OMG...at Eastern Promise a few weeks ago. Asked the bartender what scotches they carried. She loked at my confused. Scotch...ummm WHISKY...Ahh, whisky, okay. She pointed out a section the rack and said "all our whiskies are right here"..hmmm..i looked and was disappointed to only see only run-of-the mill blended scotches. I looked around and on the other side of the display shelves was Glenfiddich. "What about that one? What is that?" "Oh thats Glenfiddich." "and thats a whisky, isnt is?" i played with her. "So no other whiskies?" "nope." Then, down off the shelf near the register was a bottle of Jameson (Irish Whiskey). "What about that bottle?" asked again. "You want Jameson?" "Yeah, Jameson IRISH WHISKEY" i said slowly as i pointed at the words in the label. Ok...so i took the Jameson (i was tired of glenfiddich).

But my fun had just begun. I ordered a scotch double on the rocks. Upon taking my glass from the bartender, I had to look closely to see if there was indeed any scotch in glass whatsoever. I handed the glass back to her and said there is no way this is a double. She then pulled out her jigger and explained that the small side was a single and the big side was a double. Hmmmm... I insisted that she was wrong and told her that the small side (the pony shot side) was no more than 1 ounce, while the big side was 1.5 ounces. Actually, I think the pony side of this jigger may actually have been only .75 ounces! One pour of the big side is a SINGLE (1.5oz), two pours is a double (3oz). And this is only if the bar is being strict in its pours. But the bartender insisted on her measurement and said this is how they have always done it. Nice, thats impressive quality control. So I said fuck it, laughed at her, and threw down my cash (120,000, or maybe 160,000?). I took my 1.5oz 'double' to the pool room, for the last time. My girlfriends Midori Sour was really weak too, prob same thing happening there. How the fuck does that happen? Another great example of service staff who never eat, drink, try, or have any clue about the products they are serving (e.g. no product knowledge). EP spends too much time on the weekly newsletter and not enough time training THE BASICS. THE BASICS. If heading to EP, stick to bottled beer, cant mess that up. But I wont be going back.

I am sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience at Eastern Promise. I would advise you to in future drink somewhere more upmarket, such as Papa's Cafe on Jalan Jaksa. The staff there really know their whiskies and there are no stingy half-measures. And your girlfriend will probably enjoy their excellent Midori Sours too.

Alternatively, any problems with service at Eastern Promise can be resolved simply by speaking to Lens the manager.

Not sure when exactly "a few weeks ago was" but there are a lot of new girls in EP a few weeks ago as one of the barmaids was getting married and a lot of other barmaids were at the wedding.

Not sure what the hell you are going on about with the measures but i would say thats the way she was taught as its dutch owned and we all know how tight they can be. Although you may find that because you were being an ass with the barmaid she used a strict measure instead of free pour - the nicer you are the more you get.

It's not a 5 star bar in a hotel - it's a dive bar. If you want whiskey I suggest you go to Highlander Pub in Grand Kemang hotel. You will probably find a wide variety of whiskey and the person behind the bar may know something about the drinks. Of course the place will be empty and it's an over priced piss hole that treats it's staff like dogs.

But one again I will repeat .. the nicer you are, the better the service is and the bigger the measure becomes. That's something to remember everywhere you drink - not just at EP

Funny that, any time I've ordered spirits in EP and that is so often, the girl pouring seem to be afflicted with Bells Palsy and continuously twitches her arm in a spasm until seemingly half the bottle ends up in the glass.
Could be something to do with the way you treat people.

For your information, 1 pour is considered to be 25ml or 1/6 of a gill, two pours or a double would therefor be ... you guessed it double that. A bottle used to contain 32 shots, now the measure is 30.

I'd suggest that you try Mansion House Finest Irish Whiskey, by the bottle and order 30 shots and drink them all, if there is any left in the bottle after you have ordered your quota then you have been robbed.

PS. The cheesburger could be shot through the side of a cheftain tank, but the tandoori chicken is really very good.
The Captain says he fancies some of the cumi-cumi berjalan, but for the life of me I don't know what he means.

Is it still owned by the scottish guy who used to work for CNOC?

Quote from Lens on the subject...

It’s not nice to hear a complaint like that and I’ll look into it. The person is right though. I shall have to go over the basics again.

Don't bother, little shit is a student and until he learns basic manners and etiquette shouldn't be allowed back in .
Strange he has the balls to moan here, why didn't he do the same thing while he was in the place?

