Archive for 2009
Review – Putahracsa Hua Hin, Thailand
The owner of this beautiful Putahracsa Hua Hin boutique resort, Velvadi Sritrairatana, is R’s buddy from university a long time ago (I won’t say how long). She inherited this property from her grandmother, Khun Ying Supatra Singholaka, who served in the Royal Court of His Magesty, King Rama VI. Velvadi transformed the land into a very unique resort that was designed by her interior designer husband Viboon Techakalayatum. And boy did they do a magnificent job. Opened in October 2006, this is not your typical multiple-story hotel chain. Spread over two areas, one houses the main lobby area, pool, the Sala Monsoon restaurant, Day Spa, SilkSand Rooms and SanSky Villas. The rooms spans only two stories and are located around the poolside, forming a very relaxing atmosphere.
A hop across the street is where we stayed – in one of the Oceanbed Villas with our own hot tub and private pool. The room uses plenty of wood and bamboo to emphasize the natural surroundings. And you won’t find a work desk in the room either. It is a resort after all and as Viboon said, this is a place for relaxation and not for business (or at least minimal business).
Also on this side is an infinity pool and the Oceanside restaurant right next to the public beach. We had lunch there and the cool sea breeze matched with the expansive ocean view made for a very relaxing afternoon. A glass of Sauvingon Blanc and…ah, Heaven.
The staff were also very helpful and attentive. Prior to our arrival, they recommended golf at Black Mountain Golf Club and Banyan Golf Club, arranged all the tee times as well as the transportation. Both courses were excellent and only within 30 minutes from the resort. Back at the resort, the Day Spa provided many more hours of relaxation bliss.
If you enjoy the uniqueness of boutique hotels and don’t want to stay in a “cookie cutter” style chain hotel, then this is the place for ultimate relaxation.
– 17/20
Putahracsa Hua Hin
22/65 Nahb Kaehat Road
Hua Hin Prachaub
Kirikhan 77110
Thailand
T: +66 (0) 32 531 470
E: booking@putahracsa.com
W: www.putahracsa.com
091213 Putahracsa Hua Hin - Signage
091213 Putahracsa Hua Hin - Main lobby
091213 Putahracsa Hua Hin - Main lobby
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Review – Banyan Golf Club, Hua Hin, Thailand
Not to be mixed up with Banyan Tree, this course opened in October 2008 and already was voted as the Best New Course in 2009 by Asian Golf Monthly. The designer, Pirapon Namatra of Golf East, built this course amongst an existing pineapple plantation and purposely kept some and made them in play on some holes if you deviate too far from the fairway. You can’t not notice the pineapples as all the tee boxes use them as tee markers.
The signature hole is the Par 3 15th (136 yards from the whites). It is supposed to have panoramic ocean views all the way to Sing Toh (Tiger) Island in the Gulf of Thailand. However, the sky was pretty hazy and we were not able to see anything beyond significant distance. There are four tee boxes available, 7,361 yards from the blacks, 6,774 from the blues, 6,286 from the whites (this is where we teed off from) and 5,087 for the reds.
With even more elevation changes than Black Mountain it has its share of water hazards and greens that are significantly more ‘potato chipped’. Although the greens maybe large, the false fronts reduces the landing area by at least 20%. Short and you can find your ball 30 yards down the slope. Even if you’re on the green, unless you are within 30 feet of the hole, there’s no guarantee to hole out in two. Catch the wrong side of the hole and your second putt could be further away from the hole than when you started.
