The Real Deal Contest: Share a bargain, win free stuff
Five-kuai beers at Kro's Nest? Count me in!
We haven’t had a really good contest since the Celebrity Pub Crawl series and The Haiku Challenge months and months ago. In the spirit of the times – the increasingly hard times – I’m getting back to it with some free stuff.
The contest: Leave a comment about the best deals in town for those on an increasingly tight budget. It could be a happy hour, a weekly special, or a one-off event.
My pick: The weekly “We Hate Tuesdays” event at Kro’s Nest, where the first keg opened at 6 PM is free and then it’s RMB5 per pint to 10 PM. Plus, the pizza is huge: you can take some slices home for breakfast, thus saving more).
The prizes: Some stuff I get for free at tastings and events as well as a few items from my own personal stash (I’ll be adding to this list during the next few days):
- One bottle of Wolf Blass Gold Label Shiraz 2005
- One Riedel glass (drink that Wolf Blass in style)
- One Yunnan Red Wine corkscrew (from my trip outside Kunming – love these things)
- Two Dewar’s snifter and mini Whisky bottle sets
- One Blu Lobster apron (very nice, very blue, and looks like it can absorb a lot of foam)
- One Frank’s Place mug
- Two Four packages of Tim Hortons coffee (for use in that mug)
- One package of Beijing Devils rugby team coffee
- One XL T-shirt from Blue Frog (described as “very, very nice”)
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The nitty-gritty
Everyone who leaves a reasonable comment gets his or her name entered in the draw. This is all about helping out fellow readers, so please make useful suggestions (“eat chuan’r” doesn’t cut it).
It’s winner take all, i.e. one person gets all of the items listed above.
You need to be in Beijing to win, either able to pick up this stuff from me in Sanlitun-Workers Stadium or have a reliable daytime address to which I can courier it.
The deadline for entries is next Thursday at 5 PM. I’ll find some respected member of the community to pull the winning name and will announce the winner next Friday.
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Pick #1:
“We Hate Tuesdays” at Kro’s Nest. I go to the one at Workers’ Stadium North. Starting at 6 PM, the first two kegs on Tsingtao are free and then it’s RMB5 per pint until 10 PM. The pies are big, so you can take home a few slices for breakfast the next morning…
Cheers, Boyce
for ladies, nothing beats Friday night at TUN. Great drinks for free… and they’re the genuine article.
for the masses, i can recommend the saddle’s fajitarita monday where fajitas are 35rmb and marg 30.. that’s one hell of a worthwhile deal.
one off events: Carrefour wine fair! 100s of wines to try for free and even buy at 20% off retail.
this is incredibly difficult, first, you picked the best one by far. Second, eating chuanr (with a bottle of baijiu), especially if you have a really good local chuanr/chicken wing place, is an excellent way of spending a night. I must come up with something, though…
Damnit… I KNEW it paid to live in Beijing.
@Judge Panda: Can we move past the chuanr and just call it chuar?
[...] was just leaving a comment on the always refreshingly drinkable Beijing Boyce blog when I saw one of my biggest Chinese Pinyin pet peeves – [...]
@ beijingdaze,
Yep, the Carrefour event is sweet. Picked up a case of wine last time at a superb price. So far, I’ve had, uh, one bottle.
@ judge panda,
Yes chuan and baiju is a good deal, but I think that’s second nature for budget seekers. I’m sure you’ll find some great deal to share.
@ Ryan,
Yes, big time – if you like coffee mugs and aprons.
Cheers, Boyce
I will represent Wudaokou with the pyro’s pizza happy hour. The best thing about it is its at a time when you want to drink, 10pm till midnight-RMB 25 pitchers of beer and RMB 15 mixed drinks, 6 tequila shooters for RMB 50, plus in my opinion a far better pizza then kro’s.
La bamba also has a pretty good happy hour a bit earlier with 5 kuai draft.
Starting from Saturday and then running every week Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9pm all bottled beers and house spirits are 2 for 1 all night. Upstairs at Paddy O’Shea’s.
Okay, I’ll take an obvious one, but a favorite that’s been going strong for at least 4 years. The Den doesn’t seem to understand that its “happy hour” and not hours, but its definitely to the customer’s benefit with their 5pm-10pm half priced pizza and beer, its by far one of the city’s greatest deals.
I’d also like to throw in for Domus, a beautiful new spot closer to my hood. From 5pm-8pm, they put out a really nice, complimentary antipasti spread.
Pekotan lunch bento box: you can choose any THREE items to form your bento OR you may select THREE SERVINGS of only ONE specific item for RMB 28.
For RMB 28 (at any time – not just lunch) you can order SIX yummy jumbo PRAWNS as part of your bento.
Most people didn’t realize you could order three servings of prawn for your bento; each serving is two prawns.
Another one: ASAUMKA’s all-you-can-eat lunch for RMB 150.
All-you-can-eat sashimi, sushi, steak and everything else on their menu.
Includes one drink.
