There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in

Murphy's Irish Pub Kemang

Every great city has an Irish pub (and many not-so-great cities as well!). For a long while, however, Jakarta was without one. Sure a couple of faux Irish pubs had popped up in hotels – most notably KELTS in the Melia – but they did not last long, crap that they were.

But after many years it finally happened. And like the good Mary miracle, an authentic Irish church of alcohol suddenly appeared from nowhere – and run by a true Irishman to boot!

Murphy's Irish Pub Kemang

The emergence of Murphy’s, as the pub is named, conveniently completes the beer drinking trio of nations in Kemang, with the UK represented by the Eastern Promise and Germany by Die Stube.

All three drinking establishments now form one of the best pub crawls in Jakarta, starting at Die Stube, then onto Eastern Promise, finally finishing at Murphy’s.

So what’s the pub like?

Well, Murphy’s very much resembles what you might think an Irish pub should look like. But that’s unsurprising perhaps, because for the most part, that is exactly what it is – the interior being designed by an Irish company and much of the typical pub bric-a-brac shipped over from the Emerald Isle Herself.

What makes an Irish pub, though, is its beer and in this respect Murphy’s certainly delivers having the divinely delicious Kilkenny Draught on tap. This is God’s brew alright, being “full bodied and very flavorful, creamy like milk”. It’s also wonderfully cold thanks to the pub’s cold room beer system, which, according to Murphy’s, is the first of its kind in Indonesia. This is a far cry, it must be said, from sticking large chunks of ice into a warm glass of Bintang in a vain attempt to get it chilled – something which most old hands in Indonesia will certainly have done at one time or another.

I’d like to end the review there but I should also add that the pub has large screens for sports events, a free to use pool table/darts board, free wifi and good Irish grub.


What more could you want in this life than that?

Murphy’s Pub and Restaurant,
Jl. Raya Kemang No. 11,
Kemang, South Jakarta

Telp: (021) 718 3382
https://twitter.com/MurphysKemang
contact@murphysjakarta.com

Comments

  1. "What more could you want in this life than that?" A fresh, creamy, full bodied Guinness from the tap :D

    ReplyDelete

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