One unfortunate incident was the caddie that we had, #155. Unbelievable. With our experience in China, we have always reduced our reliance on caddies down to just bag carriers, but nothing prepared us for what happened. She was very unprofessional. She did not even carry out basic duties such as attending the flagstick, nor seem to know where I landed on every hole (R doesn’t get me on the fairway all the time). And on hole 3 (Par 5), we laid up to 100 yards on our second shot but she kept driving the golf cart all the way up to the green (in Thailand you get one caddie and one golf cart per player, so she does the driving). We thought we couldn’t have hit it that far…and we were right. R ended up walking 100 yards to to me (exactly at the 100 yard marker) and walked another 100 back to the green! We were clearly annoyed, but didn’t say anything to her. Suddenly, after a few holes, she started crying!!! WTF? From then on she just stood still by the cart and didn’t pass clubs, clean clubs, clean me, etc. WTF??!! R ended up doing all the caddie duties and at the end of the round gave her a poor evaluation and didn’t give her any tips. Comes to show that a good caddie is getting harder and harder to find these days…but didn’t expect anything like this. We think this is an isolated incident at Banyan as our friend’s caddie was much better.
– 17/20
– 12/20 (if taking the caddie into consideration)
The Banyan Golf Club
101 Moo 9, Tab Tai
Hya Hin 77110
Thailand
T: +66 (0) 3261 6200
E: reservations@banyanthailand.com
W: www.banyanthailand.com/Golf
091212 Banyan Golf Club - Pro shop
091212 Banyan Golf Club - Starter hut
091212 Banyan Golf Club - Scorecard (Par 72, 7,361 yards)
Review – Black Mountain Golf Club, Hua Hin, Thailand
We expected this to be a nice course. Asian Tour Pro Darren Beck played the Black Mountain Masters here in March earlier this year and came in tied for eighth place. Opened just 2.5 years ago, the course conditions were excellent and very well maintained. The clubhouse was pretty big with lots of open air space overlooking the golf course.
The course has spectacular views of the “black mountains” in the background, so called because of the large black rocks that are set in the slopes. For a relatively flat area, the designer, Phil Ryan, utilized many natural features of the original jungle and pineapple plantation, such as the creeks and rocks that are featured on many holes. Since the course is so young, there were few tall and mature trees lining the fairways, therefore wayward tee shots will still be in play for a chance to save par or bogey at worst (assuming you don’t make other silly mistakes).
At 6,508 yards off the blues, that’s where we teed off from. The more skilled/adventurous players can try the golds (6,894 yards) or the blacks (7,351 yards). There are a set of whites at 6,100 yards and the ladies have 5,652 yards to enjoy.
The course is a typical risk/reward course as demonstrated on the Par 4 7th (447 yards from the blues). With a large lake on the dog leg hole, cutting the lake requires a 230 yard carry, and will leave you with a short 130-140 yard pitch to the hole. But taking the conservative route around the lake will play the full length of the hole.
The greens were pretty slick and became faster as the day progressed. They must have been at least 11 or 12 on the Stimpmeter but rolled very true.
A very enjoyable round although I fell asleep – I took a peek at birdie on the Par 3 14th. Faced with an uphill 30 footer, R argued with the caddie on the line of putt and did not believe her recommendation of a left to right break. We believed it was right to left and uphill, so we took less break and damn if he would just hit it. We were dead on line and two feet short! Well we’ll just have to come back then…
– 17/20
Black Mountain Golf Club
565, Moo7, Nong Hieng Rd,
Hin Lek Fai, Hua Hin
Prachaupkhirikhan 77110
Thailand
T: +66 (0) 3261 8666
E: proshop@bmghuahin.com
W: www.bmghuahin.com
091211 Black Mountain - Sunrise on the golf carts
091211 Black Mountain - Restaurant & bar
091211 Black Mountain - Scorecard (Par 72, 7,351 yards)
New – Bacchus & Century, Hong Kong
Updated with feedback from Eric
Celebrating your 10th Anniversary? 40th Birthday? Make it more special by opening a bottle of fine wine from that special year. Enter Bacchus and Century in the heart of Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong. Claiming to be the first luxury wine shop in town, they offer French wines from every vintage from 1900 to 2000. Yes, they have at least one bottle from the 101 vintages in their 10,000 bottle collection.
Even their shop is unique. You won’t see a bottle in sight, except for the center display of Champagnes including the beautiful Taittinger Collection and a Salmanazar (9L) Laurent-Perrier Brut L-P. Instead, there’s a wall with artwork depicting a wine tree and ‘leaves’ listing a selection of wines from all the vintages. They have around 1,800 bottles stored in wine cellars at the shop out of a total of 3,000 in Hong Kong plus thousands more in France. Eric Liu, the founder and ‘shop guardian’ along with Rene Wong, the wine expert, will gladly listen to your story and recommend the wine for that special occasion.
