Ipanema is one of the latest watering holes in Kuching. It’s located at Padungan Road (beside SOHO) at the place that used to be Tom’s. Irene and David has been hanging out here as of late and I went to check the place out on Saturday night.
Ipanema is named after the beach in Brazil and the place is pretty chill – it attracts a more sophisticated crowd compared to the surrounding nightspots.
The place even has Kilkenny on draught. I (heart) Kilkenny! =D
Ipanema has an extensive selection of cocktails as well. I tend to judge a bar/pub by the quality and variety of the cocktails they have. It’s important to have a bartender who can mix a good cocktail.
Phoenix had a Pina Colada (RM 22) which is made with Malibu (the coconut liqueur), pineapple juice, fresh cream and crushed ice. It tasted pretty good. I love a place with good cocktails.
I went for a pint of Kilkenny (RM 28). Ipanema has the popular Irish beer on draught (!) which I fell in love with ever since I first got a taste of the creamy ale back in Australia.
There are girls selling Dunhill premium brand cigarettes like Dunhill 360 and Dunhill Top Leaf (also available at your local 7-11) inside. I don’t know if they’re promoters going through the Saturday night crowd at the nightspot but I took the opportunity for a photo op anyway.
I think we hit the ethanol products a little too hard that Saturday night coz we nearly missed the shuttle to Batang Ai Hilton Longhouse Resort due to an alcohol induced coma.
P/S – My apologies…the bartender must have had a case of the shakes while taking our group photo coz there’s a motion blur effect on Phoenix (my travel companion). It didn’t affect the rest of the frame though, strangely enough. 😉
9am. and i’m oggling at the pint of Kilkenny. thirsty sial.
muahahha,its FAye dude,why u wana block her face…u malu ke? recognize her necklace n red watch la dude,any present for me in good guessing?hahaa..
geez em looks so red in every shot of him here. hahaha. anyway, just wanted to mention that tom’s still around. it’s not next to soho, it’s next to bing i think.
me and em got even more wasted after you two left, could barely remember a thing the next day which was good, because i think there was a minor altercation at… rain, if i’m not mistaken. involving a drunk emotional bartender. blah.
it was good that you guys decided to head back first, got spared of all the bullshit that followed much later on.
yum Kilkenny and dunhill top leaf……
I like Hoegaarden, beer wise.
It doesn’t have such a bitter after taste. 😉 I know, this is strange.. I supposed ppl drink beer because they like the ‘bitterness’.
Yup! Irene’s right! Tom’s (Best cakes in Kuching)next to Bing’s…a short walk from Soho and that Hongkong Noodle House’s right across the road!…and btw, u shouldn’t mix ur drinks, but then again, I guess u wanna enjoy the high when they all kick in??? (Hate the next morning’s hangover though!!!) LOL!!!!
wayo ! U come back again ah ?
♪♫ ♪♫ Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes – ah ♪♫♪♫ 😉
essentric: 11:41 am. I am thinking about Xanax. Stress sial. 😉
Hey, we should hang out when I’m on business trips. You seem to be a very resourceful person. *cough*
blabla: Honestly, it’s not. I would have no problems with publicly displaying her photo if it’s Faye since I go out for dinners with her anyway. I don’t think they have the same necklace but the watch bit is true. 🙂
I saw Faye with the watch and asked her where she got it since it looks nice. I bought one and gave it to Phoenix during her birthday. Haha! Good thing they both don’t read the blog. 😉
Irene: Oops…my mistake. I thought Tom’s used to be next to SOHO. What’s next to SOHO then? Which shoplot did Ipanema occupy?
Rain eh…haven’t been there since we did a recon of the place when it opened up opposite Luconia. They have Guiness on draught if I recall correctly. What happened over there?
Female or male emotional bartender? Any police raids? If there had been, I’m glad we left first. It would seriously suck if we were hauled in and missed our shuttle to Batang Ai the next day.
nightsun: I love Kilkenny too, can’t seem to find it over here except in those cans with a thingy that produces foam like a quasi draft beer nozzle.
cynthia: Hoegaarden is a nice beer as well but that’s even rarer over here. I’ve only had it in KL in this super sized Hoegaarden glass that I think had at least 1 liter of the good stuff inside. The bitterness thing is the hop and malt flavor, I think. It’s kinda like coffee, it tastes good after a while. The carbohydrates in beer probably contributes to the excellent mouth feel too.
suituapui: Tom’s has this excellent starter with sauteed mushrooms on toast too. I like the place coz it’s very private as well. Is the Padungan Hong Kong Noodle House still open? I remember going there when it first opened but didn’t see it this time.
Anyway, about mixing, I tend to mix quite a lot of stuff together, even more on vacations. Didn’t have a hangover the next day but it sure was tough getting up (damn snooze button) and we nearly missed the Batang Ai shuttle.
who else: Not permanently, it’s just a vacation. Short trip to Kuching for the long weekend with the Wesak public holiday last Monday.
jess: Where is that song from?
HB: It’s from the song “The Girl from Impanema” by Astaud Gilberto. Originally in portuguese but then later an English version was made.
jess: Thanks! Will search for the song. 🙂
uh. tom’s is next to bing. soho is next to ipanema. both are on the same row, but bing and tom are further back in the middle of the row, whereby soho and ipanema are near the end of the row.
the emotional bartender was a dude, he suddenly got pissed off at my friends for supposedly mistreating me, and in a show of emotion, threw a cushion at some glasses and broke them. which got some other patrons of the place pissed off. and then it got kinda messy from then on, but no, no police showed up and everything settled relatively peacefully.
but i was effing pissed off at that point and lost my temper at all parties involved.
Irene: Hmm…I was never good with directions anyway. And to think that I worked for 2 years in Padungan Road just beside bing!
Interesting. You know the bartender personally? Strange thing for a bartender to do to patrons. They usually turn a blind eye to the hijinks of the patrons.
Oh well, at least no one was hauled off by the police. The fights in Sibu can get kinda nasty when the police show up. Our finest men in blue tend to be…er, overzealous with their enforcement techniques. They actually pull out their handguns and point them at all the parties involved in the fight while restraining you. I don’t know why they do that over here. They didn’t use to a couple of years back but it’s standard operating procedure ever since I came back. I find it unsettling.