And we did it! The largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the whole Asia happened right here at Changkat Bukit Bintang with a total of over 10,000 people turning up for the event, painting the entire street and bars with a sea of green.
I was there, and I hope your St. Patrick’s Day was as eventful as the one we experienced.
St Patrick’s Day at Changkat Bukit Bintang, getting started
Amazingly, we is only the 6th installation of Guinness St. Patrick’s festival here in Malaysia, and we are already on top of Asia. Perhaps in a few more years we’ll have it as big as the big boys over at Europe and America.
Suan, FA, and myself arrived at the scene pretty early to beat the crowd (and to allow ourselves to have more Guinness, of course), and things are already starting to get busy by around 6+ in the evening. The street was blocked from traffic, and everywhere was decorated black and green.
plenty of friendly servers on stand by
I give credit to the event organizer for hiring plenty of help for the event. Friendly servers everywhere, and most importantly, Guinness stands being set up right along the street at practically every 10 meter or something. There were tables and chairs on the road as well.
It was everything you’d need to have a good time, and more.
looking the concentration Huai Bin has. Robb was there too
A bunch of us also dropped by Arthur’s Lounge (converted from Frangipani for the day) and got to try pretending to be a waiter and pour a perfect pint (in which we got to drink right after).
Check out the level of concentration on Huai Bin’s face in doing just that!
and that’s how you pour a perfect pint
We then proceed to go upstairs and hanged out a little while our personalized Guinness mug was being prepared, and best of all, there were food served as well. Little servings of salmon on bruschetta, meatball on toothpick, spaghetti in a soup spoon. You know, those tiny fine food, which went well with the beer, of course.
and the party is on, full blast
All these while, the party right outside was going on full blast. The parade with clowns, stilt walkers, Irish dancers, and lots of other entertainers.
As I was chilling with some of my colleagues from four other countries, the Guinness bikers strolled by with their Harleys, instantly triggered a flood of flashes as party goers were eager to take photos of them. (by the time I got out from the bar, they were gone, garhh.)
Huai Bin, Suan, FA, Michael, Hitomi, Marcky, yes we obviously had fun.
At the other end of Changkat was a stage where you can near laughter from the crowd as you go nearer. That’s where the comedians were at work. Serena C and Prem were on the scene hosting the entire event, it was really a massive party.
And then the fireworks came on, and the crowd literally went wild with their cameras. Good times!
some fine folks from all around too
So that pretty much summed up my St. Patrick’s Day. Good beer, great time, and even better company. How was yours?
If you’ve missed the big one at Changkat, there are still a few upcoming Guinness St. Patrick’s celebration for this year yet!
After the public off days in January and February, one of the most common theme at the office is people complaining about the lack of holidays on March and April.
Well, so far as government sanctioned holidays, that might be true, but for anyone who likes to enjoy a pint of Irish goodness every so often, there is always the 17th of March – Saint Patrick’s Day!
The 18th is a Sunday, which makes this year’s St. Patrick’s Day ever more convenient, since we can thoroughly enjoy the drinks without worrying about having to get up early the next day. Yeahhhhhhhh!
For those who isn’t familiar with St. Patrick’s Day, there’s a wikipedia entry on it; for those who already know what it is all about, here are some extra fun facts:
As with the previous two years, on this 17th March this year, GUINNESS is bringing back the St. Patrick’s Day Street Party at Changkat Bukit Bintang.
The whole street will be transformed into an iconic St Patrick’s street party from 6pm till late, there will also be the “Comedy Court’ with some of the funniest people in the region with their hilarious performances.
Do not miss out!
Other than Changkat, GUINNESS is also bringing St. Patrick’s experience to the following cities:
All throughout March, there are special promotions in more than 2000 GUINNESS outlets nationwide. Get a GUINNESS St. Patrick’s miniature glass (5 different designs) with every 4 glasses of GUINNESS draught or a bucket of GUINNESS Foreign extra stout. There’s also limited edition GUINNESS St. Patrick’s t-shirt available every Thursday from 8th March till 31st March 2012 for just additional RM 10 in 178 selected outlets.
It is simply the best month for Guinness lovers. From the photos above, you can sorta tell that I am one of those people. 
Hop on to www.facebook.com/guinnessmalaysia for more information!
As with every celebration that matters, there is also a pledge that I urge you to take part in.
GUINNESS wants to make St. Patrick’s Day officially the ”The Friendliest Day of the Year” by getting 1 million people from all over the world to pledge. I’ve put in mine, how about you? If we hit the targeted number, this will also go into Guinness World Records title for Most pledges for a campaign, be a part of it!
Head to St. Patrick’s Day Pledge on Facebook to do it.
See you at Changkat Bukit Bintang on the 17th March!
This post is a little bit late, considering Christmas is actually sorta.. well, over, but better late than never, right?
A couple weeks ago I was invited to probably the biggest Merry Guinness event at Double Tree by Hilton in KL, featuring the winner of MasterChef Australia season 2 – Adam Liaw. Guinness & good food? I can’t resist, even though it meant that I had to braved the KL traffic on a weekday to get to this place.
Merry Guinness with chef Adam Liaw, Kelly Siew at lower right
A kitchen was set up in the main banquet hall, with chef Adam Liaw demonstrating how many of the Guinness infused dishes served for the night is created. While we waited for the dishes to get ready, unlimited rounds of Guinness were being served.
