ChrisMerriman.com » Eating Out

These are the pictures I previously mentioned. DanD, Walton and I all met up with DanC (who was back in Astana for the weekend) for a meal and a few drinks. Although DanD and I had already been to this bar since the Guns n’ Roses chain had taken it over from Northwind’s management, we weren’t sure if the prices, ambience, layout and staff attentiveness were all just boosted for their opening week, or whether we could consider adding it to our list of regular haunts.
As it turned out, the G n’ R management seem to have noticed all the little issues that prevented North Wind from ever really filling up with customers, and addressed them from the very start. The layout of the bar and surrounding tables has been changed, the prices, whilst not cheap, are certainly a lot more reasonable than previously, and the menu (in both English and Russian) has enough variety (from traditional Western bar food to steaks and garlic bread) to meet most people’s needs. Both times we have been there, there was live music and the normal tables were full up with people enjoying themselves. Finally, the dance floor was occupied most of the evening.

: Bacon Cheeseburger

: Hot (Chilli?) Steak

: Walton And DanC At Guns n’ Roses, Astana

Tags: Astana, Dan, food, Russia, Walton

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Oct 27 2010

Guns n’ Roses Bar – Astana

Category: Eating Out,Friends,Videos — ChrisM @ 7:24 pm

Looking for the Astana branch’s telephone number? Skip to the end of this post
Right, I am going to try and catch up with some of the videos and pictures that were recently uploaded to their respective media hosting sites, but didn’t quite make it to the blog (there was some sort of issue with the free WiFi at the time, either some URLs or ports appeared to be blocked). First we have a clip from the Guns n’ Roses bar here in Astana. It is situated where North Wind “pub” used to work from. This is the house band playing after a lovely meal. I know the quality isn’t great, but this was the best of the bunch. It was very unusual to see the dance floor full for most of the evening – more on the differences between the venue under its new Guns n’ Roses chain management and the old North Wind style later.

Just shot this clip (#qik) http://qik.ly/DH3r4

OK, depending on your exact search term, this site is either #1, #1 and #2 or even #1, #2 AND #3 when you google for Guns & Roses Astana. Having just re-checked their website (which has FINALLY made it into the top 10), there are no contact details given for the Astana branch. It looks as though they haven’t altered the site since this one opened. Unfortunately, the business cards they were (originally?) handing out also have an incorrect number on, so in case you want to make a reservation, please call +7 7172 591809 . No reward has been given for this post, but feel free to tell staff I sent you – a free beer once a month would be a nice start from them 😉

Tags: Astana

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Oct 22 2010

At Mega with Ira&Anna.Her Qik …

Category: Anna's Photos,Eating Out,Tweets — ChrisM @ 8:04 pm

At Mega with Ira&Anna.Her Qik trampolining vid 2b uploaded later.In “Big Mama”.Hot dog&burger not bad.The fries r. http://twitpic.com/2zsco7

Tags: Anna, Irina, Tweets, twitter

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Oct 21 2010

Anna Clapping With The Dancers

Category: Anna's Videos,Eating Out,Kazakhstan,Videos — ChrisM @ 2:10 am

The first of these two videos (featuring Latin/Mardi Gras style dancers) has a brief appearance from Anna in it, hence this post just making it into the Anna’s Videos category. I just wanted to give a quick explanation in case you are watching these clips whilst visiting Anna Merriman‘s site – there is a reason for the scantily dressed women appearing on her site 🙂
As you’ll remember from the recent “Aunty Gulya’s Grandson’s Birthday” post, the 3rd of April saw all three of us attending the Duman hotel for a small boy’s birthday party. He and his friends had a magician in another room, whilst the adult guests were presented with the following. I’m not certain, but I think if you check the April archives on this site, you may find a clip or two of the magician?

This second clip features a Turkish belly dancer entertaining everyone, and proving that her percussion was strong enough to stand on!