If food is the most important thing in your life, when you go to a new city you make it your personal mission to taste everything. 

And that's exactly what I did when I was in Shanghai. Foodies will be pleased to know that this city truly delivers on the food front, some of my highlights include:- 

Not strictly food, but when the weather is 30c you're going to need a lot of drinks. This chain is dotted all over the place and they create some interesting combinations.
Mr Willis - perfectly placed in the French Concession on the second floor above an Italian bakery, this delightful restaurant served up some of the best pork I've had, and the pizza was pretty damn amazing too. 
This Piggy Went Nowhere
Pidzzza
An Array of Food
To build up our energy before an afternoon of venturing around museums we went to Shook. When a three course lunch for less than £12 tastes this good, you need to know about it, actually - you just need to go there. 
For Starter
For Mains
The British love their High-Tea and when you're craving it in Shanghai, you'll want to head to Hotel Indigo. The views over the Bund are as nice as the peach melba on offer. 
A Little Quirky
Cake
Ginger is a cosy restaurant that offers tasty food. We were bit full from snacking throughout the day so just went for kebabs, a pork salad and desserts. 
We All Love Taking Pictures


A Much Better Pic.
Get stuck into some Cantonese food at Bu Duo, you can find the place here. Everything we had was delicious and will set you back no more than £5-£7.  
Lunch at Jean George No. 3 on The Bund was the perfect way to end my trip in Shanghai. Everything here was perfect, except of course for my inability to take pictures. On my next trip I will invest in a good camera. The set lunch menu and a drink cost around £30.
Starter
Good Piece of Fish

Beef - As Rare As Possible


Shanghai - The Food.

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Tuesday, 9 July 2013

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I've got loads of travel info about China which I'll get around to posting, but for now, here are some pictures that give an overview of the lovely Beijing and Shanghai:
Forbidden City 
Temple of Heaven

Some Park
The Same Park - pretty picture, right?
Museum Stuff
My Life Saver
Museum of Contemporary Art  
Been a fool  
Starter at Jean Geroge - No. 3 On The Bund

Jean Geroge - Part 2 
The Great Wall
View From Taxi
My Feet and the Pearl Tower 
Olympic Village
Friends on The Bund


I'll post some more information soon....

China - Travel Pics.

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Saturday, 29 June 2013

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My first weekend in June was spent visiting two friends in Bristol. I didn't know what to expect as I had never been there before, but after having a few days wondering around the city, I'd highly recommend going. Highlights include:- 

Hyde & Co - A secret bar just off Park St. 

 Haus Bar - Underneath an Indian restaurant, probably my favourite place we visited. Very old school with a nice crowd and average price but great tasting cocktails. 

 Rosemarino - served a good Egg Royale, with perfect poached eggs and the hot weather meant we could sit outside

Saturday night dinner was spent at Aqua, a great Italian restaurant with friend friendly staff and awesome food. My lobster ravoli tasted great, surprisingly, I had no room for dessert. 




Bristol

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Tuesday, 11 June 2013

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Below are some of the common questions I wanted to know when I was applying for my tourist visa to China. Hope they help.

1) This is the official site. Use it to print off all the forms.
2) You need to send ONE photo measured at 48mm high X 33mm wide. I couldn't find anywhere that did this specific size so I got a standard passport photo and trimmed it. 
3) Doing it by post is expensive. If you take the passport to the visa office it costs £36, by post it costs £54. You also need to send it Royal Mail special delivery and provide a pre-paid envelope which also needs to be special delivery. This is an additional £13. 
4) According to the official website, you have to book your flights and hotels before applying for the visa. I tried searching online to see how strict they are about this, but couldn't see much information and therefore I booked these before applying. 
5) You need to apply about a month before you go. It says on their website that applying by post takes between 7-10 working days for the visa process to be completed. I sent mine on a Thursday and it came back to me the following Friday. 
7) I sent mine to the Manchester office and the address is -  

Visa Application Service Centre
First floor, 
75 Mosley Street
Manchester M2 3HR

Other tips... 

 Emirates seemed to the best airline both in terms of price and total journey time. Emriates flies from Birmingham daily which is great if you don't live in London. 

