what's "Duo Duo Love"? ...don't be afraid!

    Sometimes I think us foreigners are a little afraid to venture into Chinese looking restaurants / coffee shops for fear of being in a non-English environment - all Chinese menus (without pictures!), staff and guests all conversing passionately in Mandarin or some other completely unrecognisable dialect... Anyway, I know this statement applies to me!

 I'm a fan of "Duo Duo Love"!

For quite some time now I've been a regular customer at one particular DDL coffee shop. There are several about town easily recognisable by their grey, black & white "DUO DUO LOVE" signage.

Recently they've gone through a bit of an image change, trying to become more "Western" or international - gone are Chinese favaouites like spare rib soup noodles and other menu items, along with the staff's baseball caps, orange coloured aprons and colourful interiors. Now it's a revamped menu, all knives and forks set on the table served by slick looking waiters / waitresses in head to toe night club black!

The prices went up too but it still represents good value. When DDL staff asked me what I thought of the "new" coffee - basically the same stuff, servered from the same machine but in a real coffee cup (out went the thin rimmed tea cups of before) I told them honestly I thought the only difference was that it is now RMB5 more than before - anyway, that got a laugh!

So don't be afraid to check out DDL. Good food, OK coffee and menus all in English with pictures!!!