After 5 the perfect time to start

This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of World Gaming magazine.

Many Westerners have a silent policy not to have a drink before five, which also happens to be the time they finish work. Personally I like to start a little earlier, but this dark and inviting little gem in Taipa is promoting a sensible start time.

The Stallion must admit he is more familiar with the Macau Island side of Macau, but I’ve been putting in a concerted effort to familiarize myself with the Taipa side and all it has to offer. One place I had heard plenty about was a bar by the name of After 5 – and rest assured if a bar is going to promote opening at 17:00 I will be galloping through the doors right on time!

There was already a healthy crowd as I pushed through into the cool and dimly lit bar. As far as I’m concerned, nothing beats a dark bar – the mares look pretty and I don’t look too inebriated! The first thing I noticed upon entering was the excellent array of beers on tap. With Tsingtao, Carlsberg, Asahi, Kronenbourg 1664, Hoegaarden, Corona, Stella, Heineken and Blackthorn cider, this would have to be one of the best displays in Taipa. I decided on a Carlsberg which was served super cold at zero degrees celsius.

I was also pleasantly surprised to be handed a ticket for a second beer because it was happy hour, which means two beers for the price of one. Happy hour at After 5 runs from 17:00 to 20:00 with two for one on all tap beer and basic spirits. The pint cost me MOP$45 which broke down to a very reasonable MOP$22.50 for each icy cold pint of Carlsberg. It’s a great deal and the ticket is valid for a month so you don’t have to use it straight away.

I started chatting to a beautiful Filipino barmaid named Maria who expertly answered all my questions as she went about her job of getting the bar ready for the night. There seemed to be an eclectic group of patrons with plenty of Chinese mixed in with ex-pats and casino workers. One customer – a German economist who lives in Macau but works on the Mainland – told me, “This is a real locals bar. You don’t get many tourists here. There is an incredible range of different people but they nearly all call Macau home which is nice as you get to know the same faces.”

The bar has a pool table which is in great condition even though it seems to have an endless stream of people lining up to use it. There is a pool comp every Wednesday with a MOP$50 entry fee and MOP$1,000 first prize and the weekly winners play off in a MOP$3,000 freeroll final every month. On the last Saturday of each month there is a doubles competition which costs MOP$200 per team to enter with a prize pool usually around MOP$3,000.

There are also two electronic dartboards which are very popular in Asia – no matter how drunk you get you don’t have to keep score because the machine does it for you!

The music was geared towards classic rock which was right up my alley when drinking pints of ice-cold beer. I guess the photos on the wall of U2, Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe should have given it away although as Maria explained, “During happy hour we play nice slower music. We amp it up a bit from 20:00 through to midnight and then we play plenty of dance, R&B and hip hop through to about 03:00. Then most of the time we go back to playing slower music because that is what our customers want.”

This is a bar which has put some thought into their clientele. You would think that would be standard fare, but as Macau’s most recognized party animal I can assure you it doesn’t always work like that.

The owner of After 5 is a Macanese lady named Ling who I managed to grab a quick chat with when she popped her head in, although she wisely pointed me back in Maria’s direction.

Despite busily serving a rapidly growing bar full of customers, Maria didn’t miss a beat as I kept firing questions at her such as what sports dominated the various flat screen TVs scattered around the place.

“There are always people watching sport here,” she said. “The most popular is football and Formula 1 and we have a big screen projector we bring out for the big games and events. We also cater to other sports as well. The music still plays and we have the sport on the TV in the background but we get some games here where they pack in to watch and the atmosphere is great.”

After 5 is a great little bar which has stayed true to the needs of its regulars rather than trying too hard to impress. I guess there is no need to change when your customers are as loyal and happy as this lot. The only problem is that it might be a little hard to find the first time you come here. My suggestion is to ask a local and I am sure they will point you in the right direction. Just try to blend in because it seems to me the locals are very proud of their own little home away from home.