Food
Shandong cuisine, tracing its roots back to the Spring and Autumn Period 2500 years ago, presents its food (usually deep-fried, braised, roasted or stewed) with a strong emphasis on soy sauce, shallots, and garlic. Qingdao, often regarded as "the cradle of Shandong Cuisine", puts a spin upon the usual Shandong dishes with it concentration on seafood (sea cucumber, scallop, conch, prawn, and red porgy). Well-known dishes include "sea cucumbers stewed with shallots", "stewed salted fish" and "celery with creamy soup". Made in simple style, these dishes are available in most restaurants.The best way to enjoy Qingdao cuisine is probably to head down to any of the many little seafood restaurants on the shore or around Laiyang Lu. For a better (and more pricey), atmosphere the hotels are a good way to taste seafood with less of the language barrier problems. The Qingdao Seafood Restaurant, on Qingyu Road, is also a more expensive, but better quality, seafood provider.Qingdao also has a fairly large Muslim population and a couple of Muslim places are scattered about, most noticeably the Donglaishun restaurant (Donglaishun fandian) and the Qinghai Muslim Restaurant (Qinghai musilin fanzhuang, on Dexuan lu), as well as numerous meatstick (Chuanrou) sellers.McDonalds and KFC are both now resident in Qingdao, almost next door to each other near the train station.
Qingdao is famous in Shandong for its variety of commercial products, from the well renowned Laoshan mineral water to its shell carvings. The main shopping and commercial street runs along Zhongshan Lu, although most of the shops here are either clothing or food orientated. If it is your wardrobe that you are after then this road, along with the Longshan Underground Market (Longshan dixia shangye jie) below Xinhaoshan park (Xinhaoshan gongyuan), are your best bet.For an introduction into the shell carving of Qingdao, beyond sifting through the rather tacky versions around the pier area, you can arrange a tour through CITS (in the Huiquan Hotel on Nanhai Road) to the local factory. CITS can also arrange tours to the local Brewery and the Locomotion Engine Factory.Qingdao is also famed for its tea, the Taoist Laoshan variety, that is presumed to flourish on the natural spring waters of that holy mountain. This tea can be brought all over Qingdao, as can the Laoshan beer and Laoshan mineral water.Near to the Shangri-La Hotel, on Zhanshan dalu, is the local Carre-four Supermarket
Quality entertainment in the Qingdao area is surprisingly hard to come by. Many of the top hotels have nightclubs and bars, although, as with all such places, prices are high. Much the best way to entertain yourself is in a long course meal of sumptuous, freshly caught fish, with a few cool Qingdao beers, followed by a stroll on the pier watching tai ji being practiced along the waterfront and the moon reflected in the sea.There are numerous nightclubs and karaoke bars that seem to cater to the well oiled Chinese, but only a few are really worth a look in for the intrepid. For those staying in the west, around the Friendship and Peace Hotels, there is a disco in the International Seaman's Club, just near the passenger ferry terminal, and the Friendship hotel has its own disco, although small and not particularly great.For those seeking the finer side of life, a trip to the Brewery can be arranged through CITS (with an office in the Huiquan Dynasty Hotel on Nanhai Lu), although this can only be visited as part of a tour group.