Kiwi Drinks for the New Zealanders!

Last Friday night KEA (New Zealand’s Global Network) held its monthly Kiwi Drinks, however this time there was a Christmas twist. Held on the second floor of O’Malley’s Pub, it served Kiwis with some home favourites, traditional New Zealand Christmas food and a chance to make business contacts as well as friends. In its 15th year, Kiwi Drinks is a fond tradition in the New Zealand expat community. Jennifer Cuthbertson, one of the organisers, said that “Kiwi Drinks, along with other events run by KEA, has proved a great way to foster a community spirit and help network into the city, whether that be for new arrivals, travelling business people or established residents.”

The 100RMB entry fee entitles you to free flow New Zealand beer and wine, VnC Cocktails as well as an all-you-can-eat buffet. New Zealand mussels and home-made Pavlova were popular as well as the all-time Kiwi favourite, Hokey Pokey ice-cream, made by New Zealand Natural.

The night started at 6pm and people started to slowly leave around 10pm. However, in true Kiwi style and with the amount of free drinks, it is sure that some would have gone late into the night. Around 8:30pm, prizes were given out after doing a business card draw courtesy of some New Zealand Food and Beverage sponsors. Prizes consisted of a massive Christmas ham from Yasmine’s, vouchers for The Brew and Little Huia, Vogel’s bread, jars of Marmite, Pineapple Lumps, VnC Cocktail packs, Zespri Kiwifruit and New Zealand beauty products. For any New Zealander abroad, you could not get anything more iconic than these prizes and for the sponsors it was great way to showcase their brand and products.

Although O’Malley’s is an Irish bar, it provided the appropriate Kiwi Pub setting with an intimate number of attendees. Although there was a lower-than-normal attendance, as many people have already left Shanghai for the holidays, there was still a fantastic group of expats who had a ton of fun!

The attendees were predominantly New Zealander’s (of course) but there were still a few of the Trans-Tasman rivals (Australians) that attended, as well as some of the Shanghai locals. New Zealand’s ‘two degrees of separation’ was definitely evident. “With just 1413 Kiwi's in residence in Shanghai, we are a small proportion of the expats – but a well connected one,” said one Kiwi expat.

Despite being a cold Christmas celebration for New Zealanders, the food and drinks were delicious and filled the need for some home favourites. Kiwi Drinks will be taking a break for January, since the next one falls on the week of Chinese New Year. But it will be back on the 17th of February, and every third Friday of every month after that, so enjoy!

Haidee Johnstone is an Editorial Intern for ShanghaiExpat. If you have any comments or questions about this review, please send an email to: haidee.johnstone@gmail.com.