BKK Work Trip, June 2012: Arrival at Hansar Bangkok Hotel

After 3 months from my last Bangkok trip, I'm back to Bangkok again for a short 2D1N trip :) Been blogging too much on Paris then I needed a distraction, hence my itchy fingers went to click on another trip folder and ta-dah! If you have missed out on my previous Bangkok adventures (be it for work or personal), feel free to click on the BKK label for more information. Drop me an email if you have other recommendations that I should check out in Bangkok :) I'll try to slot into my ever-growing list of BKK places that I want to visit.

 

Pink hues to start the day!  

 

Was feeling a tad hungry, so headed over to Chinta Manis for a quick bite.  

 

Kick start my day with delectable mango sago agar agar & pulet seri kaya (layered coconut egg custard and steamed glutinous rice, all washed down with a cup of piping hot teh-o. 

I love this little corner in the airport, where I'll spend most of my time reading on materials while waiting to board the plane. The sun rays shone in through the long glass panels of windows, warming the place :) 

 

View from my usual seat. I get to see the planes taking off or taxi into the respective berths. 
 

Cute recycling bins placed around the airport. I do my part by recycling as much as possible. On every alternate Tuesdays, I'll put my recycling bags outside our place for the guys to collect it. If each one of us make a little effort to recycle, Mother Earth will be a better place to live it. So RECYCLE, please! 

Exhibits in Changi Airport. I love the fact that the airport has mini exhibitions all year around. Someone should make me an airport ambassador, haha! 

 

Getting ready to board the flight :)  

  

In-flight meal, always something to look forward to :) Perhaps age is catching up on me, I actually felt tired after just 2.5hrs flight so I took a little nap on board. 

 

Luggage point - I like watching luggage on the conveyer belt & spotting unusual luggages/pieces of items. At times, I'll panic if I don't spot my signature pink-ribbon-on-dark-blue-luggage after everyone else in the group has picked up their belongings. 

While I usually arranged for airport transfer from the hotel, I decided to arrange it from a private company this time round at half the price that I normally pay.

 

My close encounter with a lady-boy who waited for me at the meeting point area. He/She was quite friendly. With her limited vocab of english, we still managed to strike a conversation while waiting for the car to arrive.

I requested for a normal sedan, but a MPV came along at no extra charges. Well, I'm not complaining :) The sweet driver even asked me if the air-con temp is OK with me ... how attentive! 

 

My 2 bags that I'll bring along for business - a work bag and laptop bag. I'm hoping to change my laptop to a lighter version - didn't know laptops are that heavy till I began to carry them around.

The skies looked threatening as soon as we came out from the airport. True enough, it began to pour but miraculously stopped within a few minutes.

Sunny weather when we reached the city. In fact, the weather was so hot that it certainly didn't feel like it had rained previously.

 

Tuk Tuk anyone? I rode on one during our Phuket trip for experience, but I still prefer the cab anytime. In addition, these tuk tuk drivers charge exorbitant prices even for a short journey. 

 

Before long, I arrived at my "home" for the night. This time round, I chose to stay @ Hansar hotel based on a colleague's recommendation. I booked a room and they kindly upgraded me to a vertigo suite upon check-in, hooray! Since they are so kind, I shall do a room tour in this entry :) 

 

Once I enter the room, I felt immediately at home, haha! The floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, a sophisticated work desk & a lounge area completed with flatscreen TV, DVD player and iPod docking station. I could imagine myself sitting at the couch and surfing through the TV channels all day long. 

 Complimentary apples & newspaper. Now, I wish Leecher is here with me to enjoy this together.By the way, you get complimentary mini bar too.

 

The king-sized bed that overlooked the city - I had the view facing the swimming pool of one of the hotels nearby. This was on a raised platform & certainly doesn't feel like a hotel at all.

 

I really really love the bathroom! It had a bath-tub in the middle of the room, separate rooms for shower and toilet. This bathroom is sooo big that I think I could get lost inside, haha!

 

Plus, you have a glass panel that separates the bath area and the walk-in-wardrobe. I have to declare this as one of my best work hotel stays so far :) 

 

To top it off, there are his-and-her sinks. You get your own individual space, so no fighting over who gets what. There is a make-up counter set aside specially for the ladies! So, you get double the space, haha! There are 5 different types of rooms available (studio, urban, edge, vertigo and loft), so I got to stay in the 2nd largest suite that they offer :) So happy with the upgrade!

Hansar Bangkok Hotel

3 Soi Mahadlekluang 2,

Rajdamri Road, Lumpini

Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Tel: +66 2209 1234

Quick change of outfit into proper work-wear for meetings! Full-length mirror can be found in almost every corner, which makes taking outfit shots a breeze, heehee. I had a long meeting that day and didn't get back to the hotel till late. I shall blog about my dinner in the next post :) stay tuned.

Platters, once again

 

We headed back to Platters, courtesy of BFF :) She was invited for a tasting session and very kindly extended her invitations to us (thank you so much!!!). Our last visit was in 2012, where Chef Tan did his stint as a guest chef for the restaurant. He was the 2nd chef to be featured and now, we had the privilege of tasting the creations of Chef Karl Dobler and Chef Eugenia Ong of Table at 7. Since I have yet to visit Table at 7, I was excited to try out the creations that they have put together at Platters. 

  

Leecher was on course that day at the other side of the island. He drove all the way back into the city to meet up with us. Platters is conveniently located near my office, so I took an evening stroll. In case you're driving, there are parking lots outside the stretch of shop-houses. Alternatively, there is a parking within 5 min walk from the restaurant.

 Perhaps the night was still young & the tables were not filled up, apart from a long table next to ours.   

