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Guests line up for liver dumplings, baked meatloaf, roast chicken and other delicious German delights.
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29th October, 2007
Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort (STAR)’s Grand Ballroom was swathed in green, red, white, and yellow, teasing the eye from a main entrance designed to evoke the colours and look of Munich’s Hippodrom. For one night, the Grand Ballroom became a small slice of Germany, in the resort’s first celebration of Oktoberfest in 15 years.
Oktoberfest is typically celebrated between September and October, and has its origins in a royal Bavarian wedding from the early 1800s. It has since evolved into a fantastic 16-day festival that features all the wonders of hearty German food, plenty of polka music, and, of course, barrels upon barrels of beer.
STAR’ one-night only version of the famed fiesta saw the resort’s Grand Ballroom transformed into a luxe version of the standard Oktoberfest banquet hall. Over 400 guests sat at long tables, partaking of authentic German goulash, sausage, pretzels, potato salad, the trademark apple strudel and more, served buffet-style at a nearby marquee tent.
Priced at a very reasonable RM100, STAR’s Oktoberfest offered an impressively extensive spread and a complimentary mug of beer courtesy of Carlsberg, the event’s official beverage sponsor.
Oktoberfest also featured a number of games, including arm wrestling matches, a beer relay, and the curiously-named Speedy Gonzales, or Flinker Willi, a beer-drinking contest that dares guests to drink as fast as they can. The guest with the fastest time received a voucher for a one-night stay for two at the resort’s Tanjung Deluxe Suites.
This year’s Oktoberfest served as one of the first projects in which new STAR General Manager Mattias Roeke was involved. Both Roeke and resort Director of Food and Beverage Daniel Michalski are German nationals, the latter receiving praises throughout the night for spearheading and successfully materialising an ambitious yet remarkably enjoyable event.
“Thank you all for being here,” Michalski said in a short opening remark. “Please enjoy the evening with us. Please enjoy responsibly – there are plenty of taxis out there to take you home safely tonight,” he gently reminded Oktoberfest’s guests, punctuating his speech with a hearty “Prost!”, the German version of the toast.
STAR expects to continue holding Oktoberfest every year henceforth. For more information, call 088-225800 or visit www.shangri-la.com.
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