Ben’s birthday party @ Maria’s.Nice meat.Shit fries,until I attempted2explain the potato in the middle shouldn’t be raw http://post.ly/1m2D4
Mar 19 2011
Ben’s birthday party @ Maria’s…
Mar 12 2011
Good Night Out
Dave was back in Astana this week, so a few of us met up for a bite to eat and a few drinks. Guns and Roses was the obvious choice for a destination, so around 10 of us turned up. Walton was the first to arrive (who sadly is leaving Kazakhstan soon 🙁 ), and I arrived a little later. I had been worried about being late, but it took a good couple of hours for all to turn up, so I didn’t feel so guilty. After a little confusion over tables (it is possible that we didn’t reserve one in advance, but an innocent smile (“You’ve lost our reservation? That is a shame, perhaps you could double check?” and the promise of a fair few ex-pats spending money soon found us with a table that had a reserved sign whipped away. It was a Friday night, so I was quite surprised to find that 90% of the beers on the menu weren’t available (leaving just the expensive ones), so I decided to try a Long Island Iced Tea cocktail again. This seems to have a fair few spirits and a kitchen sink thrown into it, and compared to the premium beers, not too badly priced. I’ve no idea whether it is seen as a girly drink or not, but once the inevitable straws are removed, it doesn’t look too bad. The taste (when mixed by most of the staff) is quite pleasant, and you barely notice the alcohol content. As ever, the food itself was very tasty – I did spend a good five minutes trying to find an alternative to my default selection of a Bacon Cheeseburger (having written of their Schnitzel previously), but in terms of encouraging descriptions and reasonable price, the burger once again was the winner.
The house band came on a couple of hours later, meaning conversations were once again impractical, but the music (although not new) was quite varied, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was good to see a pretty good cross-section of the ex-pat community represented, as quite often people seem to meet in small groups, without much a crossover. In the end I left earlier than expected, as I’d become sober, and we didn’t seem to be likely to heading on to Chocolate anytime soon; combined with the fact that I was going to drive Anna & Irina over to Chubary in the morning if I was legal to drive, so rather than spending more money on enough drinks to remove my soberness, and arriving home as the dawn sun rose, I said my farewells and ambled down Republic Ave. looking for a taxi.
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Mar 05 2011
At Goalkeeper,new management. …
At Goalkeeper,new management. Service not much worse,beer OK,same TVs,but food=gone downhill severely,quality&selection http://post.ly/1hnjZ
Mar 04 2011
Anna and Ira at the Assorti in…
Anna and Ira at the Assorti in Keruyen shopping centre. 1st impressions, friendly/helpful staff, more roomy than Mega’s http://post.ly/1hTe3
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Feb 22 2011
G&R Phone Number Update
Subject to the use of AND , + , & , n’ or nothing between Guns and Roses Astana, this site is currently at the number 1, 1 and 2 or even 1, 2 AND 3(!) position in Google. I looked over their own site (finally ranking on the first page at least) and there no phone number! Also, the first business cards they produced listed a wrong number on, anyway, if you want to call them, +7 7172 591809 is the number. If you’re calling from an Astana landline, just 591509 is fine, if you’re calling from another Kazakh city, use 8 7172 591809. Obviously, if you’re using a mobile, you can use the full number including the international code (so you don’t need to manually edit the number if you’re not in Kazakhstan later on).
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Jan 31 2011
Coming to the end of the meal …
Coming to the end of the meal at Melnitza. C nomrazhdenya Irina! http://post.ly/1Yaem
Jan 31 2011
Anna at Ira’s birthday meal wi…
Anna at Ira’s birthday meal with family, in Melnitza http://post.ly/1YYy2
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Jan 25 2011
Tomatoes And Roses
I’m pretty sure that a friend of ours told us about this site a long time ago, but for some reason today is the first time I’ve actually visited it. I started this post a few hours ago, and keep getting distracted with “I’ll just read another page there”. Anyway, if reviews of companies, services and other businesses here in Kazakhstan interest you, check out Pomidor. The reviews are all in Russian, so either use Chrome (which should ask at the top of the page if you want it translated), or paste the address of the review you’re interested in into an online translation service, or learn Russian 🙂
Anyway, I ended up there when I was checking out who else ranked well in Google for the search term Guns & Roses Astana (which has recently bought me a few visitors from search engines, as well as skype scams!)
It would appear that if Guns & Roses have their own website, SEO isn’t a primary concern for them, as I’m currently at #1! Anyway, fourth in the list was a Pomidor(which means tomato by the way)-based review from an unhappy customer. It seems that a few people have had their reservations cancelled at the last minute. Anyway, I wish that ranking that well for the establishment gave me some chance of a discount card or free meal for a fuller review (which I’d obviously disclose), but that sort of thing doesn’t tend to happen over here!
Nov 20 2010
Burgers And Cocktails
Not a lot to add about this photo, as I think I mentioned it all in the previous video. Again, they were taken on the 20th of April at TGI Friday here in Astana. For newcomers to this blog, I don’t combine photos and videos of the same event as this causes problems when Anna’s website automatically imports those posts.
Looking at her pictures now, it is sometimes easier to see how she has changed over the last seven months, as when we see her each day, so very little changes over night that you don’t really notice certain features developing. Anna that is, Irina’s face hasn’t changed that much (other than getting a little bit more beautiful) since April 🙂
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- Irina, Anna And Chris At TGI Friday, Astana, Kazakhstan
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- Babushka, Anna And Irina
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- Enjoying Daddy’s Birthday Meal
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Nov 20 2010
TGI Was My Birthday!
After taking Anna to the playground in the morning, we went to TGI Friday here in Astana. Although some friends comment on the prices, occasional staff attitude issues and better alternatives, I hadn’t tried the Astana branch at this point (20th April). The burger was tasty, the cocktail (custom ordered as the menu didn’t match what I remembered from a UK edition) well made and just right ratio of ingredients. Irina’s Mum came with us, Anna was very well behaved (I was a little concerned she’d try throwing the big girls ceramic plate on the floor) and by the end of the meal I was very glad we went there, and perhaps a little tipsy 🙂
We have since visited again once or twice, and given that there are other expensive restaurants in Astana, and sometimes you just want a Western style burger, I’d happily recommend you try it at least once – if nothing else you’ll at least be able to criticize from personal experience, if you don’t end up liking it 🙂
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