It was quite a ride over there. I took the subway to what I thought was close and took a cab from there. Turns out the cab was still 90 yuan. (about 12 dollars). I took a cab all the way back home and it was cheaper coming back! Well anyway, it was a bit out of the way, but how could I pass up this opportunity?
Shunyi is where primarily foreigners live. It is like America in Beijing. I could see the benefit of this, but why move to China to live in the U.S.? Plus you are so far away from everything. Shunyi is home to most of the international high schools, an option I have been told would be a good job for me to pursue with my teaching experience.
I finally made it to Smallville. Here is the sign:
Upon entering the cafe, I was greeted by an encouraging sign:
(Christ is the head of this house, Amen)
Shunyi is home to one of the larger expat churches, River of Grace. It is a charasmatic/pentecostal type of church. I assume the owners must go there. There were also free River of Grace taxi card books in the restaurant. Taxi books are a must for foreigners. They are full of cards with addresses of places written in English and Chinese (restaurants, churches, attractions, etc.) You show the card to the taxi driver and he can take you there based on the address. It helps when you don't know the language!
After this I was immediately greeted by the comic book posters. I found it strange that in a cafe named Smallville, most of the posters were Marvel comics and Superman is a DC comic. Oh well, it was a geek's heaven anyway.
Next I sat down and was ready to order. The menu was basic greasy diner fare (perfect). All the dishes were named after comic characters. There was the Joker-pancakes, sausage or bacon; Ironman- eggs, potatos, toast, bacon; The Hulk burger; It's a bird, it's a plane, it's grilled chicken; The Avenger-eggs, pancakes, potatos, toast, bacon or sausage; The Penguin- omelet with bacon/sausage;Milkshakes (Holy Cow Batman!); I had the steak and eggs, also known as Daredevil:
Did I enjoy myself? Yes. Would I go back? Probably not, unless some of my comic geek friends came to town. It is just too far away. The food is good, but there are similar American style diners much closer. This one just happens to be the only one with a comic book theme. Plus it's tough to get a cab in Shunyi back. The cabs just don't drive through this area on regular basis. I finally got one after about 15 minutes of waiting, as opposed to about 2 in the city itself.
Somebody save me.....
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