What's The Craic Abu Dhabi? | Prom Night & McGettigan's Opening

“Work is the curse of the drinking class.” Oscar Wilde

So we’ve had a busy couple of weekends here and I am only now sitting down to record what went on! It was the teenagers long-awaited Prom Night, it was all lights, cameras, action and stretch Hummer limos but due to her wilfulness (being polite here) I am not permitted to share photos of the event on here! How mean!

All the months of mall hopping and dress dilemmas (aka stress), shoes, bags, hair, make-up and jewellery decisions everything came together and a few freak outs later she was good to go, resplendent in Jade green and Sparkly heels, the rest you will just have to imagine!

The only photos I can share on here is the Hummer stretch limos packed full of hyper teenagers (poor drivers) on their way to their Prom at the Eastern Mangroves Hotel.

Parents were invited (allowed in our case and only just as we are soooooo embarrassing apparently) to the lovely pre-prom event held by another teenager’s parents at their villa. A chance to coo, see everyone in their finery and take copious amounts of photos, the mum paparazzi was out in full force. Once the Hummers had safety departed on their way to the Eastern Mangroves Hotel, the parents breathed a huge collective sigh of relief. There were some dramas for other groups with one Hummer catching fire just after the group of prom goers had got out at the hotel and another one who got quite badly lost! Luck of the draw I guess, luckily no one was hurt!

Opening night at McGettigans AUH with the red carpet event attracting a large lively crowd as seen below (source:www.facebook.com/mcgettigansauh)

With our parental duties completed we headed off to the opening night of Abu Dhabi’s newest Irish bar, McGettigans AUH located adjacent to the Raha Beach Hotel. We didn’t read the small print and turned up before 10pm to the red carpet private party, ooops! After shaking hands with some of the McGettigan family we were approached by a portly suited Irish chap, clipboard in hand who checked the guest list for our non-existent names! It could have all gone Pete Tong but without having to utter a fake ‘To be sure, to be sure’ or my favourite ‘Pa-tay-toe’ in my poor attempt at an Irish accent he let us in!

Would have been soooooo embarrassing to have to exit back along the red carpet! What a result as it was free food and drink too! The place was packed to the rafters (free food and drink does that to a place) and the raucous crowd were entertained by live music from Irish band Picturehouse. We learnt later that after the band finished their set, they packed up their gear and went straight to the airport to board the 2am Etihad flight to Dublin to play at a wedding there the next day – that’s true dedication!

Picturehouse entertaining the large crowd on opening night (source:https://www.facebook.com/mcgettigansauh)

Nursing a slightly poorly head the next morning we headed off to Dubai for Brunch at one of my favourite hotels, Al Qasr located in the Madinat Jumeirah resort. Yes, even more food and drink! A lovely day with friends from back home in Basingstoke in a beautiful setting polished off with Expresso martinis at sunset after an abra ride through the picturesque waterways and a final ‘one for the doors’ cocktail at the Rivi bar backlight by the Burj Al Arab hotel. See more photos here.

Friday Brunch is a somewhat classy affair at Al Qasr Hotel located in the Madinat Jumeriah resort in Dubai.

We popped back to McGettigans on Saturday afternoon, for research purposes only of course, to sample some of the opening menu, had a few beverages and enjoyed the music courtesy of a live duo and even had an impromptu little afternoon sing-song! I can highly recommend the hearty Irish fare especially the Leek and Pa-tay-toe Soup with soda bread and the teenager enjoyed her revision break burger. This place is dangerously good with traditional Irish pub grub , beer on tap and live music and it’s so near to home too, it literally sucks away the hours and with sport on TV everywhere you look I think its going to be a popular World Cup venue!

The quirky interior, beer on tap, live music, hearty pub grub and friendly Irish hospitality make this new bar an already popular expat haunt (source: www.facebook.com/mcgettigansauh)

To celebrate the other half’s birthday we returned on Friday with friends to sample the first McGettigans AUH six-hour (oh yes six hour!!) Brunch. More live music, a fantastic roast (proper roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings followed by apple crumble), more beverages than I care to count or remember (there were shots), singing, a bit of dancing, witnessed a bit of brawling and eleven and half hours later (that’s what you call a sterling effort) we rolled on home!

Great day was had by all and the only downer was the overly loud DJ that made it impossible to chat and the air conditioning that was on a par with the North Pole, teething problems that are easy to fix!

Some interior shots (source: http://www.facebook.com/mcgettigansauh)

The opening of McGettigans AUH here in the capital is the fourth venue from the chain here in the UAE, with the three other venues located in Dubai. The first McGettigan’s Pub was opened in Ireland in the 1960’s on Queen Street in Dublin by Jim McGettigan. Since that day, the business has transferred to Dubai and then back home to Ireland in Donegal. The popular McGettigans concept has transferred well to Abu Dhabi with its vibrant atmosphere, reasonable priced beer on tap, quirky interior, live bands and tasty Irish pub grub.

I can personally vouch for the great food, live entertainment and genuine Irish hospitality (source: http://www.facebook.com/mcgettigansauh)

Sláinte McGettigans! We will be back very soon, the Ladies and quiz nights both look very appealing and a regular tasty roast is always a massive selling point.