On the same subject ,Oz Clark thinks he knows a bit about whisky/ey and demand a single malt to then balls it up by throwing ice in it? He want throwing in the Cilliwung wuth a paving slab tied to his lead.


Tell Lens that the cheesburger really does need some refinement.

In fairness he did also mention, as Chewwy pointed out that there have been some new starts and that this error would not have been made by one of the more experienced staff members.

And regarding "as one of the barmaids was getting married" dont rub it in Chewwy!

Never was........always Indonesian owned, same guy that own's the pub in the Ambahra Hotel and that Irish Shithole on Sudirman

It can always be resolved at the time if there is some problem, I can't stand bleaters who don't say anything at the time then claim they were given poor service.

Which one got married?

OK, substitute "owned" for "managed"?

Not the one I fancy

Kiki, last years Miss February and either owned or managed, the only Scottish part about the Highlanger was the food franchise which was managed by "Wee John" who is currently undergoing Chemo in KL.

The Indonesian owner arranged for death threats to be made to John and his partner "fuckwit Allan" and then took over the business himself when they relinquished the contract.

Pray enlighten us.....

Don't repost the picture of that spotty, emaciated, speccy pierced bloke you rotter

It did cross my mind......

Is she the tall thin black sweet one? If so, she is a sweety and someone is lucky(not that I have lesbo urges as such) , still like the little one though.

Ah yes, wee john, I'd forgotten him, sorry to hear he isn't well - Salam buat dia etc.

Ever come across a big Dutchman by the name of George? He is an engineering and automation consultant. Married to an Indonesian girl, but she was born in Holland (not that it is important) seems to frequent EP etc.

Mbak has found me out. Lovely wee thing.

And that's another Metro Mad taken care of: "Barmaids I would like to shag".

Cute ya?

I bet at this very moment she is being stretched out of shape by some great big hairy bule.

Just to confirm, is KiKi the one who has those very slightly protruding dinnermanglers? (in a loveable "gemus'able" sort of way)

And what is the name of the very little one who wears T shirts that say things like "Grab me and squeeze me" on them?

Yeni and yes, Kik has a bonza pair

And you complained about the whisky/ey?

"A few weeks ago" was St Patricks Day. And we DID then hit the Highlander after that round of disappointing drinks..a typical selection of whisky there too, so i settled for Bushmills (it WAS St patricks day...) But the service was great there, prob because they are starving for business, but we dug it.

Ha...I was probably the only one standing at the bar with a smile on my face (when i walked up at least!) Thanks Chewwy, but im not sure I really need a primer on proper bar etiquette. But I did have higher expectations given the 'foreign ownership' and relatively strong marketing campaign compared to other pubs.

Another weird issue was how the money was handled. Seems like all the cash was held in a location in the back of the bar. When I paid (and then when the others in my party paid), the bartender took the cash to back of the building somewhere and we each waited a few munited for our change. kinda annoying too, but maybe it had something to do with the St Particks Day events, i dont know.

Anyways...the food looked good...

I've been looking at this for ages and wondering....
Now if you had said "has a lovely set" then I could have understood.

Do you know, I thought we had got away with "Bejesus , top of the milk to you Sir, and a fine St Patricks day it is too", this year.

An even of non-stop entertainment by Shane McGowan and his performing burnt out village.

Did the other members of your party have any complaints about the victuals served and the measures thereof?

F you MbakAditya. The bartender didnt short me because of any attitude of mine. I didnt even get to relate similar issues my friends faced that same night (who ordered their drinks before the bartender knew they were with me). My two 'local' friends got poor service too. Oh, and none of us are students, not sure where u got that.

And i didnt moan as much there to the manager because it seemed like everyone working were running around the house and i just didnt care enough at the time to make a big deal of it once it had already happened. If I has asked to talk to the owner/manager, you would have commented here that i had an inflated sense of self-worth by asking for the manager, ya?

And i didnt go neat because jakarta is fuckin hot. I like ice, mo'fo'. And if you're affiliated with EP, I'll surely stay away now, unless its to meet you face to face, punk. My g'friend can throw a mean punch too.

Bartelle has a couple fun establishements so i figured EP would be the same or better. Sorry Lens. Maybe it was just a few bad apples.