Is it just me or did the DVD shop on Sanlitun Hou Jie just multiply like Gizmo the Gremlin being fed after midnight?
I just counted three new copycat DVD shops on the same block!
My favorite bargain:
Club Sandwich’s excellent pepperoni pizza (RMB 25) and an iced coffee (RMB 10) or Qingdao (RMB 10). I can sit and use the excellent wi-fi (bring an adapter, BJ Boyce) all afternoon and always spend less than RMB50.
If you don’t know Club Sandwich, the address is here: http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/listings/dining/american/has/club-sandwich/
1 hot dog, 1 ice cream cone, 1 coke 10 kuai, or 3 hot dogs and 1 ice cream cone 10 kuai………..all at ikea!!
This one might come as a surprise to many people because everyone seems to think the place is uber expensive.
My vote goes to The Saddle FajitaRita Mondays.
Margaritas and Fajitas are half price all night so you can get a steak on a hot pan with onions, mushrooms and peppers with tortillas, guacamole, sour cream and salsa for 35 kuai. Then get a few Margaritas (or my favorite pina coladas) for 30 kuai each and its a good start to the week and will get you full and drunk on the cheap
There is a teppanyaki place on the third floor of China View (called Tairo-something or other) that has quite a good deal. For 150rmb (per person) you can eat anything and everything off the menu as well as fill your belly with drinks. The upside is its not buffet-style, rather you choose items right off the menu, so they are much fresher.
OK, I have a few more to add:
Here’s a deal where at the least, the ladies drink for free, and at best, they take home some prize money:
Club China Doll: “Ladies drink free. RMB 1000 nightly prize to be split between the best dancer and sexiest girl. Free. Club China Doll (6417 4699)” details
Well, maybe not for everyone…
Others:
Thursday nights at Tun: Live music, no cover, and two beers for RMB15
Or for those seeking style, Aria’s happy hour offers 2 for 1 drinks PLUS some pretty good snacks.
Cheers, Boyce
Hey Boyce, what are you doing entering your own competition? Can’t bear to part with the gifts, huh?
@ 8 Songs,
Well, I do kind of regret including that blue frog T in there.
By the way, where is *your* entry?
Cheers, Boyce
would like to also add…..matsuko….78 rmb lunch……….all you can eat, includes beer and beverages , desert , tons of sushi , sushi rolls…plus 3 cbd locations near my work
Alas, I am going to be sitting on a beach in Australia the next two weeks, so I fail on the part where you “must be in Beijing”.
I’d like to be the first to extend the concept of best food and drink for your buck to include food, drink AND a bit of moderate outdoor exercise.
Billing themselves as the Drinking Club With a Running Problem, the Beijing Hash House Harriers run every Sunday afternoon through the hutongs, parks, construction sites, and drainage ditches of our fair capital in search of ice cold Yanjing Daping’r.
For 20 kuai you can enjoy a pre-run beer, during run beer, and post-run beers (and the run, I guess)…all you can drink. 60 kuai gets you the beer, the run, and a hearty Chinese meal at the end.
Check hash.cn for details.
The Rickshaw’s “Hair of the Dog” (the 6th of each month, meaning it follows Cinco de Drinko at Saddle Cantina) has half-priced drinks all day.
Three more great deals:
1. 25 Tuesdays at Blue Frog. It’s not a place I regularly hang out at, but if you’re in the Village on Tuesday, all standard drinks are just 25 kuai.
2. For all of November, OT Lounge has Brooklyn Lager for just 20 RMB a bottle.
3. And finally, the ultimate deal (why they are doing this … I don’t know) is The Boat’s Thursday “Alt Dance Party” in which you get two drinks free between 9 and 11pm. There isn’t even a cover.
I still think when it comes to food, the Auberinge in Shangdu SOHO is the best deal when you crave for a European fare lunch on a budget. For mere 36RMB you get a lunch deal including soup and nice portion of Danish Roast Pork with potato wedges, something that looks like clover, and rich, fat sauce… It’s definetely my choice.
Ok – maybe its not the CHEAPEST deal, but its a good deal if you’re up for a good-quality cocktail in one of Beijing’s newest swanky bars. For the last few weeks, Mesh Bar at the new five-star boutique hotel in Sanlitun – The Opposite House – has been doing the classic 2-for-1 deal on Thursday night’s from 7-11pm. Drinks are a bit pricey to start with, but at 2-for-1 you get to try some of their signatures such as kiwi-thyme mojitos and lychee-passionfruit martinis, along with classics such as Cosmo with a good fresh lime juice kick – at half the usual price. :)
Rickshaw’s Taco Tuesday (during happy hour)
3 tacos 40RMB
1 pitcher (I usually get margies)60RMB
Full stomach and one hell of a drink 100RMB!!
go down to your local xiao mai bu (local store) pull up a seat outside and drink 2 kuai beers and chat with the locals til the sun comes up! You just might get to the locals to play a game of cards or chess with ya – and that’s priceless!