Haikou doesn’t have a Starbucks. Or at least according to rumours, doesn’t yet have a Starbucks. However, unlike the rest of China, and much like India and Thailand, we do have branches of Coffee World and Pizza Corner.

The downtown Guomao Coffee World and Pizza Corner was the first Western restaurant we were introduced to after moving down to Haikou. I’d never heard of the chains before, but was looking forward to sampling something not steamed, stir-fried or boiled, and I wasn’t let down. Their pizza, while not earth-shattering and a far cry from the ‘za of home, was more than enough to subdue my comfort food craving.

Unfortunately, its distance from where we live made it a bit of a non-starter for regular visits. I think other parents with young kids will sympathize; when it comes to eating out with a toddler, close to home tends to win out almost every time.

We’re fortunate that where we live in Haikou has a variety of decent Chinese restaurants, and one crappy “pizza” place. As such, I’ve not really been left wanting, with the exception of not having a good spot to get a Starbucks-style coffee nearby.

But now we do. Not 10 minutes from our place is a newly opened Coffee World location, on Haidian Dao’s Wuxi Lu. This morning Maggie, the boy and I decided to take the spot up on its offer of 2-for-1 waffles and see if it was any good. It was.

Prices are about on par with what you’d expect at a Starbucks — iced coffee drinks run 25 RMB (med) to 35 RMB (lrg), and the waffles range from 22 RMB (plain) to 30-ish RMB for fancier stuff. Our berry-covered waffles were 27 RMB (and two for one!). The location is small, much smaller than the downtown spot; and lacks a Pizza Corner, so food is limited to waffles, NY-style bagels, some wraps, pasta, and other simple stuff. But still, it’s a nice addition to the collection of restaurants in our “18-month-old-meltdown-must-run-home” radius.

I should mention that Coffee World isn’t the only Western-style coffee shop (not to be confused with the plethora of UBC clones on every corner). There is a cute café called Milli Coffee just around the corner from the downtown Coffee World, and a newly opened one a few doors down from the Coffee World by us on Haidian Dao. It’s the spot I want to love, but can’t.

Milli’s old-sofas and ambient interior have a bit more charm than Coffee World’s polished cookie-cutter chainishness. However, both times I’ve been there its staff seemed more interested in practicing invisibility than serving customers. What’s more, the drinks are over-priced, especially considering their decor couldn’t have cost more than a day’s worth of iced cappuccino sales. I have a hard time paying a premium to sit on dirty second-hand furniture in a dimly lit place — but that might just be me.

And it has no 2-for-1 waffles (at least until the end of the year). But maybe the near proximity of both locations will be for the betterment of both places, and ultimately us iced-drink lovers.

So Starbucks, this is just to say, we still want you to come to the island, but in making us wait you’re going to have some decent competition when you get here.

We ended up dividing Casey’s first birthday celebrations into two. For his actual birthday we hit the local park and took him on the Ferris Wheel. It was funny to see Maggie tense up as we neared the top — I truly hope we get the opportunity to visit a real amusement park at some point and I can get her on a proper roller coaster. The park, only a few blocks from our apartment, is a frequent dog walk for me; however, this was the first time I really explored the different rides and stuff they have there. It’s pretty much a fully functional fairground, complete with games and everything.

On the way back from the park we stopped at a local bakery and ordered a birthday cake for his birthday party a few days later. We also grabbed a little cake for that evening, as a Wednesday or not, I didn’t think it was right for the kid to not have cake on the day of his first birthday. Quite unsurprisingly, his first experience with birthday cake was a huge hit.

A couple days after his birthday we did a small party with some friends, grabbing lunch and retiring to our place for cake and some mid-afternoon drinking. The downside to having a kid is that it severily truncates the lateness that you can stay up drinking socializing with friends. The upside is that it completely opens up the door to drinking in the afternoon.

I really wish all our friends and family could have been with us to celebrate this special day, but all-in-all it was good times. And as Casey’s not going to remember any of it but the pictures, we got lots of those too!

Cheers to Ben for loaning it to me. Eye opening and mouth closing. If you live in a country that doesn’t have Blockbuster or Netflicks, I’ve heard it’s also available via torrent download.

The review extolled the place as Suzhou’s hidden sub-continental jewel, an unassuming restaurant oddly named “Olive” situated just off Shiquan Jie right beneath Q’s Club on the far eastern end of the bar street. I hadn’t had any authentic Indian food in ages, and being that it was Saturday night and we had nothing but a Wii Mario Kart tournament planned — off we went.

The MORE review called the place “unassuming”, and they were right. Tucked 20-30 metres down the little alley that empties on to Shiquan Jie, we had to look twice before finding. But I suppose the best places are worth hunting for. Approaching the restaurant I was a bit worried the place might be reveling in the good press it had received and be too busy to accommodate us.

My concerns were quickly put to rest as we entered the place to our choice of empty tables in the vacant restaurant. Now my wife has drilled into me that in China when a restaurant is empty, you go elsewhere. Like not sticking your chopsticks in your rice, or always ordering more food than you need, these are the rules of dining out in China.

Pushing the snooze button on my wife-ingrained alarm bells, we sat down and were quickly brought a menu by the eager wait staff. Pricing was reasonable. Not cheap, but on par with the pseudo-Indian food that can be got out at Singha Plaza in SIP near where we live. I’ve gotten into the habit of judging a restaurant’s cost by how much they charge for Chinese domestic beer — and Olive hits the higher end of this, with >10 RMB for your basic Tsingtao (more for those little dark stubbies or the imports).

All-said we downed a bowl of Chicken Tikka Masala, a bowl of Rogan Josh, three hot-out-of-the-oven pieces of naan bread and a couple drinks for around 150 RMB. The food was amazing, and while I’ve never been to India, certainly hits my unknowing standards of “authentic”.

In talking with one of the owners after our meal he mentioned they’ll soon be changing the name to something more “Indian” themed — Delhi Palace — in an effort to curb the confusion that a very Mediterranean-sounding “Olive” moniker brings. He also grabbed my # and mentioned that they plan to occasionally host buffet-style parties in the upstairs.

While the price tag puts the place in the middle-upper end of Suzhou dining, the food definitely earns it, and I am looking forward to heading back there soon.