Im surprised you liked the highlander as I find there is little or no atmosphere to be found there. The owner is a complete bastard who really has done some questionable things with his staff and was also known to his short measures, watering of the drinks and reduction of food portions.

As for the money going to somewhere else I seem to remember it's exactly the same practice at the highlander. I think a lot of Jakarta landlords seem to think it's safer having one person work the cash register than have 10 girls with access to all the money.

Happy drinking ... although you should switch to vodka

ha, i switched to scotch a few years ago FROM vodka...little did i know I'd be living in a land in which good single malts are so scarce

Wow .. seems like that captain Mbak can't go a single day without having somebody want to give him her a punch in the face.

Yeah, the Highlander was the only place really doin it up for St Patties, except for the dancers at EP. Highlander had tons of decorations and was giving away pretty good prizes including a night at tehe hotel. Half the ppl in my group won prizes, 500,000 gift certificates if i remember correctly. But, yeah, it was kinda dead, maybe at 1/3 capacity, but enough for a little vibe. Prob wont go back too often , but def will next year st. pats.

Why? are you a bog hopper?

What is this fascination with celebrating some irish crap when for example most English don't know when St George's day is?

15 years ago if your heard an oirish voice you would have checked under your seat to see if there was anything ticking.

back in the queue, please, back in the queue!!

You know, she doesn't really give a damn. Anyone who wants to try is more than welcome to put a penny in the slot and push the button and then try to get the bells to ring.

Get youtube sorted out then? I suggest you get on to SBY and tell him in the strongest terms that you won't put up with it.

Now, where could I have got that from .....

Fucking hell, all the jakartarses getting scrappy this morning - go repair your pool pumps the lot of you.
As KuKu says, form an orderly line, then Chewwy can post the video on youtube. Does the g/f have a tattoo on her bum as well?

You don't give the establishment chance to put things right, then you post and say you won't back back because of short measures and a crap attitude.You wouldn't have had to stand on the bar to talk to the manager - whilst I have never had cause to complain, during my few sojourns to EP I have found Lens to be quite reasonable.

After the first Whisky with ice, they could have given you topi miring and probably did.

Oh, and fuck you too.

Not sure where you've been drinking, but a strict 1 shot pour is 30ml (20% more than you've been getting) or 1oz. Any bar worth its weight pours 1.5oz, closer to 45ml FOR A SINGLE, almost twice what you'd serve in your dream pub! Now, of course you can play with price regardless of size, maybe we pay more for those 1.5oz shots, but no one wants to sip on 1oz of any liquid (except my girlfriend (wink wink), and you apparently.)

When most of the world was still living in trees, Great Britain had already established standards for measure of drinks.

I expect they played the oldest one in the book on you, measure in a bowl of water to "keep it clean" and it is already half full of water before they add the spirit.

I expect your g/f has been the recepticle for a few magnums of home-perm on more than a few occasions.

Ahh the little things we do avoid imigrasi problems. But then again, i DID have a slew of private tutors, so i guess you got me there. Maybe you were one of them, big shot. No wonder you think you know so much about 25ml drinks, on that tight budget.

What a load of tosh.

Not being the average piss artist, I am able to order and consume as I wish. To be honest I tend to pour my own measures as price/volume is not a constraint.

I can imagine you needing a "slew" of private tutors - problem child were you? odd "learning difficulty" perhaps?

Ahh, a decade of hard work turned into a lot of money and free time, so why not get some tutors. The last thing i want to end up as is one of these 'expat experts' like yourself that have been here for years with really nothing to show for it but an addiction to posting pithy retorts (fuckin talk normal would you?) and a chronic passion for basking in 'the mysterious Orient'. Im gonna cry b/c i feel so inadequate after reading your constant anthopological insights on Indonesia...so deep..Ive only been in-country for a few years, so please, big daddy, i humbly solicit your input before my opinions on jakarta can be ligitimized...

i bet you ended up here b/c youre a fucking modern hippie looking for enlightment or something. And wound up with no skills transferable to anywhere else. so lets face it, your stuck here here, reinforced by the fact that this is the easiest place for u to get pussy. I guess being around a bunch of non-english ppl that you think 'were in trees' so recently makes you KING of the beasts! sweeeeett!! Oh, you know Indonesia like no one else. Wow. Been here for years? So impressive. Youre the Jakarta Mac Daddy.

fuckin weirdo.

And another pithy retort for you.

No, i'm here b/c because i'm really quite