St Paddy's Day

Technically, Saint Patrick's Day is none of our business, but since our circle of friends include quite a number of Irish, then I guess it's customary to drink to that, over two nights. With a few pints of Guinness, of course. These pints of Guinness will never beat the properly creamy cold draughts in Ireland or the UK; our local versions would have to do.

The Irish pubs at Boat Quay were packed out. People were just looping around the pubs for $10 pints of Guinness. It was insane- I went at 5pm and by 6.30pm, I couldn’t even turn without bumping into another person. Didn’t want to hang around as more and more people got seriously sloshed. Duly fulfilled my ‘one pint’ each at Boat Quay's Molly's and Penny Black, ate a beef pie and whooshed off to another ‘one pint’ at an equally overflowing Muddy Murphy's at Orchard Road. Okay, drinking done. Hahahaha. Three very sane pints.

The next night was spent at an odd little Witbier bar along Balestier Road which oddly serves up pretty delicious tze char dishes. And $10 pints of Guinness this weekend too. Outdoor seating at Witbier bar was better since we were a big group. Anyway their seating is mostly outdoors next to the road. Too much Guinness? Naaah. It helps that many of us are fond of stouts and porters, and dark beers. Our all-time dependable favorites. It’s not as though we only drink Guinness this weekend. It's drunk all year round.

The friends recommended Witbier bar because it was quiet, and food was good. We were like, good food? Really? They were spot-on about the kopitiam ambience (‘Uncle’ vibes), toilets (kinda eeeky, try not to go or stay longer than an hour), and bus-loads of tourists going to Value Hotel next door. It was nice to hang out for a bit because the company is always awesome. Food came in zi char style and was indeed unexpectedly delicious. There were prawn paste wings (har jeong gai), fried squid in beer batter, beef slices stir-fried with ginger and clam bee hoon. The beef fried rice and fuyong omelette were great. A table of regulars even brought their own fish for the kitchen to fillet and had it steamed Teochew style. The sambal belachan and sambal belado hijau were spicy on point. I still stuck to two pints of Guinness for the night. I would return again for drinks and its food, and ensure that my bladder lasts for that hour.