal had started to smoke. Interestingly, half way through their meal 2 bowls of "mifan" and a plate of noodles were served. The Chinese girls fell on them as though they were starving. Is this a cultural observation about the Chinese not being prepared/adventurous to eat other country's dishes? One of the guys was quite dismissive about some of the food he was eating, so I gather their night was not 100% successful - as a gastronomic experience.
The ratings I have given are for my meal. So there are caveats.
Metro is one of those places that both excites and disappoints!
The trip there is an adventure for most westerners. It is located by the first stop on the light railway to the boon-docks (aka Development Zone). So you need to go to the light railway station at the back of the main railway station to get on the train. If travelling by bus - well that is an adventure in itself. The 705 is the number to take. BUT be warned, there are two terminii and if you get on the wrong one then you have quite a walk to get on the right one after being thrown off!. I always ask the driver AND show my Metro card. The terminus of the 705 is right by the railway station. Cross over the pathways and road and there is the entrance.
Getting in is no problem IF you have a card - just wipe it on the screen. But as a first time, you consult your stars. If it is a lucky day: with your passport they will take your photo with their crappy camera and issue you with the magic card. On a bad day, they will demand a written introduction from your "company", so see your FAO before you go.
All this is because Metro is NOT a supermarket, it is a wholesale supermarket, the same as back home. You are supposed to buy for your shops and in bulk. Going as a private person is a privilige - but the Chinese love money so they will let you in (usually!).
Once in, it is like Aladdin's cave - you never know what you may find. OR may NOT find! Cheeses (both hard and soft); wines (including half prices bargains); teas including Twinings) and coffees; and Italian food, are the best in Dalian. Many prosciutto, pasta sauces and little extras. When I was last there there were 3 different kinds of balsamic vinegar.
The down side is that most of the western food is expensive and the canned food is limited.
And then there is a wide range of electrical goods, including espresso coffee machines for your (un)ground coffee.
Clothes and household goods by the rack full.
So I go about once a month (I don't eat all that much!) and take a wad of cash with me. A Western credit card can cause difficulties. There is a taxi available to whisk you home or a walk back to the bus/railway station. There may be a free-ride Metro bus but I haven't found one yet.
aileen
Coltsfan