Good life yah?
oysters, chicken and egg terrine, squid, lamb shank pie, gravad lax
As for the food, we were actually served over a dozen different dishes over the course of the night, and yes, I was stuffed at the end of the night. Here’s the menu in two parts:
Chef Adam’s Inspired Menu
Guinness butter roasted chicken, Christmas vegetable
The second part of the menu, Christmas Feast:
roast pumpkin soup with julienne smoked duck,
Christmas pudding, BBQ wings
Many of the dishes were excellent, I particularly think that the sauce for gravad lax and oysters were executed to perfection. Chicken and egg terrine were interesting but tasted slightly foreign to me, and the wings & buttered chicken would perhaps be that much better if served warm (the room was too cold I guess, and they didn’t really serve it with heated plates).
The squid too was perfect as finger food to go with Guinness, but ultimately there were really just way too much food for my stomach that I actually skipped desserts.
desserts & drinks, Nigel, Michael, Wilson, and yours truly mucking around
This was another rather awesome event by Guinness, and it is a shame that we can’t order some of these creations by chef Adam Liaw anywhere in the country. Perhaps some pub owners will take note and incorporate some of the ideas into their menu (oysters & the gravad lax please!)
And by the way, hope you had a great xmas and Happy New Year!
For the Beer fans out there, you might have noticed that it is now already Oktober, the month that is forever associated with a festival that many of us undoubtedly are familiar of – OKTOBERFEST!
Paulaner – Strongbow – Guinness - Tiger Beer – Kilkenny
For the uninitiated, Oktoberfest is a month long celebration of good beer, good food, and plenty of performances and of course, that calls for huge celebrations.
This year is no different than previous years, GAB will again celebrate Oktoberfest in various restaurants and pubs across the country on the whole month of Oktober.
Oktoberfest at Bulldog, expect more of these!
There will be quite a lot of places celebrating Oktoberfest. On these celebrations, Paulaner, Strongbow, Guinness, Tiger Beer, and Kilkenny will be on happy hour all night long on draught.
Furthermore, available exclusively during Oktoberfest festival are Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier, Hopf Ice Beer, and 111 Zwickl. You won’t want to miss out!
If you haven’t been to one, you should! I went to Oktoberfest at Bulldog last year and had a whale of time. There were tonnes of beer to go around and they are usually coupled with awesome food, and all with very good deals too, just in the name of the celebration.
Check out the video above to get an idea of what’s awaiting.
Check out the massive beer mugs in FA’s hands
At every GAB Oktoberfest celebration, you’ll also get a 1 Litre Oktoberfest Mug with every purchase of 1 Litre Tiger Draught, look at the photo collage above, the bottom right mug is about the size of the Oktoberfest Mug you’ll be getting (held by FA, the lady in red).
All GAB brands are involved in the celebration, including one of my favorites - Guinness. In fact, I suspect that this might be even genetics as it too was my late dad’s favorite choice of drink. The black creamy beer with the distinct aroma and slight bitter taste that simply has no competition for the past 250+ years.
Everyone can enjoy this awesome goodness, bottled or draught
I’m also a huge fan of Kilkenny as well, and this brand too will be on happy hour all night long during Oktoberfest with GAB. Yes!
At whichever location, it will certainly be an entertaining night, with games and a special appearance by Die Dorf Fest Kapelle, a “Bavarian Style’ Oompah band who will be performing for the night.
KY & Haze having a Kilkenny over supper
For the definitive green beer fans, Heineken too is one of the beers featured in this celebration. Ale, Lager, or black beer, we’ve got everything covered.
So, fellow beer lovers, here is the list of Oktoberfest celebrations in Malaysia with GAB:
Visit www.facebook.com/OktoberfestMY now & find out where u can join the fun, games & band tonight!
I haven’t been to 798 Wine Bar at TCM yet so that’s the one that I am aiming to be for Oktoberfest, can’t wait, it’s gonna be a blast for sure.
The question is, how many Oktoberfest are you going to attend?
It’s that time of the year again, the time when Guinness is going to rock Malaysia on Arthur’s Day 2011 edition. This is installment number 252, yes, the famous black beer has been around this long, and will be around long I am gone.
This is the 3rd year running that Guinness is bringing in a big act to town for the celebration, and this year it is none other than Taio Cruz.
If the name does not immediately ring a bell, check out the video above and I’m sure you’d know the ultra catchy tune being played at every club that matters.
The big party will be at:
In previous years, you can usually buy a ticket to the concert, but this year, the party will be exclusively by invites only.
For those who are interested, there is good news, I have FIVE (5) pairs of exclusive tickets to be given out here. All you need to do is tweet or post a photo of yourself on facebook wearing your Arthur’s Day outfit, and post the link on the comment box below.
That’s it, the 5 most interesting photos get the tickets, I’ll be the judge and decision is unfortunately, final.
It is a Money can’t buy event! So win them here and good luck yo!
For more information hop on to http://www.fb.com/guinnessmalaysia
Remember, money can do a lot of things, it can even buy you a pint of Guinness like the one pictured above, but money can’t buy experience, some things you’ll just have to earn it!
the photos taken from Arthurs Day 2009 and 2010
Some of the best parties I’ve had was at Athurs Day 2009 and 2010. They say picture says a thousand words, so the above collage is an 8,000 words demonstration on the sort of time you would expect at this year’s party. Don’t miss it!
So take that photo and see you at the party!
For your amusement, here is my outfit.
