Noodle Show in Wudaokou

After the hell hole horror that was Carrefour/家乐福, Mike and I decided to get some nice comfort food. Hot pot had just been decided upon as the desired food when Mike's friend Cordell fortuitously called us and invited us to hot pot with his friends! We hopped on the subway (the nearest station to us is Suzhou Rd, which I find kind of funny since we are not in Suzhou) and jetted northeast to Wudaokou, which is kind of a fun student area plus Koreans. Chadd, Rob and Hunter joined us; Hunter was very excited to learn that we were going to a Korean area.

We met Cordell's friends, who were somewhat taken aback at the size of the group, which I guess was understandable, but they were still a bit sour about it throughout the meal which was tiring. Luckily the food was delicious, so we could concentrate on that. We had three different types of broth, a chicken stock type broth, a medium spicy broth and a Sichuan style super spice broth that was YUMMMMM-Y! We ordered beef, lamb, tongue, tofu, veggies, fish balls and noodles to cook in the broth. You also got to make up your own sauces from many options, plus tasty peanut sauce. The noodles were very interestingly prepared, they came in large flat blocks and are pulled apart by an enthusiastic waiter right in front of you, twirled around, and fed into the burbling pot. The spicy Sichuan broth got everyone, and we downed plenty of water and Harbin Lager beer (shades of Global Strategy, where Hunter and I had to actually do a 30 minute presentation on Harbin Lager).

After the meal (which came to 50 yuan per person), we went to a local bar called Red House, with 5 yuan draft beers. The bar was full of trendy local Chinese kids drinking and talking loudly, as well as some British expats (Cordell's friends were British as well). A good time was had by all, and we made it back by 12:30, not too late for the next day's company visit.