I have a new favorite chill spot. We all know how important these places are. Without a good chill spot, how are we to work? Think deep? Recuperate from the daily grind? Spend hours online without interruptions? etcetera etcetera.
So it was with great pleasure that I stepped into Q’s Cafe on Tongzilin Road East, some weeks ago, and breathed in fresh bread and roasted coffee beans. Pastries lined the slick, elegant white wall to my right and filled the demurely lit display case to my left. Smooth jazz in the air and the comforting buzz of coffee being made. An air conditioner quietly went about its business somewhere discreet and private.
The seats? Red, plush and comfy. The tables bright white, un-covered in grease or other funk, and each with a tiny little candle waiting primly to be lit and enjoyed. Sounds upscale, doesn’t it? Until you order. The afternoon tea special (with coffee or tea) is 35RMB and includes a superb pastry. Either a chocolate danish or a green tea scone with real butter and jam. Everything is baked fresh in the wee hours and sold wholesale when the shop closes. No hard dry yesterday bread here. The web is fast. I love that.
Turns out the baker is a famous Japanese bread pimp and a co-owner of one of Bangkok’s most admired bakeries, Le Blanc. The owner is an ethnically North Korean Chinese named Sun Tian Guo who operates a coffee plantation in Baoshan, Yunnan (where all of the cafe’s beans come from) and a roasting operation in Wenjiang.
“We run things ethically here,” he told me today as I chewed on an almond danish. “Our beans are grown organically, and our bread and craft beer(!) is also made according to the highest standards. I know a lot of people like to tout their ‘ethical’ or ‘free trade’ practices, but we generally don’t. We just do it.”
The man is not lying. Everything I have had here is high quality. The staff are cool (mostly young ladies, of course) and the selection of breads and pastries includes two bacon-infused items. Bacon. Infused.
So this is my new favorite chill spot. Feel free to drop on by and have a bacon baguette with me or perhaps just sip a huge latte and scoop up scone crumbs with a butter-laden bread knife. It’s all good baby.
We’ll try and keep up a running commentary of Chill Spots as time goes on. Feel free to suggest your own as well. Hell, write about one and submit it to us if you want. We don’t bite.
Google Map
Editor’s Note: In the comments below there has been a little bit of confusion on how to locate Q’s Coffee & Bakery, so upon visiting for the first time I took some additional photos which are now below.
So, who will come to this chill spot, any Chinese or English words to describe them?
so far i have seen some high-class ladies, a superhot model, a band of douchebag young rich kids (only once, once they found out there is no smoking inside, they left) and me. A French family rolled through once.
So far the customers are:高端女性(gāo duān nǚ xìng),热辣模特(rè là mó tè),富二代(fù èr dài),lol.
Indeed, it’s not easy to get a conclusion since you only been there few times.
The web is fast you say ? Sounds like a perfect place
Fast internet is an enormous plus. I haven’t been to this place and it sounds awesome so I’ll definitely seek it out.
where is it located?
im gonna peep this since its right up in my hood. baoshan coffee isn’t my fav, but i’ll try it out for the ‘fair trade’ aspect the laoban prescribes to
Given the interior I suspect steeply priced coffee at 35RMB+ a cup.
Is my suspicion correct?
35rmb gets you a cup of coffee and a pastry, coffee’s are basically 25-30rmb normally. i never thought i was being ripped off.
I tried to find this place, but didn’t see it. What places are close to it?
From Sascha:
There are a few ez ways to find this place:
1) heading east from Renmin Road on Second ring road, take a right on Tongzilin Road East, go about 100 meters and it will be on your left hand side, a white building. Across the street from the Zhong Huayuan Entrance.
2) If you are heading south on Renmin Road, turn left BEFORE you get to the Kempinsky, on that small road after the underground antique shops there and before the main bldg of Kempinsky. Go all the way down that road until you hit Tongzilin Road East, park. It will be on your left up a bit, a white building.
3) If you are coming from Tongzilin or the Carrefour over there, head to the main intersection of the brick road, where Pizza Mandolini is and, if you are heading east, take a left and go all the way down. It will be on your right hand side, white building.
Google map: http://tinyurl.com/bneu9vr
there is one mistakes above, sorry.
2) if you are heading south on renmin road, take a RIGHT before you hit Kempinsky.
sounds like perfect place for a cup of coffee plus elegant place. Will definitely look for the place on my next trip to Chengdu pretty soon. I was there last year.
I found it (am actually there now). It might help to say it’s on Tongzilin Road East, not on north.
The chocolate croissant is really good btw!
And the special offer starts at 1.
*fixed thank you. I actually knew it was on East, but wrote North because I have brain issues. glad you found it.
I visited this place for the first time Saturday afternoon and it was great. I took a few photos and added them to the post above. There’s a photo of what the outside of Q’s looks like which should help anyone looking to locate this place.
yum!
Q’s is closing down to due lack of business
That’s a damn shame 🙁
When did you hear that?
this morning on my way to the subway, when i stopped off for my daily almond croissant. Sadness.
Do you mean they will close soon? Because I cycled past last night and they were still open.
After looking into this, I think what Sascha meant was that Q’s has changed ownership. It’s still open but apparently it’s not managed by the same people. Removed the “closed” notification, thanks Vincent.