Malay barman, Tan’s special cocktails made drinkers ‘blink and ask for more’

The Prince of Wales Hotel, southern corner of Rawson Street and George Street, Sydney 1949. The pub has now been demolished. Picture: Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University. Inset: K. W. Tan behind the bar of the Prince of Wales Hotel, Haymarket. Picture: Daily Telegraph July 12 1942.

CHINESE barman K. W. Tan (right), who used to shake cocktails on Burns, Philp steamers, now pulls beers at the Prince of Wales Hotel, George Street; City [Sydney].

Tan, a refugee from Malaya, was placed at the hotel to release another man for military service.

Tan still yearns for the old days, when as No. 1 barman on Island ships, his “Tan Special” cocktail used, to make the passengers blink and ask for more.

– The Daily Telegraph Sunday 12 July 1942.

For a history of the Prince of Wales Hotel visit the Time Gents’ story: Paddy Larkin’s pub at Sydney Central Station

The site of the now demolished Prince of Wales Hotel on George Street, Sydney today, between Rawson Place and Barlow Street, Haymarket, Sydney. Photo: Google Streetview.

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