One Night Staycation @ Goodwood Park Hotel, Dinner @ Thai Village Restaurant and Afternoon High Tea Buffet @ L'Espresso

Goodwood Park Hotel

This was decided on a whim as my friends would like to utilize their voucher before it expires. Haha, I am voucherless but got quite a good deal from Agoda.com so it was still ok.

Booked a Deluxe Mayfair room and checked into the hotel on a Saturday afternoon (after 3pm) and got upgraded to Premium Deluxe. Slightly bigger room size? Why not?

The hotel layout got me confused actually. Went to the wrong wing and ended up having some difficulty in find the room. Same level, but different direction. Hahaa!

let's go find my room

Premium Deluxe Room 39 sqm

first thing, is to look for the bedroom slippers

comfortable work desk

my favourite seat

Ok, one thing to note is that Premium Deluxe Room does not have a bath tub. Standing shower but that's alright and the shower area is elongated, plenty of space!

standing shower

such a big weighing scale

temperature was easily adjusted

soap

bath things

Instant coffee and TWG tea are available in-room. The mini fridge is empty saved for the small sachets of milk for the instant coffee.

would you like to have some coffee?

all that glitters

or, do you prefer tea?

All's well but unfortunately this room does not have a view. So, most of the time the curtains are drawn.

hey there, little green thing

nice looking room keycard

my favourite view

We ate dinner at Thai Village Restaurant which is just 5 minutes walk away. Reservation is recommended as the place was bustling on a Saturday evening.

night view

Thai Village Restaurant

restaurant signage

round table

typical table setting

peanuts and achar

tea

Felt like a typical Chinese restaurant. Busy atmosphere and plenty of diners. Service staff are friendly and efficient. They do give you the time that you need to decide on what to order.

The food did arrive pretty quickly.

Crispy Beancurd in Thai Style @$18 (S)

Baked King Prawns with Vermicelli @$34 (S)

Salt Baked Chicken Drumsticks @$20 (S)

Baked Duck Web @$20

first time eating duck web

Realized that all the claypot stuffs are very strongly flavoured. Hence, the pot of tea became a necessity.

After dinner, we went for a stroll around Orchard. The only 7-eleven store seemed to be the one at Far East Plaza stretch of road.

L'Espresso - English Afternoon Tea with Local Favourites

High tea, I've been to a couple last year, but none of them was buffet style. For L'Espresso, one gets two drinks and hot water for the teapot is refillable, complimentary. Yes, do make reservations as the place was bustling on a Sunday morning at 11am. 

Weekend price is $62++ per adult and $36++ per child. Hotel guests and Citibank card-holders enjoy 15% discount at the moment. Do check with the restaurant directly.

started with tea

Darjeeling Black Tea

The tea looks like it could go well with scones but unfortunately, I didn't try any. The irony! I ate more of the local favourites, I think and became super full thereafter (as usual). 

Pan-fried Seafood Gyoza (front), Singapore Chilli Crabmeat with Mantou (back)

Crispy Yam Cake with Garlic Chilli Sweet Sauce, Pork with Peanut Sauce, Korean Chicken

The lady Chef at the local favourites counter, was super nice and she recommended the Crispy Yam Cake with Garlic Chilli Sweet Sauce. My goodness, that was indeed super nice! Totally a must-eat here. Pork skewer with peanut sauce was nice but abit cold.

Most hotel seemed  to have their own signature laksa and likewise, Goodwood Park too. The broth was nicely hot and simmering for a few hours as I had this at about 1230pm.

Laksa with Condiments

quail egg, taupok, prawn, beansprouts

Let's eat something from the Western counter.

selection of cold cuts and cheeses, and petite sandwiches

The cheeses; Bresse Bleu, Comte & Camembert were all lovely. Not too pungent. I liked all the cold cuts. The Parma Ham, Gherkin & Cream Cheese Bagel was ok only but the small tartlets (open-faced sandwich?) were all very good.

The best one was the chives tartlet. Super tasty! Must-eat.

Another must-eat is the Roasted Pork Neck with Caraway Crust and Shallot Jus. Chef Francis was rather generous. Keke, can get like 6 slices at one shot. The pork neck was tender and of a nice chew. Not fatty.

Roasted Pork Neck with Caraway Crust & Shallot Jus

chicken wings, tempura prawns and turkey quiche (mini)

I was intrigued by turkey quiche... like it isn't even December! But alas, not very turkey'ish? It felt airy and hollow.

turkey quiche

The mid-wings were flavourful but cold.

Then, it was time for our second drink. I chose vienna coffee. Hot brewed coffee with cold whipped cream. Nice.

 Vienna Coffee

For dessert, one could take their pick from the dessert counter. I got mine from Good Ol’ Days Desserts Trolley that went around the place. Old school dessert. I chose castella cake and mini pandan donut.

Castella Cake

Mini Pandan Donut

As we ate, chatted and photographed... time flew by and it was time to go home.

Happy Birthday to Tracy! And may we have many more travel, staycay and makan adventures!

One Night Only Staycation @ Hotel InterContinental Singapore Middle Road (Bugis)

Decided to check out this hotel, finally. It was a one-night only staycay and main reason for doing so, was because my friends were doing Andaz. Got one reasonably priced for its Deluxe King Room from Agoda and without breakfast.

seating area in the lobby

Couldn't do an early check-in as I was busy with work. Went to the hotel at about 2.45pm, and queued at the lobby for about 10 minutes as all 3 counters at the reception were busy. Staff was reservedly courteous and efficient. I got my room at Level 9 and because the guests infront of me had already received their instructions on how to locate the lift to the rooms, so not an issue. 

But a funny anecdote of while I was queuing, there was one lady who arrived rather hurriedly at the counter and informed that she would like to extend her stay for one more night. Hmm, means must be really comfortable staying here then!

let's see the room

wardrobe cupboard

Deluxe King 38m²

view from Level 9

large work desk

with sofa and coffee table

I loved the space I'm getting! It has an old school elegant comfy vibe and thankfully, cleanliness was well maintained.

thank you Li Rui

The room provides TWG tea, coffee beans (grounded), french press, bottled water, kettle, wine glasses, mini fridge (empty) and tea cups.

cupboard

let's stock-up with some juice

coffee and tea

wine glasses

If you ask me, I'd very much prefers a Nespresso machine in the room please. Instant and tasty. The grounded coffee bean was lovely to the palate too and easy to make using the French Press but cleaning up, was a messy chore.

Take note that there's no wine opener in the room, hence you'll need to request from concierge if you need one.

hand soap

bathing things

lovely smell

large tub to soak in

super spacious bathroom

One cool thing about the bathroom here, is the sound system. You could connect it to the main sound system and whatever that you are playing on the TV, you can hear the same in the bathroom. There's even a Spotify playlist on the TV menu. Nice!

The room is generally quiet, but the pillows were too soft. Stacked two then it was too high. Hahaa!

Its location was rather convenient. Head on down to Bugis Junction for a spot of grocery shopping, or walk over to Duo Galleria or Liang Seah Street for plenty of eateries and drinking places.

night view