Our flight this afternoon was at a pretty interesting hour.
It's one of those timings that somehow- I don't know how- have you leave Changi's Terminal 4 at, say, 1315, and have you arrive at the gorgeous local time of 1442 in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi.
An hour thirty-five minutes, that's the difference for you.
But I'm not complaining.
Not when Cathay Pacific CX-something something something left on time and arrived Suvarnabhumi on time.
One of the things I love about full service flights is the food.
In-flight entertainment's secondary- I have my books and my music- but, boy, do I love the food.
Gone are the days when everyone would complain about the quality of in-flight meals.
What with budget airlines being so strict these days, you'd appreciate a bag of peanuts, a slice of cake and a bottle of water even if it be a short 45 minute flight.
Today's meal, of course, was more than that.
I got a Chicken with Fried Rice which came with salad, fruit, a cup of Haagen Dazs ice cream, and a bun.
For some reason I'm always looking forward to the ice cream on Cathay Pacific- they usually give Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, or Cookies & Cream.
Our transport to the hotel this time wasn't the usual Grab.
Instead, through Klook, my friend booked a SmartRyde car that took us straight to the hotel on Lang Suan Road.
Cape House Langsuan is one of those properties that sits in a location so prime you can't decide whether or not you're in a shopping district, or a residential one.
It's a major thoroughfare, mind, and coming here to Lang Suan Road means you'll pass by a whole collection of hotels, a whole collection of swanky shopping malls, office buildings, and a selection of condominiums here and there.
Their website says they're right in the heart of Chidlom Langsuan, and let me tell you, they're not wrong. The nearest BTS is Chidlom, and right across the road is brand new shopping mall Central Chidlom.
What makes this property interesting is their decor and aesthetic style.
Down in the lobby there's a restaurant serving Italian-Thai fusion, and over near the counter, one gets a bit of 80s vibe with their rattan-style sofas, their reception counter and the decor here and there.
Up in the rooms however, everything throws forth a vibe of the European with a hint of the Scandinavian.
The colors make one think of the Scandinavian, but the furniture seems to be more contemporary Asian with a hint of the European/American.
Right by the entrance there was a small kitchenette, complete with tabletop counter, microwave and the washing machine. There were cupboards, the space was large, and right next to the sink there was a full sized fridge.
On the other side of the entrance by the door was the dining table, comfortable for four.
Almost immediately I took a fancy to the huge, comfortable armchair.
And then there was the elegant, dove-grey colored four-seater sofa with its eight bouncy cushions, four on each side.
In the bedroom there was a wooden dressing table, two side tables, a built in wardrobe space and the not-so-small bed.
I thought the bathroom interesting though.
Not so much of the furnishings- it was regular, with a bidet, a huge bathtub, the sink and the shower area- but the light made me curious, and so devoid of style was it that I figured it was up to the individual to make it as cozy they desired- aromatherapy candles, bath bombs, baskets, towels, plants, the like.
We settled in, unpacked, sorted our stuff out, then headed out on foot, walking along Lang Suan, then Ploen Chit Road, before making a left onto Ratchadamri Road to Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok for a celebration meal.
I had thought we'd be having shabu shabu the same we'd once had, but no, tonight's dinner was a buffet.
I don't know if this were the first hotel buffet dinner we had had here in Bangkok, but by the end of the meal we were delighted- and impressed- by the offerings, the variety, and the food.
But first, the ambience.
For those who've been to Grand Hyatt Erawan, they'll know the vibe that makes one think of evening cocktails and sundowners amongst the lush green of tropical trees, and they'll sense the atmosphere that makes one think of garden parties under moonlight and starlight.
The restaurant here at the hotel too carried the same vibe.
But of course, everything centers on the food.
To my (rather meticulous) friend, there can be no 120% complete buffet dinner if the place doesn't offer fresh oysters, and sashimi.
Glad to say, therefore, that the buffet here at Grand Hyatt Erawan had both.
There was the chilled seafood counter.
There was the cooked seafood counter.
There was pasta- somewhere.
And there were the soups, the salads, the appetizers, the sushi trays, and the meats.
How many plates of freshly shucked oysters we took altogether, I do not know, but there likely might have been more than three, or four.
I had mine with lemon.
My friend had his with vinegar that he somehow managed to suss up.
One of the dishes the wait staff brought over consisted of an oyster (or some sort of seafood) that looked like it had been brined in some sort of sauce that included fruit vinegar (because it was slightly sweet).
I'm trying to remember now what the main food was inside these dishes.
Was it an oyster?
Was it a scallop?
The only thing that strikes me is that there was some kind of jellyfish (you know, the strands kind) and there were some other little vegetables besides the chopped spring onions.
I think I took two of these.
My friend took perhaps four, or five.
After this I decided to help myself to a slice of their beef, and a portion of whipped potato, because I was curious if their beef were the Western style or a Thai-Western fusion style, plus it is impossible for me to look at a dish of whipped potato right in front of me and not take a ladleful of it.
The beef looks reddish here, medium rare, but trust me when I say that it had been grilled well enough that there was no blood, nothing oozed out when I worked my knife over it, and there was no half-cooked (icky) taste from the meat either.
The whipped potato, on the other hand, wasn't so much of the creamy buttery type (which I tend to like), but it had been prepared with a heartening mix of herbs that's been blended so well that the herbs you don't actually see.
So nice was it that afterwards when I went for a serving of seafood gratin, I took another portion of the potato, together with two slices of rock melon cantaloupes, because good savory dishes taste even better when eaten with a hint of sweet.
It's a little funny but now I don't quite remember how the gratin tasted like.
Maybe the part I took happened to be the part with the gooey, stretchy cheese that had a bit of light crisp on top.
I just know I liked it.
Same way I liked all the other cooked food that I took.
Not that I took a lot however- with the diet I have these days one must get very discerning- so there was a bit of sweet-sour fish, there was a bit of roasted eggplant (a favorite of mine), there was a small serving of Pad Thai, and from the salad bar I picked out a couple of cherry tomatoes the fruity yellow kind.
I'm actually missing the roasted eggplant.
Don't ask me why. :)
Of course, one cannot come to a buffet where there's Japanese sashimi and miss out on eating it, so between all the oysters and the cooked food and everything else, there in the middle of the table stood a plate of salmon belly sashimi.
My friend was especially delighted by the fact that they were generous with the slices (they were cut rather thickly) and that he didn't have to ask them twice over when he wanted only the salmon belly.
"The guy just gave. Whole plate." He said, happily.
Laid out so beautifully on the plate these ice-cold slices of salmon they were too.
Perhaps there's this sense of pride, this sense of ownership, at everything that they do, even down to the skill of slicing and arranging sashimi.
After this, upon the recommendation of my friend, I took a bowl of crab bisque, and whilst I don't have a picture, one can think of it as a mix of lobster bisque, with that of crab, and a rich, rounded flavor of umami inside out.
By this time we were starting to feel a little bit full, so off to the dessert station we went.
There was a selection of local and international desserts all prettily laid out, so I chose a matcha cheesecake for myself, a nice little custard tart that had blueberries on top, and a bit of cake with some sort of a jelly over.
But the ice cream and local desserts seemed really good too, so since there was still a bit of tummy space, I went to get a bowl of mango sago (with a lot of sago), and a cup of hazelnut ice cream.
I had thought we'd be walking back to the hotel after dinner, but no, there were other plans, and we walked over the skybridge towards a massage place that I think was in Siam Square where we did a massage of 90 minutes, before groggily going back to Lang Suan and falling asleep.