#123 and I are in China. Last night we witnessed the mighty Socceroos dispatch the pride of the People’s Republic of China. The game was played in the magnificent city of Hangzhou. We are off to Suzhou next in a hit-and-run visit.
Hangzhou is famed throughout China for the beautiful West Lake and its causeways, bridges, temples and pavilions. It features on the RMB5 note. The locals and tourists alike flock in large numbers year round. There are countless temples in China, but the Lingyin Temple is one of the finest.
Hangzhou is also a major IT Hub in China (Alipay is headquartered here) and large companies and hotels jockey for prime position on either side of the Qianting River. Futuristic buildings abound in the CBD and the Olympic sports complex on the other side of the river.
#123 hasn’t been to China. It has been fun indoctrinating him into the idiosyncrasies of the China people. He also isn’t easy to lose in a crowd with his yellow Australia cap on a 6 foot 3 frame. In between a frantic pace of templing, West Laking and old school sightseeing, he is always up for a beer.
I only turned up one craft brewery in my research. Midtown Brewing is located in the Shangi-La Hotel very close to the north eastern corner of West Lake. I’ll give them full credit for an excellent fit-out. A big space with indoor and outdoor, and high and low seating. The beer has good potential, but it needs to be cold and more carbonated when you are charging Western craft beer prices.
Hengfa Pedestrian Street and Gaoyin Food Street are well worth the visit. The old merchant buildings are well preserved and if you can find a restaurant serving beggar chicken get into it.
In amongst these streets is a little gem called Tapdog. A truly Fortuitous™ discovery. It is pretty straightforward. It is a taproom that serves hot dogs. The beers are made by Brewing Equation, a brewery some where in Hangzhou.
There’s two lists of beverages, but they don’t line up and the bar keep’s English was on par with my Chinese so it was a little like beer lucky dip. Thank god there doesn’t appear to be a Chinese character for IPA – so you are on safe ground there.
We wanted to be compis mentis for the Socceroos, so we took it easy, but everything we tried was very, very good. If only we knew about this place the previous evening.
We tried to find Paper Plane Brewing, which looks well established but the Great Firewall of China and failed VPN makes research hard.
BTW, the Socceroos won. 70 Aussies in their own section out of an attendance of 70,588. The stadium was dry which we knew. Unfortunately, we were detained for “our safety” for an hour. After a testy stand-off we were allowed to walk home, rather than get put on a bus and drive 10km away from the ground. Again for our safety. The revenge crazed Chinese fans didn’t materialise and the few that were left were friendly and complimentary.
Long necks of Wusu beer never tasted so good.
back of the ferry 