 For information on the bullet train and how to book tickets, this guy is a hero and gives you all the information you need for both trains in China and everywhere else in the world - http://www.seat61.com/China.htm#.UaXiV5ywfsc

 I sent out a random tweet about local food and the Hilton replied back with the following. Thanks, guys.

Still thinking of going to China and need that nudge? Check out these videos...
Disclaimer -

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.

How to get a Chinese Visa - and other things.

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Wednesday, 29 May 2013

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Budapest. The facts:-
1 - It's a 2.5 hour flight from London Stansted. We went with RyanAir. 
2 - A taxi from the airport for 4 people cost us 8000 HUF
3 - We stayed here, which was a great location
4 - We went between March 28th & April 1st and it was cold - pack layers!!
5 - As mentioned in the previous most, Onyx is well worth a visit 
6 - The Terror Museum, Castle Hill and Ludwig museum are all great
7 - Tram numbers 4 and 6 run through the centre of the city all day and night
8 - Do make sure you go to Instant and Corvinteto, both are fantastic nights out and you wont leave before 5am. 
9 - We went to Szechenyi Baths, and although they were really clean and everything you would expect, because they're the biggest in Budapest, it's extremely  busy. I'd suggest going somewhere smaller.
10 - Note: there is a 24 hour McDonalds by Oktogon metro stop which is heaven after a late night at Instant.
11 - And PLEASE go to the ruin pubs! Click here for a list
    12. A great source for information is http://visitbudapest.travel/
                      


Budapest

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Wednesday, 1 May 2013

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When I’m asked if we’re better off with social media, I always answer with a definitive “yes.” And here’s why.

Last week I discovered Warby Parker. They are a designer frame and online eyeglasses company based in New York. Their business was built by the founders outrage at paying extortionate prices for eyeglasses. Customers simply go on the Warby Parker website, select 5 designs they like and they deliver them to your home. You select the pair you prefer and return the ones you don’t. Not only that, but this YouTube videos shows their company mission, for every pair of glasses you buy, they give a free pair to someone in need.

There’s something really authentic about this company and after watching this you can see that their purpose goes beyond their bottom line. I went on their website – which has been beautifully crafted too – and discovered that they didn’t deliver to the UK and so I tweeted them this.
Not only did they tweet me back, but they sent me a video reply.


It’s great example  of what the social media platform allows brands to do.  A tweet back was great, but a video reply was even more personal.

Cindy Gallop, the former Chairman of BBH New York, recently said that brands of the future need to do good and make money simultaneously. And this brand is a great example of that. Their business was built because they believed Americans paid too much for glasses, but they have a goal to do good and serve society. It’s capitalism with care. The result? Well we all want our glasses from Warby Parker, of course.

I love how they use social media. They constantly reply to customers on twitter, helping them decide on which glasses to pick and to answer any queries. Whereas their Facebook platform constantly publishes pictures of their adventures; these escapades are further talked about on their website warbyparkerclasstrip.com where they give details about restaurants they visited and bloggers they’ve met. Then they have two blogs, one with a more humourous tone showing animals warbybarker.tumblr.com and the other filled with rich visual images and articles about various topics such what they're doing to help communities in South America blog.warbyparker.com. 


Thank God for Social Media

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Tuesday, 16 April 2013

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Onyx marked my first visit to a Michelin star restaurant, and what a restaurant it was. 

 Everyone who knows me will point out my love of food, and how - unashamedly - I prefer food over almost everything else in life. I’m not usually one to dine in fancy restaurants, a career in marketing  doesn't really allow it. However, on a recent trip to Budapest a friend suggested we try this very fancy restaurant, and I’m so glad we did. 

 As highlighted in the pictures below, each dish was perfectly laid out and tasted as delicious as it looked. Each course was brought out to us by waiters wearing gloves who carefully explained what was on each dish and did everything they could to make make sure our glasses were never empty. 

 After going to my first Michelin star restaurant and tasting the quality of food, enjoying the décor, and talking to waiters who were as excited by the food as we were, I've built up an appetite for more Michelin starred restaurants. 







Michelin Star

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Tuesday, 2 April 2013

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