Shanghai Jan 2013: 海底捞 // Room Escape

Was in Shanghai for the week for work, and had a chance to hang out with Rina (who has since relocated back to Shanghai to be with her husband sho shweet!). It's winter time, so the temperature fluctuated between 0 to 7. What frustrates me though is that the heating indoors is ridik! So you're shivering outside, and you're sweating indoors. It's no wonder I caught a tiny cold there, sigh.

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On Tuesday, my lovely colleagues also brought me to eat 海底捞, which has since opened a branch in Singapore. It deserves a post of its own based on the excellent service, but well, I think the photos will mostly take up most of this post anyway. Basically even with reservations, you still have to wait because it is THAT popular. We went to the branch at Jingan District (北京西路店, Food Park), about a 10 minute walk from East Nanjing Road Metro Station.

So as I was saying, we had to wait for about 30 minutes. While waiting, they will serve you fruits, popcorn and drinks. You can have your shoes shined or get a manicure (for free!). When you finally get your table, you have a personal waiter doing everything for you. Ladies also get a rubber band so your hair doesn't get in the soup. You get a hot towel every 20 minutes or so. And when you visit the toilet, someone will on/off the tap for you and apply hand lotion for you. *jaw drop* And the total bill came up to only about $20/pax WITH BEER. L.O.V.E.



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On Wednesday, Rina brought me out to play something new. Ever played Room Escape games? Those where you find yourself locked in a room and have to solve various clues in order to escape? Well, we did the real life version. Hmmmm hahahhah.

Apparently it's a big thing in Shanghai, and there are many different branches around the city. The one we went to was in a condo building, and we were so sceptical like...I look at you, you look at me, if anything wrong JUST RUN! LOL. But nah, everything turned out well, the owner was super nice and I had a good time trying to escape Hurhur. We only had an hour, so of course we couldn't escape on time, but it was a nice experience.

Ended the night with a nice dinner at Bellagio Taiwanese restaurant.