Pub entertainment in Asia
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Pub
In an old Tudor-style cottage set well off the road, this venerable Chiang Mai institution semi-successfully calls up the atmosphere of an English country pub. The Friday-evening happy hour assembles all the old expats who claim to have arrived in the city on the back of elephants. Ice-cold Tiger beer on tap. It's a couple of hundred metres past Th Nimmanhaemin on the west side of Th Huay Kaew.
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McSorley’s Ale House
This cosy tavern-style watering hole in the Venetian is a genial spot that attracts rugby and soccer fanatics watching footy on the telly with its live-satellite broadcasts of European matches. The selection of imported beers and pub grub is extensive and reasonably priced.
reviewed
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Deck ‘N Beer
Offering exactly what it promises on its neon sign, this excellent new bar with no theme or fuss offers a deck, drinks including a good range of bottled beers and not much else – oh, apart from those spectacular waterfront views.
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Kuro-sawa
This chic izakaya (Japanese-style pub) is hewn from bare concrete and attractively low-lit, a fine setting to savour goodies like charcoal-grilled pork with ginger sauce. Look for the MOS Burger outlet on the ground floor.
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UN Irish Pub
A two-storey bar and restaurant, and stalwart on the Chiang Mai traveller scene, this is an old favourite for its Thursday quiz night and boozy nights. There's Guinness on tap, a beer garden and TV screens – sporting events are popular, especially rugby and football games.
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Oosters Brasserie
Grab a seat at one of the booths or on a bar stool and order from an extensive list of Belgian beers (Leffe on tap!) and trappist ales (expect Orval and Chimay). Get some mussels cooked any way you like.
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Willy's Second Base
Loud and fun, with good British pub fare on offer (meals NT$200 to NT$300).
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Armory Pub
A staple of the bar scene. Serves meals with a decent range of vegetarian options.
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Sideline Garden Restaurant
A large and atmospheric seafood resto-bar under a spacious pagoda behind Fuente Osmeña.
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Café Batavia
The place for a cocktail or just a cool Bintang in north Jakarta.
reviewed
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Club Football Center
With its wall-to-wall football memorabilia, live English premiership action, big screens and yelping punters at the bar, this is the most genuine British pub in town. A must for anyone obsessed with the beautiful game, beer (around Y10 for a bottle of Tsingdao) or pool and darts. There's a solid menu of pub food favourites. This is the focal point of Běijīng's amateur football scene and the place to come if you're looking for a team to join.
If you sign up for the free membership, you'll get emails of forthcoming matches and events. It's an adjunct of the Red House Hotel and reception will direct you there. Or you can enter directly by going up the alley to the side of…
reviewed
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Brauhaus Restaurant & Pub
The brick walls and dark wooden furniture in this basement pub, a hidden favourite for over 20 years, give it a distinctly Teutonic vibe. But what really makes the Brauhaus a slice of basement Bavaria is the vast selection of beers from all over the world, 150-plus including obscure names like Old Peculiar Stout, König Ludwig and Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale. Easily the most well-stocked beer house in the area, Brauhaus also boasts live bands from Monday to Saturday from about 8pm until 2am. It also boasts an outdoor pool table and a good menu featuring continental fare.
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British Pub
If it's pub grub, expats and large mugs of imported beer you're after then step into British Pub, which has been around for quite awhile, albeit under different names and management. The low-lit, dark-wood atmosphere is a bit sombre, but gets going at night with live music and free-flowing alcohol. The menu (dishes around US$3) includes burgers, fish and chips and steak; the fajitas are recommended. For something more ethnic, expats recommend trying Tandoori, located adjacent the British Pub.
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Two Black Sheep
Owned by a fun Aussie couple (he's a musician, she's a chef), this old-school pub is a great find. It has good grub and live music nightly. From 8pm to 10pm there's an acoustic set, then Chilli Jam, the house band, gets up and rocks till the last call. And it bans bar girls, which keeps everything at a PG (Parental Guidance) level.
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Nang Nual Riverside Pub
In the best Thai tradition, this riverside deck blurs the lines between a restaurant and a bar. Groups of friends gather around the whisky set and plates of kàp klâem (drinking food) to watch the river and the night flow by. At certain times, the bar’s blaring pop music competes for valuable air space with the Muslim call to prayer from the temple across the river.
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Tri Bochki
Occupying a prime, shady nook right on Ankhor Canal, this brewpub/restaurant has some of the best - and best-priced - homebrew in town. Their recipe was supposedly invented by German monks in 1514. There's live jazz by night and an equally cacophonic chorus of birdsong by day. From the bridge near Turkeston Palace on Navoi kochasi walk 50m north, passing two other restaurants on the way.
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Pig & Whistle
The Pig is a British-style pub with darts, pint glasses, and fish and chips. While many of its patrons have moved on to other venues, we still like this place for its relaxed layout and homey interior. The two main drawcards are Guinness on tap and friendly bilingual staff. The Pig’s on the 2nd floor of the Shobi building near the Sanjō-Kawabata crossing.
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Martin’s Pub
This relaxed drinking hole is an English pub à la Laos. It’s got the obligatory curved wooden bar with stools but the décor is distinctly local. There’s a good range of booze and burgers on the menu and ’70s, ’80s and ’90s classics in the background. Movies are screened nightly at 6pm and you can buy and sell sci-fi books.
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Gasthaus
Spry waitresses in German country outfits serve up foaming litre steins of homemade brew to the strains of oompah music in a this biergarten by a busy autobahn. The unfiltered brew is particularly endearing and goes well with the real Bavarian sausages (6000S). The summer patio is popular despite the street noise and the 20% service charge.
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Shenanigan’s
Following the international ‘Irish pub’ model, from dodgy draught Guinness to drunk and incapable patrons, this has long been a popular establishment in Kota Kinabalu. Live bands perform most nights from 9pm and the place is totally rammed on weekends. Prices are horrendous (up to RM30 for a small beer) but get better during happy hour.
reviewed
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Delaney’s
At this immensely popular Irish watering hole you can choose between the black-and-white-tiled pub on the ground floor and a sports bar and restaurant on the 1st floor. The food is good and plentiful; the kitchen allegedly goes through 400kg of potatoes a week. There’s also a branch on Peking Rd in Tsim Sha Tsui.
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Downunder Bar
Located inside the famous (or infamous) Orchard Towers, Downunder is probably one of the few pubs in the building that isn’t specifically a cheap clip joint for picking up. This Australian pub has beer on tap, a pool table and a dart board, making it a nice oasis from the building’s usual climate and clientele.
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Witch’s Tavern
This spacious joint claims to be an English pub, but it’s closer to a hotel lobby geared toward down-to-earth Thai professionals. Jazz and folk bands start up around 8.30pm, and at 10.30pm the house cover band takes to the stage, accepting requests from the audience. Ballads get the biggest round of applause.
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What the Dickens
What the Dickens occupies the 4th floor of the Roob building, whose outstanding facade looks as if it’s finished with a layer of mud and adorned with the mirrored replica of a hummingbird. The beer and pub grub are up to snuff, and good live music and the occasional poetry reading keep things rolling.
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Bugils
Bugils (an abbreviation of Bule Gila - crazy Westerner) in Taman Ria Senayan is packed with expats. There are tables outside and a pub atmosphere inside. Dutch beer comes as standard and the pommes frites are served in little plastic containers with mayonnaise, Amsterdam-style.
reviewed