Apart from the First Growths, d’Yquem, Petrus, DRCs, etc, there are also a wide selection of wines from 1960 to 2000 that start from HK$1,000 (US$128). There’s also Champagne and spirits to tickle your fancy.
Now to find a nice bottle from 1968 for C.
Bacchus & Century
Shop 3, G/F
32 Wyndham Street
Hong Kong
T: +852 6681 1825
Monday to Saturday 11am to 8pm
By appointment only : Monday to Saturday 9am to 11am & Sunday
091209 Bacchus & Century - Entrance
091209 Bacchus & Century - Signage
091209 Bacchus & Century - Center display
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Review – The French Window, Hong Kong
Updated with feedback from Cépage’s PR company.
The invasion by Singapore’s celebrity chef Justin Quek has put another flag on Hong Kong’s culinary map. After Cépage and Whisk at The Mira Hong Kong, he recently was the dining consultant for The Miramar Group’s The French Window inside the IFC Mall in Central. Surprisingly, the restaurant was not even half full. That’s probably why we were able to make a reservation on just their second day of opening. We’re always a bit cautious about trying a new restaurant so early, but it was to celebrate R’s Dad’s birthday, so we went for it. And Chef Quek should be familiar with the local market by now, right?
Entering the restaurant was like walking into a maze. Long corridors took us past the wine fridges and finally to the dining area. Our table had spectacular views of Victoria Harbour looking towards Kowloon side, through large floor to ceiling windows.
There were two set menus, the eight course Gourmet (HK$1,280/US$164) or the five course Dégustation (HK$780/US$100). We went for the latter. There’s also à la carte, which includes almost everything in the set menus. HK$600/US$77 extra adds wine paired with all the courses. But we bought our own – a 1996 Les Forts de Latour, which was drinking really well. A very smooth full bodied wine with great balance. Corkage was HK$350/US$45, which can be waived if you order a bottle from their extensive wine list.
The amuse-bouche was the largest portion that we had ever seen. The cep mushroom soup was like a course on its own…nice, but a bit too much to start.
The Angus super prime beef tartare was good, much better than Bistecca, but we still prefer it the old fashioned way where they prepare it in front of you. The grilled scallop with cep mushroom was perfect. Very fresh and juicy. Too bad there was just one…well it is a tasting menu after all. The pot au feu with foie gras and black truffle was very tasty. The pan seared foie gras was crispy on the outside and just right inside, not overdone nor too raw. When the pan seared lamb came, we all dropped our jaws at the presentation. The potatoes were cut into very thin strips, wrapped around a tube (I think) and deep fried. The result, a hollow wire tube made of potatoes – kind of like a stretched out Slinky toy. The lamb was very tender although the end cut was slightly over cooked.
Dessert was not as stunning though. The sampler included an almond cream, chocolate biscuit and a modern version of Tutti Frutti. They tasted rather bland and nothing spectacular. Really wanted to try the Tarte Tartin though. Anyway, maybe our faces showed our disappointment, so the manager offered us a special biscuit (a long one) with almond cream which helped regain some points.
Overall, the food was excellent and despite being open for only two days, things went relatively smooth. The waiters were maybe a bit too attentive at times as they announced in between every course that they were changing the cutlery for the next dish. Whereas we think they should introduce the dish when it arrives so that you can actually see it.
Chef Quek’s cuisine never disappoints and under Head Chef, Mickael Le Calvez, this is no exception.
– 17/20
The French Window
3101, podium level 3, ifc mall
Central, Hong Kong
T: +852 2393 3812
E: inquiry@thefrenchwindow.hk
W: www.thefrenchwindow.hk
091207 French Window - Entrance through wine cellar
091207 French Window - Restaurant dining area
091207 French Window - Bread plate setting
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