One for the Road Grand Opening
I thought my golfing buddy Lucas had lost it. He had just told me he was opening a new bar in Dongguan. Sure I was glad to hear it would be an English-style pub with restaurant featuring good American and English dishes. But why would someone else open a Western bar in an area where at least three have opened in the last month?!?!
Well, Lucas at least did it right! Saturday night was the Grand Opening of One for the Road, and although the weather wasn’t cooperative it was still a great event. Folks enjoyed the beer garden despite the high humidity; and inside, guests packed all corners of the vast bar space enjoying dinner, pool, darts, and good dinners.
Jason and Lucas even made it a special weekend of events with golf on Friday too. Jason moved over from another local establishment to manage the new pub, and he brought with him a “golf society” or league of local ex-pats. We played all the holes we could get in on Friday before a major storm blew us off the course. I even found strength enough to win two of the main prizes for Long Drive and Closest to Pin on a couple of holes. (Thank you to all those long hitters that put ‘em in the rough!) Nice prizes of a putter and golf shoes. We may be a small group of ex-pats, but we’re well connected in golf equipment suppliers amongst our group. Makes for good prizes!!
But back to the Grand Opening of One for the Road: What a night? A full house of guests enjoyed fish & chips and American burgers, as well as steaks, and even some local Chinese dishes. Service still has to improve, but the dishes are some of the best Western food to be found in Dongguan. They’ve been serving for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve had several good meals there, even though construction was going on in the background. The beer batter cod is the best fish & chips to be found. With limitations in England, it just might be the best in the …………. Well, let’s not go that far.
Beer and English whiskey were flowing between the patrons. A few tried darts for the fun of it. Some serious pool players took to the tables and had some long standing runs against many a taker. The golf simulator broke a week ago, so a new one is in route. In the interim a PlayStation soccer game sufficed for those interested.
The big screen TVs were showing some serious rugby from New Zealand or Australia. One large table of interested fans lined up in front of the biggest screen to catch the match over dinner earlier in the evening. With no other English style sporting events, some smaller league games of rugby were shown after the major contest. But by then most guests were more interested in mingling and sharing tales.
As mentioned, there have been many major bars open in the last month in the area. One for the Road seems to have found a good niche though. Conveniently located just across from New World Garden, the biggest ex-pat living area, it has the size for comfort, yet small enough areas to still be able to gather your own group for some privacy. And the food……….. Oh, I just can’t say how good it is to find a good burger and fish & chips in China!!
Congratulations Lucas & Jason!!
More pictures available from link at right.
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 6:38 PM
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