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The people reading the restaurant pages on this site are disproportionately new here — foreign residents who have just arrived, and visitors deciding where to eat before they land. If you run a restaurant aimed at that audience, it is a useful one to reach. This page explains the single advertising product I offer, what it costs, and — at greater length, because it matters more — what it cannot buy. I will send current traffic figures on request rather than quote a number here that you would have to take on trust.
The rule everything else follows from
Money buys a labelled slot. It does not buy a review, a position in the directory, a rank, or a word of the editorial writing. The forty-five restaurants in the directory are there because I ate in them and paid the bill, and no amount of money moves a restaurant into that list or changes what it says. If that rule ever bends, the audience this product sells access to stops existing.
What ¥2,000 a month buys
A featured slot on the main directory page and on the one category page your restaurant genuinely fits — the district it is in, or the price band it occupies. One category, chosen honestly, not all of them.
The slot carries your own copy, up to about sixty words, plus a photograph you supply and a link to wherever you take bookings. It is visually distinct from the editorial entries and carries the word Partner, in the same size as the surrounding text rather than in grey six-point type at the bottom.
A month runs a month. There is no minimum term, no annual lock-in, and no auto-renewal — you tell me to continue or it stops.
What it does not buy, in specific terms
Not a review. I will not write about your restaurant in exchange for money. If I have eaten there and it is already in the directory, that entry stays exactly as written, including anything unflattering in it.
Not entry to the directory. The editorial list is a separate thing that money cannot enter. A partner slot sits alongside it, labelled, and a reader can tell the difference at a glance without being told.
Not a ranking. Nothing in the ordering of any list is for sale. The category pages sort by price, cheapest first, and that is arithmetic rather than editorial favour.
Not silence. Being a partner does not stop me writing something critical, and it does not get an existing entry softened. If that is a problem, this is the wrong product and I would rather say so now than take a payment and disappoint you in month two.
How it appears to readers
Every partner slot is labelled Partner and styled as an advertisement rather than as editorial. The site terms state that partnerships exist, and this page is linked from the directory itself rather than hidden in a footer.
That is deliberate. Disclosure that a reader has to hunt for is not disclosure, and an audience that feels quietly sold to is an audience that stops trusting the recommendations — which is the entire product.
Who this actually suits
Restaurants aimed at foreign residents and visitors, where a reader who has been in the city three weeks is a plausible customer. Places near the Hong Kong crossings, in Shekou, and in the two central business districts tend to fit best.
It suits you badly if you need a five-star write-up to justify the spend internally, or if the value depends on being described as the best of something. I cannot supply either.
What I would tell you to do first
Read the directory and see whether the audience looks like your customer. If your restaurant is already in it, the honest answer is often that you do not need this — an editorial entry outperforms a labelled advertisement, and it is free.
If it still looks worthwhile, write to me with the restaurant, the slot you want and the month you want to start. I will say plainly if I think it will not work for you.
Rates
¥2,000 per calendar month for one featured slot, invoiced monthly, no minimum term. Multiple slots or a longer run are quoted individually. Prices last reviewed August 2026 and held in the site’s own facts file, so this page and any quote cannot drift apart.
This page describes an advertising product and is the only commercial arrangement affecting the restaurant pages. Affiliate links are not used in the directory. If you ever spot a partner slot that is not labelled, tell me — that is a bug, and a serious one.