 

 First up, we had the full platter of Chefs at the Market ($48). The half platter is also available at $26. It was recommended that half platter is meant for 2-3 pax while full platter is to be shared b/w 4-6 pax.

I can't wait to dig in! 

 

Crispy fluffy tahu telur paired with beansprouts & sweet-spicy peanut dressing. My only complaint - the fried beancurds were too small! I could hardly taste them :( I'm not a fan of bean sprouts, yet I gamely polished off my portion! 

 

Tomato bocconcini tartlets. The tomato looked so much like smoked salmon that I had to taste it to confirm.

 Mushroom croquettes, my fave of the lot! Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside :)

 

The next platter that came along brought joy to us, for the tiny burgers looked so cute! All the ladies were busy snapping away as soon as this platter was placed. Asia's Ultimate Star Burgers - full platter at $60, half platter at $32.

 

This consisted of beef rendang & chicken satay mini burgers, served alongside with shoestring fries mixed with curry-kaffir lime spice.
 

Each dish was created by drawing inspirations from the chef's background, past dishes as well as personal signatures. The burgers were created initially for Chef Eugenia's daughter & they even had a one time pop-out stall at PasarBella.

 

Too cute to resist! I could easily manage a couple of these mini burgers - great idea for hosting kids' party at home :) I actually prefer the beef rendang over chicken satay. 

We had 1/3 serving of My Taste of Home platter. This platter consisted of chef dobler's home-smoked ocean trout (above), homemade chicken liver pale smoked duck breast slices, cornichons and crostini (full platter at $60, half platter at $32). The greens that came along were too bitter for my liking, but ocean trout was pleasing to me :) 

With the dearest :) I'm spotting a new hair cut now, heehee! I wanted a new hair style for Hong Kong, so a day before we flew off, I booked an appt with my stylist and viola - bangs.

 

BFF & Jonah, love hanging out with them :)   

 

White wine appeared in time before they serve the next platter. 

 

My only grouch - I can't take a nice complete picture of all the food served on the long platter due to space constraint, haha! The Oceanic Ensemble (full platter at $72, half platter at $38) was the last main platter of the night. From its name, you can tell that this must be a seafood dish.

 

Starting with crispy soft shell crab - this was a tad oily for my liking. 

 

Mussels hot pot in white wine - clearly the favourite of the lot. The gravy was too watery, but the mussels were well-soaked in it. 

 

Grilled tiger prawns with shrimp sambal glaze was not bad either.

We ended the night on a sweet note with a dessert platter. Named "Life is Sweet, Truly", this platter consisted of 3 different types of desserts, which I have highlighted below. The full platter costs $44 while the half platter is going for $24.

 

Citrus panna cotta with fresh berries. The taste was just ordinary, but I like the smooth texture. 

 

Valrhona chocolate tart - this was actually my fave of the lot, given that I love all things chocolatey :) 

Jackfruit beignet with coconut custard. Being ultra-sensitive to the smell of jackfruit, Leecher could smell it before the waiter placed the platter on the table. Wa, someone's sense of smell is uber good - coincidentally he was born in the year of the dog,lol! He still gave it a try and surprisingly concluded that this was his fave out of the 3 selections *gasp* 

Thanks BFF (once again) for inviting us along :) We truly enjoyed ourselves. 
 
A lovely bridesmaid box for the coming wedding :) I'll do my best to tekan the groom, lol!  

*Thanks BFF for her kind pics to this entry (w/o watermarks)

 Note: Chef Karl Dobler and Chef Eugenia Ong creations are available from now till Oct 2013.

Platters

42 Club Street

Singapore 069420

Tel: 6223 8048

The Straits Wine Company

On Boss Khim's request, we headed to The Straits Wine Company on a Friday night for a chillax session. There are a lot of branches all over Singapore and we settled for the one @ Serangoon Gardens, since it was the nearest for all of us. Parking woes around the area and we had to park near the private estate a couple of blocks away :( 

 

Boss Khim in paradise, lol! His only passion in life: drink, drink and be merry. That aside, I have to say I'm impressed by his wine knowledge! He's more of a red wine person (just like Leecher) and there are some hits & misses whenever he orders white wine for the ladies. 

 Being a wine importer, retailer & distributor, The Straits Wine Company has an extensive collection of wine that caters for everyone. From Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand and many more, there has to be a bottle of wine that is suitable for your taste buds.

The camp is divided into guys vs girls, red vs white.

 

难得 Khim Khim is the early bird for the night, for he is ALWAYS late, haha. 

  

I was famished when we arrived since we didn't have dinner. I wanted to pack food from outside, so I went to check with them if they allow customers to bring outside food into their compound. To my surprise, they handed me several food menus. They actually have collaborations with some of the eateries nearby (like BBQ and HK-cafe style). You just have to call the number to order and your food will arrive shortly. We settled for BBQ and ordered for everyone to share. 

 

Now that we have food in our stomach, it's time to start! We started off with a bottle of riesling (my fave!) and it had a fruity taste to it with the right amount of sweetness.

 

A toast is the must-have for every drinking session.   

  

with the dearest :) 

 

Kenneth & Meiqin rushed down after closing their shop. 

 

Group pic taken by self-timer. Before this, we asked someone at the next table to help us with a picture, but the 2 pics that she took came out blurred :( We also paiseh to trouble her again, so we decided to use self-timer after she left with her group of friends. 

My fave squabbling mate :) Can't believe we knew each other for almost 10 years!

 Spot the similarity? Both Leecher & me are the shortest in the group, lol! No wonder we are together.

The Straits Wine Company 

80 Serangoon Garden Way 

Singapore 555964

Tel: 6285 1075

Opening Hours: 1pm till 11pm (Mon-Wed), 12pm till 12am (Thurs), 12pm till 1am (Fri-Sat) and 12pm till 11pm (Sun)