Anyway… i don’t hate Annie’s. But it shouldn’t even be considered for Restaurant of the Year, let alone win. They have fantastic delivery range and palatable, consistent food, but i can think of 20 places i crave more than Annie’s, which are just as consistently awesome.

Also try the Thai place in the wyndamere, little more expensive but exceptional food. The Japanese places including Hatsunes (a boat ride away north from Hangzhou tower, along the grand canal) as well as the Japanese BBQ place senkushiya on zhongshanzhonglu. He fang jie also has a great muslim place on the road running parallel just to the north.

I imagine provonce and angelos have died the death by now.

Also, note to restaurant managers, which we can call the Annie’s lesson: people get tired of overpaying for style / garnish pretty quickly, and excellent customer service can cover up for so many flaws.

BigCAD – my favorite western restaurants in Hangzhou are Panchos, Curry Bistro, The Vineyard, Zolo Pizza, M2-Tiba, and this really great Thai place over by Hefang Jie. I really want to like Mango Thai, but they are too hit-and-miss. And we really need an affordable, good indian place on the west side.

B o’ D’s – hangzhou in general is a great place to try if you’re done with Beijing’s pollution, traffic, filth, and lack of nature. I’ve come to really love it in the 9 month or so i’ve been there. Something about clean air and mountains just makes everyday better. Food and nightlife are excellent as well.

RhZ – The other one i couldn’t believe was Annie’s for best restaurant. That’s just ridiculous. Best Delivery Range, maybe, or Best Pizza When You Just Don’t Care Anymore. But Best Restaurant? Epic fail.

Shocked, shocked that Element Fresh won an award. There is a clear correlation between EF regular and mindless zombie drone.